Michael J. Selgelid is a

bioethicist Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, med ...

and moral

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

who has written on ethics and

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

, and

infectious diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

. He is the current director of the

Centre for Human Bioethics The Centre for Human Bioethics is the previous name of a research and teaching centre at Monash University, based in the Faculty of Arts. The Centre is now known as the Monash Bioethics Centre. It focusses on the branch of ethics known as bioethics ...

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

and of the

World Health Organization Collaborating Centre World Health Organization collaborating centres are institutions that work with the World Health Organization (WHO) in disciplines such as occupational health, food safety, and communicable disease prevention. There are over 700 such centres across ...

for Bioethics therein.

Education

Selgelid studied a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, and completed his PhD in Philosophy at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

under the supervision of

Philip Kitcher Philip Stuart Kitcher (born 20 February 1947) is a British philosopher who is John Dewey Professor Emeritus of philosophy at Columbia University. He specialises in the philosophy of science, the philosophy of biology, the philosophy of mathema ...

Work and awards

While the completing his PhD in San Diego, Selgelid became a research fellow at the European Academy (Europaische Akademie), Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany. In 2003 he worked at the

University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

in South Africa and spent time at the

University of Murcia The University of Murcia ( es, Universidad de Murcia) is the main university in Murcia, Spain. With 38,000 students, it is the largest university in the Región de Murcia. The University of Murcia is the third oldest university in Spain, after t ...

in Spain. In 2005 he joined the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, Australia, and in 2006 he became a senior research fellow at the

Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics The Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) was a research center at Charles Sturt University and the University of Melbourne. CAPPE ceased operation on 31 December 2016. Its website has been archived and the academic staff and re ...

at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

(ANU) in Canberra. At ANU he also was the Deputy Director of the National Centre for Biosecurity. Since 2006, Selgelid continued to be involved with the

as an Honorary Lecturer. Selgelid joined the

in 2011, becoming its director. His work in bioethics, specifically in biosecurity and global health, has been recognised by organisations such as the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

(WHO) and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia. During the 2014 Ebola Crisis, Selgelid advised the WHO. The Monash University's Centre for Human Bioethics has been named a WHO Collaborating Centre for Bioethics. In 2004, he was a finalist for the Mark S. Ehrenreich Prize in Healthcare Ethics Research, and has been awarded multiple research fellowships to the Brocher Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland.

Publications

Selected books authored or edited include: * ''Ethical and Philosophical Consideration of the Dual-Use Dilemma in the Biological Sciences'', Dordrecht, NE: Springer, 2008 (with Seumas Miller). * ''Emergency Ethics'' Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2012 (co-edited with A. M. Viens). * ''On the Dual Uses of Science and Ethics: Principles, Practices, and Prospects'', Canberra: ANU E Press, 2013 (co-edited with Brian Rappert).

References

External links

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Articles by Michael J. Selgelid
Living people Academic staff of Monash University Year of birth missing (living people) {{Australia-academic-bio-stub