Jocelyn Downie

Professor Jocelyn Downie, C.M., FRSC, FCAHS, SJD, retired after teaching for 27 years with Dalhousie University’s Faculties of Law and Medicine. Downie was a member of the Dalhousie Health Justice Institute with a focus on end-of-life law and policy, particularly on assisted dying. She taught Health Care Ethics and the Law, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility and various law and public policy courses. She also supervised graduate students and postdoctoral fellows on different aspects of health law and policy. She was the principal investigator on numerous research projects in health law and policy, has published dozens of books and articles on health law and policy topics and has spoken at conferences across Canada and around the world. Downie also served on expert panels advising governments and engaged in advocacy, including as part of the legal team in Carter v. Canada which made assisted dying legal in Canada. Following her retirement, she will continue to engage in research and advocacy on assisted dying and also plans to take up woodturning.