Faculty Member
Lorraine E. Ferris Ph.D., C.Psych., LL.M (ADR); LLM (Admin Law).
- Email Address(es)
- lorraine.ferris(at)utoronto.ca
- Office Address
- Dalla Lana School of Public Health Health Sciences Building 155 College Street Toronto, ON M5S 1S8
- Division(s)/Institute(s)
- Social & Behavioural Health Sciences Division
- Position
- Professor
- SGS Status
- Full Member
- Appointment Status
- Tenured
Research Interests
- Quality bio-medical publishing
- medico-legal-ethics-policy issues, including confidentiality (and exceptions to it), professional regulation, clinical trials research, scientific integrity,and patient protection laws
- effectiveness and efficiency of health services
Education & Training History
PhD., C.Psych., LL.M. (ADR), LL.M. (Admin Law)
Other Affiliations
Affiliate Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
Primary Teaching Responsibilities
Not yet determined – on academic administrative leave until July 1 2026
Professional Summary & Appointments
University Academic Administrative Positions
2013 – 2026 Associate Vice-President, Research Oversight and Compliance, Office of the Vice President, Research and Innovation [Secondment from DLSPH]
2007 – 2013 Associate Vice Provost, Health Sciences Policy and Strategy, University of Toronto [Secondment from DLSPH]
University Advisory Positions
2026-2029 Special Advisor at the University.
2012. Special Advisor to the Vice-President, Research and Innovation
2005 – 2007 Academic Advisor (Judicial Affairs and Policy) to the Dean of Medicine and Vice-Provost (Health Care Institutions).
2001 – 2005 Judicial Affairs Advisor, Office of the Dean, Faculty of Medicine.
External Professional and Positions
Past President, World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) (2013-2015). Now serving as a Trustee (2018 – Present).
Chair, Ethics and Policy Committee, World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) (2011 to Present)
Member, Editorial Board, The International J of Occupational and Environmental Health
Member, Editorial Board, Medicine and Law
Member, Editorial Board, Risk Management in Canadian Health Care
Honours & Awards
Current Research Projects
- Ethical and legal issues in conducting research in Canada
Representative Publications
Zielinski C, Winker MA, Aggarwal R, Ferris LE, Heinemann M, Lapeña JF, Pai SA, Ing E, Citrome L, Alam M, Voight M, Habibzadeh F, for the WAME Board. Chatbots, Generative AI, and Scholarly Manuscripts. WAME Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative Artificial Intelligence in Relation to Scholarly Publications. WAME. May 31, 2023. https://wame.org/page3.php?id=106 [Published in a number of journals whose editors are members of the World Association of Medical Editors]
Zielinski C, Winker M, Aggarwal R, Ferris LE Heinemann M, Lapeña JF, Pai S, Ing E, Citrome L for the WAME Board. Chatbots, ChatGPT, and Scholarly Manuscripts: WAME Recommendations on ChatGPT and Chatbots in Relation to Scholarly Publications. WAME. January 20, 2023. https://wame.org/page3.php?id=106 [Published in a number of journals whose editors are members of the World Association of Medical Editors]
Ferris LE and Winker MA. Ethical issues in publishing in predatory journals. Biochemia Medica 2017; 27(2) 279-284.
Ferris LE. & Sass-Kortsak A. Sharing Research Findings with Research Participants and Communities. Int J of Occup and Envir Medicine 2011;2(3).
Peirson Leslea J, Boydell, Katherine M, Ferguson H. Bruce & Ferris LE. An Ecological Process Model of Systems Change. American J of Community Psychology 2011;47:307-321.
Rochon PA, Sekeres M, Hoey J, Lexchin J, Ferris LE, Moher D, Wu,W, Kalkar SR, Laethem MV, Gruneir A, Gold J, Maskalyk J, Streiner DL, Taback N, Chan, AW. Investigator Experiences with Financial Conflicts of Interest in Clinical Trials. Trials 2011;120:9..
Rochon PA, Sekeres M, Lexchin J, Moher D, Wu W, Kalkar SR, Laethem MV, Hoey, J, Chan AW, Gruneir A, Gold J, Maskalyk MJ, Streiner DL, Nathan Taback, Ferris LE. Institutional Financial Conflicts of Interest Policies at Canadian Academic Health Science Centres: A National Survey. Open Medicine 2010; 4(3): E134-E138.
Sheldon C, Ferris LE. A Case for a Charter of Patient Rights in Pre-market Drug Trials: Building on the International Conference on Harmonization’s Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice. Medicine and Law, 2010; 29(2); 239 to 262 .
Ferris LE, Lemmens T. Goverance of conflicts of interest in postmarketing surveillance research and the Canadian Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network (DSEN). Open Medicine; 2010:4(2): E123-E126
Ferris LE, Brumback, RA. Academic Merit, Promotion and Journal Peer Reviewing: The Role of Academic Institutions in Providing Recognition [Editorial]. Journal of Child Neurology 2010 May; 25(5);538-540.
Ferris LE, Fletcher RA. Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals: The World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) Position on a Challenging Problem. [Published in a number of medical and biomedical journals whose editors are members of the World Association of Medical Editors].
Rochon PA, Hoey J, Chan AW, Ferris LE, Lexchin J, Kalkar SR, Sekeres M, WU W, Lawthem MV, Gruneir A, Maskalyk MJ, Gold J, Taback N, Moher D. Financial Conflicts of Interest Checklist 2010 for clinical research studies. Open Medicine 2010 Jan-Mar; 4(1):E69-E91. [With an accompanying editorial: Murray S, Kendall C & Palepu A “Opening Pandora’s box: the public declaration of competing interests”. Open Medicine 2010 Jan-Mar; 4(1): 92-94.]
Lexchin J, Sekeres M, Gold J, Ferris LE, Kalkar S, Wu W, van Laethem M, Chan AW, Moher D, Maskalyk MJ, Taback N, Rochon PA. National Evaluation of Policies on Individual Financial Conflicts of Interest in Canadian Academic Health Science Centres. J Gen Intern Med 2008; 23(11); 1896-903. Epub 2008 August 21.