Francoise Baylis

Françoise Elvina Baylis FISC (born 1961) is a Canadian bioethicist whose work is at the intersection of applied ethics, health policy, and practice.

The focus of her research is on issues of women's health and assisted reproductive technologies, but her research and publication record also extend to such topics as research involving humans (including human embryo research), gene editing, novel genetic technologies, public health, the role of bioethics consultants, and neuroethics.

Baylis' interest in the impact of bioethics on health and public policy as well as her commitment to citizen engagement]and participatory democracy sees her engage with print, radio, television, and other online publications.

Baylis' education includes a Certificate of Bilingualism from Laurentian University (1981), Political Science degree (BA, First Class Honours) from McGill University (1983), followed by an MA (Philosophy, 1984) and PhD (Philosophy, specialization Bioethics, 1989) from the University of Western Ontario.

The title of her PhD thesis is "The ethics of ex utero research on spare IVF human embryos" and was completed under the supervision of Benjamin Freedman.

In the thesis she introduced (at the time) a "novel ethical distinction between viable and non-viable human embryos."

Her concept of "non-viable embryos" as acceptable objects for research is still referenced today.

In total, since 1990 she has secured greater than $2.8 million in research funding as a Principal Investigator, > $1.8 million as a Co-Principal- or Co-Investigator, and >$2 million as a Collaborator, Project Advisor or Team Member.

As such, her track record in getting support for health ethics research is likely to be unusually successful, especially for someone trained in the humanities.

Baylis has made numerous contributions to the development of public policy on various assisted human reproduction topics – often the only invited Canadian participant in policy discussions in Europe and elsewhere.

Most recently, her reputation garnered an invitation from the US National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine to join the Planning Committee for an International Summit on Human Gene Editing.

She previously served as an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville as well as a Lecturer with the Departments of Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and Rehabilitation Medicine with the University of Toronto (1991-1993) and Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology with the University of Western Ontario (1989-1991).

Her early employment also included working as an Ethics Consultant to the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies and as a Clinical Ethics Consultant at hospitals in London ON, Toronto ON, Knoxville TN, and Halifax NS.

Baylis is currently Distinguished Research Professor Emerita, Dalhousie University, having retired from her academic appointment as Professor with the Faculty of Medicine and cross-appointment to the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Philosophy (Dalhousie University).

In 1996 Baylis was hired on at Dalhousie University as an associate professor in the Office of Bioethics Education and Research (later the Department of Bioethics), and in 2004 became Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy.

She served on the governing councils of the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee (1999-2001), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2001-2004), and Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (2006-2010).

She is known for having advanced the integration of ethics within these agencies and the protection of human research participants.

She is also known as an opponent of institutional choices and practices that abet "structural conflict of interest regarding the funding of research and the governance of research ethics."

As a contributor to feminist ethics, Baylis' orientation stresses the political dimensions of doing bioethics, using one's expertise to impact public policy in the hopes of furthering moral and social progress—in the hopes "to make the world a better place."

Baylis has authored and co-authored reports for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (for example, regarding the status of scientific researchers).

As an example of her efforts at shaping public policy, she has prepared expert testimony for a number of Courts and Canadian Parliamentary Committees for a diversity of bioethics issues, including ethics in the context of clinical trials and governance of assisted human reproduction.

As Baylis' academic career has progressed, the public character of her work, beyond its immediate relevance to public policy, has increased.

She is a proclaimed advocate against social injustice, especially regarding the disproportionate burdens placed upon women as a result of assisted reproductive technologies or by virtue of the exclusion of pregnant women from clinical research.

For more than a decade she has sought to engage directly with various publics through public education initiatives, media interviews, and social media (@ImpactEthics).

Recently, she was appointed to the Order of Canada "for her contributions as a champion of health-care ethics in Canada and for creating forums to discuss current medical-ethics issues."

Baylis understands her duties as an academic to help build and cultivate informed, public debate in order to improve the quality of democracy.

Speaking as the leader of the NTE Impact Ethics research group she has said: "Our big-picture goal is to support democracy by helping people to understand what the issues are and what is at stake and how they can then think about and position themselves vis-à-vis the science."

Notable achievements during her career include: being named to the "Who's Who in Black Canada" (2002–present) and to "Canadian Who's Who" (2004–present); three Governor-in-Council appointments, including member of the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee (1999-2001), member of Governing Council, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2001-2004) and member of the Board of Directors, Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (2006-2010); Royal Society of Canada Academic Secretary (Academy I) and Atlantic Steering Committee Chair (2012-2015); and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Bioethics and Philosophy (2004-2018).

Baylis has been the principal investigator on eleven Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grants (totaling more than $2.4 million), including a New Emerging Team grant, States of Mind: Emerging Issues in Neuroethics.

Baylis is the founder and leader (since 2003) of Novel Tech Ethics, now renamed NTE Impact Ethics, an interdisciplinary research team based at Dalhousie University (with some international collaborators) that does research at the intersection of health, bioethics, and public policy.

Baylis led one of the two Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded neuroethics teams from 2006 to 2011.

Through that six-year program, she helped to head the development of a new field for Canada.

In 2007, she became an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

She also co-chaired the first international neuroethics conference (Brain Matters I) in Halifax in 2009, which has developed into an annual or sometimes bi-annual conference ever since.

Beyond her research contributions in the realm of assisted reproductive technologies (including contemporary family-making ) and women's health in general, Baylis is counted as making contributions to several additional, specific areas of scholarly inquiry:

Baylis has also assumed responsibilities for building and maintaining national and international research communities.

She was one of the original co-coordinators and advisory board members, as well as the chair of the nominating committee for Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (FAB) – an international network of feminist bioethics researchers.

In this regard, Baylis’ work has helped to ensure a venue for publication of feminist bioethics authors with the International Journal of FAB.

Moreover, her efforts on behalf of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (FAB) have fostered community-building among feminist bioethics academics and practitioners as exemplified through FAB's bi-annual World Congress (held in association with International Association of Bioethics meetings).

Baylis has also played a role in fostering and helping to direct the health science research community in Canada.