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.[8] The title of her PhD thesis is "The ethics of ex utero research on spare IVF human embryos"[9] and was completed under the supervision of Benjamin Freedman. In the thesis[9] she introduced (at the time) a "novel ethical distinction between viable and non-viable human embryos."[10] Her concept of "non-viable embryos"[9][11] as acceptable objects for research is still referenced today.[12]
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).[17] She was the founder and leader (since 2003) of Novel Tech Ethics,[18] renamed NTE Impact Ethics (ca.2013), an interdisciplinary research team based at Dalhousie University (with some international collaborators), doing research at the intersection of health, bioethics, and public policy until the time of Baylis' retirement.[2][19]
Baylis has been the principal investigator on eleven[24]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. 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.[8][24] 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.[25]
Baylis has made numerous contributions to the development of public policy on various assisted human reproduction topics[8] – 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.[26] Baylis led one of the two Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded neuroethics teams from 2006 to 2011.[27][28] Through that six-year program, she helped to head the development of a new field for Canada.[29] She also co-chaired one of the first international neuroethics conferences, "Brain Matters I" in Halifax in 2009.[30] Beyond her research contributions in the realm of assisted reproductive technologies[31] (including contemporary family-making[32][33]) and women's health in general,[34][35][36] Baylis is counted as making contributions to several additional, specific areas of scholarly inquiry:
Research on bioethics consultants – her early scholarly work[37][38] with The Health Care Ethics Consultant "represents a critical assessment of both theoretical and practical issues facing practitioners in ethics consultation".[39] This work informed the original standards for ethics consultation[40] prepared by the Society for Health and Human Values – Society for Bioethics Consultation Task Force on Standards for Bioethics Consultation. This was published under the title Core Competencies for Health Care Ethics Consultation, The Report of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (1st edition).[41] It is now available in its second edition.[42]
Research involving children,[43][44]research involving women,[35][36][45][46][47]and research involving pregnant women[48][49][50][51] – her research in these three areas looks past the immediate threats of vulnerability, which would presume the non-involvement of these research populations, in order: (i) to: ask why it is important to do research for children, women, and pregnant women; and, (ii) to make sure that this research proceeds on an ethical basis;
Research about conscientious objection in the practice of medicine – her work in this area[67] (for example, as to whether appeals to conscience can justify refusals to provide medical services on the part of a healthcare practitioners) has relevance both for access to abortion[68] and medical assistance in dying. Her research, with colleagues Carolyn McLeod, Jocelyn Downie, and Daniel Weinstock, has been to find ways to govern medical practice so that it is both fair ("right") and morally effective ("good").[68]
Building research capacity and research communities
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[8] for Feminist Approaches to Bioethics[69] (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. 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).[8] She is known for having advanced the integration of ethics[70] within these agencies and the protection of human research participants.[71] 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."[72][73][74][75][76]
As a contributor to feminist ethics,[46][47][77] 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."[78] Baylis has authored and co-authored reports for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (for example, regarding the status of scientific researchers).[8] 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,[79][80] including ethics in the context of clinical trials[81][82] and governance of assisted human reproduction.[10]
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,[13] especially regarding the disproportionate burdens placed upon women as a result of assisted reproductive technologies[83] or by virtue of the exclusion of pregnant women from clinical research.[84] For more than a decade she has sought to engage directly with various publics through public education initiatives, media interviews, and social media (@ImpactEthics).[1] 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."[85] Baylis understands her duties as an academic to help build and cultivate informed, public debate in order to improve the quality of democracy.[78] 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."[78] Her efforts to build ethics literacy at both the local, national, and international level are evidenced through more than a decade of public education and public engagement with NTE Impact Ethics Events.
Since 2011, Baylis has used her second tenure as a Canada Research Chair to focus on "developing new strategies that would allow bioethicists to make just and lasting policy contributions."[13] As coined by Baylis, "impact ethics" is about "question[ing] the status quo in health care", "mak[ing] science subservient to the human good", "mak[ing] public institutions more responsive, accountable, and just", and "critiqu[ing] professional bioethics."[86] Her research projects on "impact ethics"[87] include an emphasis on knowledge translation and mobilization which aim to implement in policy and practice a bioethics that is "responsible", "accountable" and "innovative"[3]—a bioethics that can "make a difference"[3] in serving the public by requiring from those who work in the field to act with "integrity and sensitivity to the real world of healthcare delivery, policy-making and politics."[87] A specific arm of these various projects is the Impact Ethics blog[86] which publishes submissions from a range of authors (students and faculty, academics, and writers outside of academia) with various perspectives on a diversity of subjects for bioethical debate. As Baylis summarizes it: "Impact ethics is about using the tools of ethics to shock, press, crack, and chip society into a better place. It is about outcomes, and ordering the study of ethics around changing things for the better."[86]
Baylis, F.; Kenny, S.; Sherwin, S. (2008). "A relational account of public health ethics". Public Health Ethics. 1 (3): 196–209. doi:10.1093/phe/phn025.
