Eric M. Meslin

Dr. Eric M. Meslin is the President and CEO of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), a not-for-profit organization that conducts evidence-based assessments of leading policy topics for the Government of Canada. Prior to CCA, Eric spent 15 years at Indiana University where he was Founding Director of the Indiana University Center for Bioethics, Associate Dean for Bioethics in the IU School of Medicine, and a tenured Full Professor of Medicine, of Medical & Molecular Genetics, of Bioethics & Law, of Public Health, and of Philosophy. He also held academic positions at the University of Toronto, the University of Western Australia, and Université de Toulouse, and is s currently Senior Fellow PHG Foundation University of Cambridge, Visiting Fellow Centre of Genomics and Policy at McGill University, and 2020 Mentor for the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

Eric received his BA from York University, and his MA and PhD from Georgetown University, both in philosophy/bioethics. He has published more than 200 articles and book chapters, and two co-edited books on ethical and policy issues in genomics, global health, science policy and research ethics.

Eric was the Bioethics Research Director of the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) program for the Human Genome Project, and Executive Director of the U.S. National Bioethics Advisory Commission established by President Bill Clinton.

Eric has been an advisor to and sat on boards and committees of many organizations including the World Health Organization, UNESCO, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Genome Canada, Institute of Medicine, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the UK Biobank.

Among his honours, Eric is an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Hastings Center, and is a Chevalier de l’Ordre Nationale du Mérite (Knight of the National Order of Merit) for contributions to French bioethics policy.