Bernard Dickens
Professor Emeritus of Health Law and Policy & Co-Director, International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program

Jackman Law Building
Room J382
78 Queen’s Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5  

Tel.: 416-978-4849

LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D. (Law-Criminology), LL.D. (Medical Jurisprudence) (London), LL.D. (Sherbrooke, h.c.) a member of the English Bar and the Ontario Bar, is Professor Emeritus of Health Law and Policy in the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Medicine, and the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto.  He is legal articles co-editor of the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, co-editor of ethical and legal issues of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and a member of editorial boards of several journals including the American Journal of Law & Medicine, and Medicine and Law. He has been a member of the Board of Governors of the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics, and is a former Society President.  He was founding chair of the Public Health Agency of Canada's Ethics Advisory Committee, now known as the Public Health Ethics Consultative Group, of which he remains a member.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada. 

Education
LL.B. - King’s College, University of London (1961)
Barrister - English Bar (Inner Temple) (1963)
LL.M. - King’s College, University of London (1965)
Ph.D. (Criminology Division of Law) - King’s College, University of London (1971)
Barrister & Solicitor - Ontario Bar (1977)
LL.D. (Medical Jurisprudence) - University of London (1978)
Academic appointments
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto
Awards and distinctions
Doctor of Laws, Honoris causa, University of Sherbrooke (2007)
Officer of the Order of Canada (2006)
Member of the Royal Society of Canada (1998)
Other service
Member, Committee on Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction & Women's Health, International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), after 2003, Chairman 2009-15
Member, Standing Committee on Ethics, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 2007-15
Co-editor, Ethical and Legal issues, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 1999-
Member, Board of Governors, World Association for Medical Law, 1994-2010.
Lifetime Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine (United Kingdom),
Vice-President, World Association for Medical Law, 1996-2010
Honorary Vice-President, World Association for Medical Law, 2010-
Member (elected), Board of Directors, American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics, 1986-1992, Society President 1990-91.
Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Palliative Care, 1989-2016
Departmental Editor, Health Policy and Ethics, American Journal of Public Health, 2004 - 2011
Chair, Research Ethics Board, Health Canada, Ottawa, 2001-2007
Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Ethics and Mental Health, 2006-
Member, Committee for Education, Training & Capacity Building, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) 2009-2016
Founding Chair of the Public Health Agency of Canada's Ethics Advisory Committee (now known as the Public Health Ethics Consultative Group) 2010-17
Selected publications

Cook, R.J., B.M. Dickens & M.F. Fathalla.  Reproductive Health and Human Rights: Integrating Medicine, Ethics and Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 554 pp.  Available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese.  Case studies are online in Arabic
http://www.law.utoronto.ca/faculty_content.asp?itemPath=1/3/4/0/0&contentId=1105

Cook, R.J. & B.M. Dickens. “Human Rights Dynamics of Abortion Law Reform,” (2003) 25 Human Rights Quarterly 1-59.  Online: http://www.law.utoronto.ca/documents/reprohealth/PUB-HumanRightsDynamics.pdf

Reprinted in Women’s Rights: A Human Rights Quarterly Reader, ed. Bert B. Lockwood, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2006, 557-612.  
Spanish edition, 2004:
http://www.gire.org.mx/phpnuke/modules.php?name=prueba&opgire=61

Bernard Dickens has edited and often authored or co-authored quarterly articles on Ethical and Legal Issues in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics since 1999. http://www.law.utoronto.ca/programs-centres/programs/irshl-reproductive-and-sexual-health-law/irshl-ijgo-ethical-and-legal

 

 

Research areas
Health Law
Reproductive and Sexual Health Law
Sexuality and the Law