Ethics and Policy Advising

My academic work has always been applied to solving "real world" problems and it has always been my aim to have an impact on policy and practice. I therefore work with government, non-government, educational and industry organisations to:

  • Understand and develop strategies for managing the ethical issues that arise in their internal organisational processes (e.g. conflicts of interest) and specific domain of practice (e.g. research ethics, data ethics, health technology ethics, professional practice ethics, resource allocation) 

  • Articulate their positions (and those of key organisational stakeholders) on value-laden issues, and communicate these positions to the relevant audiences 

  • Resolve specific ethical quandaries and challenges when they arise.

Key ethics and policy advisory roles have included:

  • Being a member of ethics committee of the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (Deputy Chair) and Royal Australasian College of Physicians

  • Guiding the University of Sydney, Royal Australians College of Physicians, Cochrane, Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons and Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law on policies related to industry interactions, conflict of interest and advertising

  • Leading the writing of an ethics framework for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperative (APEC) and Australian Ethical Health Alliance

  • Providing general ethical guidance as a member of the Steering Committees of Brain Cancer Consortium and the Australian Ethical Health Alliance

  • Advising professional medical organisations on a submission to Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee

  • Advising the Queensland Institute of Medical Research on a research ethics issue.

I have also written ethics guidelines, reports and frameworks for a wide range of organisations (see Writing and Editing).

To support my ethics advisory roles, I have developed an online tool—iCON—that can be used to guide individuals and organisations in the identification, appraisal and management of COIs. iCON has been designed to be adaptable to any kind of organisation within and beyond health, including business, professional, government, and NGOs. Several organisations in Australia and beyond have expressed interest in the tool and it is currently being commercialised.