Centre for Clinical Ethics

Steve Abdool is a Clinical Ethicist with extensive experience in healthcare ethics, organizational ethics, and bioethics. He serves as a Clinical Ethicist with the Centre for Clinical Ethics at Unity Health Toronto and supports ethics consultation, policy development, education, and organizational decision-making across healthcare settings. Originally trained as a registered nurse in England, Steve worked in both physical medicine and psychiatry before pursuing undergraduate studies in psychology and philosophy, followed by graduate specialization in bioethics. Throughout his career, he has held leadership roles in ethics programs at hospitals and regional healthcare organizations, providing guidance on complex clinical, organizational, and research ethics issues. Steve is recognized for his work in ethics consultation, ethics education, and policy development, with particular expertise in mental health ethics, end-of-life care, patient autonomy, informed consent, resource allocation, and culturally sensitive ethical decision-making. He has presented at national and international conferences and has contributed to advancing ethical practice across the Canadian healthcare system.

Lee de Bie is a Clinical Ethicist and Lead of the Ethics Program at St. Joseph’s Health System. They have a diverse academic background, including a PhD in social work and gender studies, a graduate degree in bioethics, and professional training in social work. Lee has extensive experience in community mental health crisis response and has been involved in disability and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities for more than 15 years.

Md Shaikh Farid is a Clinical Ethics Fellow at the Centre for Clinical Ethics, Unity Health Toronto, and the University of Toronto. He is also a Visiting Research Scholar at the Toronto School of Theology and currently on leave from his position as a Professor in the Department of World Religions and Culture at the University of Dhaka. He holds a PhD in Education from the University of Hong Kong and an Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree in Bioethics, with a research focus on global health ethics and religion in healthcare.

Farid’s scholarly work explores ethical challenges at the intersection of culture, religion, and clinical practice, including organ donation and transplantation ethics, Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Catholic education and social justice, and leadership ethics in healthcare. He is currently working on a book project with Springer examining organ donation in Bangladesh from religious, cultural, and policy perspectives. His broader research also engages with the development of clinical ethics consultation in Bangladesh and examines ethical dilemmas related to resource allocation for rare diseases in low-and middle-income countries, particularly in contexts such as Bangladesh.

Sean Hillman is a clinical bioethicist and lead of the ethics service for Lakeridge Health in Durham Region for 10 years. Sean is a Medical Anthropologist and Indologist and received his doctorate in religious studies, bioethics and south asian studies from U of T. Sean teaches family medicine Residents at U of T, as well as first year medical students and critical care Residents for Queen’s University. Sean was a nursing assistant for 20 years and has certification in end-of-life law from Queen’s University.

Dave Langlois is a Clinical Ethicist with the Centre for Clinical Ethics. Before joining the CCE, Dave earned his Ph.D. in Harvard University’s Department of Philosophy (2007-2014). While studying at Harvard, Dave was a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) doctoral fellow (2007-2011) and a graduate research fellow at the Edmond J. SafrSafrater for Ethics (2011-2012). After completing his doctorate, he was an SSHRC postdoctoral fellow at Queen’s University, Kingston (2014-2015) and then a clinical ethics fellow at the CCE (2015-2016). Dave is interested in a wide range of topics in bioethics but has special interests concerning substitute decision-making, end-of-life care, and the limits of patient autonomy.

Evan Mackie is a Clinical Ethicist who provides primary support for Providence Healthcare and Baycrest. Evan received his Bachelor’s and master’s degree in philosophy from Wilfrid Laurier University and is currently a PhD candidate at Carleton University in their Ethics and Public Affairs program. His general research work is in Public Health Ethics, with the focus of his thesis being on how a government can mediate between the competing principles of public health and bodily integrity when making policy decisions. Evan has recently completed a Clinical Ethics Fellowship at University Health Network, preparing him for his current role. He has always had a passion for ethics and is very excited to be a part of such a world class institution and team.

Marina is a clinical ethicist providing primary support to the Unity Health community, with almost 10 years experience providing clinical, organizational, and research ethics support within complex care settings in both Canada and the United States. Her entrance into this field began rather serendipitously upon meeting an ethicist while supporting her grandfather’s journey with Alzheimer’s in the long-term care community, beginning her particular expertise in high-acuity environments, including mental health and neurodegenerative disease. Marina’s core work focuses on ethics quality improvement, most currently utilizing evidence to build proactive ethics interventions into everyday care, including the development and evaluation of clinical ethics services themselves. Her current scholarly pursuits include the exploration of the intersection of the future of work, artificial intelligence, and ethics.

Lynda Sullivan is the Administrative Assistant for the Centre for Clinical Ethics (CCE). Lynda started working at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in 1982 as the Secretary for the Director of the Medical Staff Office. In 1990 she began working as a Secretary for Dr. George Webster who was the Director of the Clinical Ethics Service for St. Joseph’s Health Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital and Providence Healthcare. In 1998, Lynda began working as the Administrative Assistant for Dr. Hazel Markwell, Director of the newly created CCE. She retired in 2018 but continues to work as the Administrative Assistant for the CCE on a part-time basis and remains the centre’s longest-running staff member.

Michael Szego joined St. Joseph’s Health Centre as a clinical ethicist in 2011 and is now the Senior Director of the Centre for Clinical Ethics at Unity Health Toronto. He is the lead clinical ethics consultant at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, helps oversee the ethics programs at 11 partner healthcare organizations across the GTHA, and is Vice Chair of the Unity Health Research Ethics Board. He is an Assistant Professor, Affiliated Scientist in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Departments of Family and Community Medicine and Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. Michael has a Doctorate in Molecular Genetics and a Masters of Health Science in Bioethics from the University of Toronto. He also completed a fellowship in clinical and organizational ethics at the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto. Michael combines his love or science and ethics when directing a graduate course on ethical issues associated with genomics and is a member of the National DNA Data Bank Advisory Committee. His research interests include the intersection of genomics and ethics and bioethics education.

Andrew Tamale is a Clinical Ethics Fellow with a background in clinical medicine and clinical research, and a recent graduate of a Masters in Health Ethics. His current work focuses on the ethics of healthcare policy, with particular interest in how autonomy and informed consent are exercised by vulnerable populations. His research explores the ethical challenges of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), especially in the context of mental illness.

Jordan Joseph Wadden is a clinical bioethicist and healthcare researcher with a focus on mental health and artificial intelligence. He conducts interdisciplinary research, incorporating both theoretical and applied knowledge to address ethical issues in healthcare. Jordan is also involved in clinical consultation and has a strong commitment to ethics education, including coaching ethics bowls and mentoring younger students. His work spans various areas, including access to healthcare for marginalized populations and the ethical implications of technology in healthcare.