Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Tackling tough questions: The 30th anniversary of the Joint Centre for Bioethics 

September 1/2026

On the 30th anniversary of the Joint Centre for Bioethics, current and past leaders reflect on the evolution of bioethics and the challenges ahead.  

By Ishani Nath 

The Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB) is in the business of big questions.

What are the implications of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare? How can health systems distribute limited resources equitably? Who should have access to medical assistance in dying?

For three decades, the JCB has developed training, innovative research and leaders to navigate the world’s toughest, and ever-evolving, bioethics challenges. As the JCB celebrates 30 years of bioethics leadership, the questions it confronts are more urgent and complex than ever before.

Bioethics in simple terms

Professor Jennifer Gibson, director of the JCB and Sun Life Financial Chair in Bioethics, pursued bioethics because of an uncomfortable feeling. During her undergraduate studies, one of her lab assignments involved a rabbit and at some point, she noticed it was in pain. “This really revealed for me that science has ethical responsibilities embedded within it, and sometimes those were overshadowed by curiosity or excitement of new learning,” she says.

Dr. Gibson leaned into that discomfort, which eventually led her to the field of bioethics.

“Often, we know we’re encountering an ethical issue when we get that gut feel that says something’s not right, and that calls us to say, well, what is it about this situation that’s not right?” says Dr. Gibson. “Bioethics is concerned with those inherent conflicts or tensions between our duties in a health-related context. It’s an area of expertise around clarifying competing values.”

Leadership in bioethics, putting knowledge into action

From the beginning, the JCB was built on a foundation of collaboration. The JCB was created in 1995 as a partnership of the University of Toronto Centre for Bioethics and four U of T-affiliated hospitals: Toronto General Hospital (now part of the University Health Network), the Hospital for Sick Children, Sunnybrook Hospital (now Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre) and Mount Sinai Hospital (now the Sinai Health System).

“Our vision 30 years ago was to create a centre that took bioethics from theory to practice,” says Dr. Peter Singer, the inaugural director of the Joint Centre for Bioethics. “We wanted to move beyond bioethics as a theoretical discipline to one that developed tools and trained people so health professionals and institutions could meaningfully improve the care they provide to patients. Since then, exactly that has happened in areas like end-of-life care, public health ethics and AI.”

The JCB has built several educational and training opportunities for students and professionals at various stages of their career. The JCB is instrumental to the Master of Health Science (MHSc) in Bioethics, the Collaborative Specialization in Bioethics (CSB) for research-focused graduate students, and, for early- to mid-career professionals, the AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship in AI and Human-Centred Leadership.

Dr. Gibson explains that students are often drawn to their programs because at some point, they struggled with a sense that things needed to change. Through the JCB, students find the language, frameworks and network of colleagues to challenge their assumptions and enable them to navigate these questions in professional settings with a renewed sense of confidence.

“The Centre emphasized that good ethics work is not about providing quick answers, but about clarifying what is at stake, identifying underlying value conflicts, and creating space for thoughtful dialogue. That approach directly informs how I conduct ethics consultations today — by listening carefully, slowing conversations down when needed and helping teams articulate the moral dimensions of their decisions rather than rushing toward resolution,” says alum Dr. Asma Fazal (MHSc, 2020). After completing her MHSc in Bioethics at DLSPH, Dr. Fazal completed her two-year fellowship in clinical ethics from Children’s Minnesota. She is currently a senior clinical ethicist at Advocate Health in Chicago where she helps health teams navigate and address complex ethical dilemmas, while providing ethics education and creating policies related to clinical ethics.

Dr. Fazal is one of the multiple JCB alumni who have become ethics leaders in health care.

“Over the last 30 years, through the collaborations with the hospitals, the Joint Centre for Bioethics supported the training of the bioethicists, many of whom are now leading the bioethics programs within those hospitals,” says Dr. Gibson.

Beyond local hospitals, the JCB research and alum have worked with governments and policymakers, influencing the practice of bioethics on a provincial, national and international scale. The JCB was the first-ever World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Bioethics (WHO-CC) and co-founded a growing global network of WHO-CCs in bioethics around the world. In 2026, the JCB was redesignated as a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Bioethics in recognition of its valuable work and role in shaping the future of global bioethics.

“Probably the most enduring impact of the JCB has been the hundreds of people it has graduated, who are now making a difference in the lives of patients in Canada and around the world,” says Dr. Singer.

Emerging issues in bioethics

After 30 years, the field of bioethics has changed substantially, making the JCB’s foundation and leadership even more crucial.

“Right now, bioethics is at an inflection point,” says Dr. Gibson. “There are old issues that are perennial or just taking on new dimensions. At the same time, we will find ourselves grappling with issues that are uncomfortable because they are pushing the boundaries of what health is.”

As part of the JCB commitment to making a meaningful difference in the world, Dr. Gibson is always looking for what is coming next. These days, that has her thinking about challenges like psychedelics for mental health, health and global security, health and climate — and the potential for a convergent crisis. With these challenges in mind, the JCB is developing a Bioethics Design Lab — a space where bioethics knowledge can be translated into health research, policy and practice. The aim of the initiative is to embed ethical processes into healthcare systems and public health.

Through this lab, ongoing research and training programs, the JCB continues to build on 30 years of bioethics leadership and research and preparing healthcare professionals for the bioethics challenges of tomorrow.

“We’re training people not in today’s topics of bioethics but ideally providing them with the tools to be able to anticipate whatever comes at them.”