Eric Meslin

Eric M. Meslin, Ph.D., FCAHS

Eric M. Meslin is President and CEO of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) a non-profit organization that conducts independent, evidence-based expert assessments of leading policy topics for the Government of Canada and other sponsors (www.cca-reports.ca). Located in Ottawa, Canada, the CCA’s work encompasses a wide range of policy files in health, energy, environment, and S&T incorporating the natural, social and health sciences as well as engineering and the humanities. As President & CEO, Dr. Meslin has responsibility for all aspects of the organization’s work and its 25+ professional staff.

Dr. Meslin joined the CCA in 2016, bringing with him close to 30 years of experience from academic, professional and government sectors. Prior to CCA, he 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. Trained as a philosopher and bioethicist, Meslin was appointed IU’s first Endowed Professor of Bioethics in 2012. He has held academic positions at the University of Toronto, University of Oxford (the former Green College), as Professor-at-Large at the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Western Australia, and as the Pierre de Fermat Chaire d’ Excellence at the University of Toulouse. He is currently Senior Fellow at the PHG Foundation, University of Cambridge.

Born in Canada, and a dual citizen of Canada and the USA, Dr. Meslin received his BA from York University (Toronto), and his MA and PhD from Georgetown University (Washington DC) both in philosophy/bioethics. He has published more than 200 articles and book chapters, and two edited books on various topics in health and science policy.

His professional experience includes roles as Bioethics Research Director of the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications program at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the US National Institutes of Health where he managed a $25M bioethics grants portfolio for the Human Genome Project. He was then appointed Executive Director of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission established by President Bill Clinton which provided advice to the Executive Branch and the US Congress on stem cell science, cloning international clinical trials, genomics, and related topics.

He has been an advisor to and sat on boards and committees of the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Genome Canada, Institute of Medicine (now National Academy of Medicine), Stem Cell Network, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the UK Biobank.

Among his honors Dr. Meslin is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and a Chevalier de l’Ordre Nationale du Merite (Knight of the National Order of Merit) for contributions to French bioethics policy.

Email: emeslin1020@gmail.com  @emmeslin   Eric M. Meslin