Bio
Dr. Judy Illes, trailblazing neuroethicist, is Professor of Neurology at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Distinguished University Scholar, UBC Distinguished Scholar in Neuroethics, and Director of Neuroethics Canada. She holds appointments in UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, and in Journalism, and in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, in Seattle. She is a pioneer of the field of neuroethics through which she has made groundbreaking contributions to cross-cultural ethical, legal, social and policy challenges at the intersection of the brain sciences and biomedical ethics. With her expertise in both neurosciences and ethics, Dr. Illes has served in major international leadership positions, including the inaugural Forum on Neurological Sciences at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine in the USA where the term connectome was coined. She was the academic lead of the working group convened by Health Canada on neurotechnology ethics, in response to OECD’s principles established in 2018 which she helped to draft, is Canada’s delegate to UNESCO today on this subject, and she has served as an expert advisor for the World Health Organization and Amnesty International.