Baylis, F.; Herder, M. (2009). "Policy design for human embryo research in Canada: A history. Part 1 of 2". Journal of Bioethical Inquiry. 6 (1): 109–122. doi:10.1007/s11673-009-9135-8. S2CID145167552.
Baylis, F.; Downie, J.; Kenny, N. (1999). "Children and decision-making in health research". IRB: Ethics & Human Research. 21 (4): 5–10. doi:10.2307/3564418. JSTOR3564418. PMID11660758.
On June 30, 2016, Baylis was appointed to the Order of CanadabyGovernor GeneralDavid Johnston for "her contributions as a champion of health-care ethics in Canada and for creating forums for discussing current medical-ethics issues."[85] Other awards and honours include:
^ abBaylis, Françoise. (August 2006). The Regulation of Assisted Human Reproductive Technologies and Related Research: A Public Health, Safety and Morality Argument. Written Expert Testimony for the federal government of Canada in the matter of Attorney General of Quebec v. Attorney General of Canada. Province of QuebecArchived 2017-02-07 at the Wayback Machine Court of Appeal. No. 500-09-015177-041 C.A, p.1
^Claiborne, A., English, R., & Kahn, J. (eds.); Committee on the Ethical and Social Policy Considerations of Novel Techniques for Prevention of Maternal Transmission of Mitochondrial DNA Diseases; Board on Health Sciences Policy; Institute of Medicine; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2016). Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques: Ethical, Social, and Policy Considerations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
^ abcde"Francoise Baylis". chairs-chaires.gc.ca. Government of Canada. 2012-11-29. Archived from the original on 23 Jun 2021. Retrieved 18 Apr 2024.
^Baylis, Françoise (1993). "Assisted reproductive technologies: Informed choice" in New Reproductive Technologies: Ethical Aspects Vol.1 of the Research Studies of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. Ottawa, ON: Minister of Supply and Services Canada. pp. 47–147. ISBN978-0662213758.
^Sherwin, Susan; Baylis, Francoise (2003-04-01). "The feminist health care ethics consultant as architect and advocate". Public Affairs Quarterly. 17 (2): 141–158. ISSN0887-0373. PMID14552295.
^Scofield, Giles R.; Baylis, Françoise; Des Brisay, Jeanne; Freedman, Benjamin; Lowenstein, Larry; Shirwin, Susan (1994-11-01). "The Health Care Ethics Consultant, Françoise Baylis, ed". HEC Forum. 6 (6): 363–376. doi:10.1007/BF01439312. ISSN0956-2737. PMID11645291. S2CID32995058.
^Arnold, Robert; Youngner, Stuart J. (1996-03-01). "Task Force on Standards for Ethics Consultation: Response to "Ethics Consultation: The Least Dangerous Profession?" (CQ Vol 2, No 4)". Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. 5 (2): 284. doi:10.1017/S0963180100007052. ISSN1469-2147. PMID8718737. S2CID31120862.
^Society for Health and Human Values – Society for Bioethics Consultation Task Force on Standards for Bioethics Consultation (1998). Core Competencies for Health Care Ethics Consultation: The Report of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. Glenview, IL: American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. pp. 1, footnote #2: "We are indebted to the Strategic Research Network on Health Care Ethics Consultation project, which was funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, for the idea of looking at the skills, knowledge, and character traits that are important for health care consultation. This project resulted in The Health Care Ethics Consultant (Baylis, 1994) which was made available to members of this Task Force at the outset of the project".
^ abSherwin, S., Baylis, F., Bell, M., De Koninck, M, Downie, J., Lippman, A., Lock, M., Mitchinson, W., Pauly Morgan, K., Mosher, J., Parish, B. (1998). The Politics of Women's Health. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. ISBN978-1566396332.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ abBaylis, Françoise, Downie, Jocelyn, & Sherwin, Susan (1999). Women and health research: From theory, to practice, to policy. In A. Donchin & L. Purdy (Eds.), Embodying Bioethics: Recent Feminist Advances. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 253–268. ISBN978-0847689255.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Baylis, Françoise (2009-03-01). "The HFEA public consultation process on hybrids and chimeras: informed, effective, and meaningful?". Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal. 19 (1): 41–62. doi:10.1353/ken.0.0273. ISSN1054-6863. PMID19306696. S2CID25099284.
^Baylis, Francoise (2002-01-01). "Betwixt and between human stem cell guidelines and legislation". Health Law Review. 11 (1): 44–50. ISSN1188-8725. PMID15739317.
^Baylis, Françoise & Rossant, Janet (12 February 2016). "This CRISPR moment". The Walrus. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
^Cribb, R., Fitzgerald, L., Lindemann, T. & Thompson, N. (26 September 2014). "Stalemate: Deciding life or death". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 7 July 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology (November 2012). "Canada's Clinical Trial Infrastructure"(PDF). Senate Canada. Government of Canada.
