People
Prof Dominique Martin
Dominique is Professor in Health Ethics and Professionalism in the School of Medicine at Deakin University. She studied Medicine and Arts as undergraduate degrees, with majors in Philosophy and English. She completed a PhD in Applied Ethics at the University of Melbourne in 2011 on the topic of markets in human biological materials. Her bioethics research focuses primarily on issues related to procurement, use, and distribution of medical products of human origin such as organs and tissues for transplantation, or gametes used in assisted reproductive treatments, as well as ethical issues in nephrology, and professionalism issues relating to sale of unproven stem cell interventions.
Dominique is currently a member of Deakin University’s Academic Board, Councillor of the international Transplantation Society (TTS), and co-chair of TTS Education Committee. She is also a member of the Doha International Academy for Organ Donation. Dominique is an Associate Editor of the journal Transplantation and is past co-chair of the Ethics Committee of The Transplantation Society and of the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group; she is also past Chair of the Asia Pacific Bioethics Education Network (APBEN). Dominique has also worked with the World Health Organization and the Australian Organ and Tissue Authority on ethical issues in donation and transplantation. Dominique has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and regularly presents at Australian and international medical and bioethics conferences.
Associate Prof Danya Vears
Danya Vears is an Associate Professor in Ethics and Professionalism at Deakin University where she teaches bioethics and research methods to medical students. Prior to this role, she was a Principal Research Fellow and Team Leader at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She also holds an honorary guest professor position at KU Leuven in Belgium where she completed her first postdoctoral fellowship position.
Prior to completing her PhD in bioethics, Danya trained as a genetic counsellor which she believes shapes the way she thinks about the world and therefore her research. Danya’s research uses empirical (predominantly qualitative) and theoretical methodologies to explore ethical issues relating to implementing genomic technologies across a range of settings, including diagnostic genomic sequencing for rare disease and genomic newborn screening.
Danya serves on both national and international professional bodies, such as the Human Genetics Society of Australasia and Global Alliance for Genomics and Health. She is also on the Policy and Ethics Committee and the Scientific Program Committee of the European Society for Human Genetics.
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Dr Mary Dahm is a Senior Lecturer in Health Ethics and Professionalism at Deakin University. She currently holds an ARC DECRA fellowship investigating the critical role and impact of communication on the diagnostic process in health settings. With a background in applied linguistics her program of research is breaking down traditional discipline barriers to address the impact of health communication in quality and safety of care from complementary perspectives and to enhance professional practice. She is a leader in the field of diagnostic communication, and helping to shape global conversations about diagnostic safety.
Mary has extensively taught into undergraduate and postgraduate courses across a range of interdisciplinary academic fields including professional practice (medicine/health/clinical science), research methods, linguistics and health communication. She also developed bespoke research skills workshops for health consumers and researchers in collaboration with the Health Care Consumers’ Association of the ACT.
Her outstanding contributions to research translation and public engagement were recently recognized with a 2024 ACT Young Tall Poppy Award, confirming her position as a rising star in healthcare communication research.
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Ms Jane Duffy, OAM
Jane Duffy is a Senior Lecturer in Health Law and Professionalism at Deakin University’s School of Medicine. She leads the ethics, law, and professionalism theme within Deakin’s medical program. Jane holds qualifications in both optometry and law and has practiced in both fields. She has served on several health practitioner registration boards, including as an inaugural member of the Optometry Board of Australia.
In recognition of her contributions to the optometry profession, she was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2014. Jane’s research interests include the teaching and assessment of health law and professionalism. She has authored several publications research related to demographics and distribution of the optometry workforce in Australia.
Find out more about her work on GoogleScholar.
Dr Tamara Kayali Browne
Tamara is a bioethicist and philosopher of medicine, working as a Lecturer in Health Ethics and Professionalism in the School of Medicine at Deakin University. She has degrees in Biotechnology, History and Philosophy of Science, and Sociology. She completed her PhD at the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge. Her primary research expertise is in the ethics of non-medical sex selection, mental illness and gender. Her book, Depression and the Self: Meaning, Control and Authenticity, published this year with Cambridge University Press, focuses on issues of control, responsibility and the self in depression and uses qualitative interviews with women to explore this topic.
Her papers have appeared in such journals as the Journal of Medical Ethics, Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology, Health, Risk and Society and Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy. Her work has also appeared in the media, including The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Psychology Today, The Globe and Mail, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, ABC radio and The Project. She has received professional recognition for her teaching, becoming a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. While a Lecturer in Bioethics at the Australian National University, her skills were also recognised with three teaching awards – the Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning – with a Colleges of Science Award, a Vice-Chancellor’s Award and a National Award.
Dr Fiona Lynch
Fiona is a genetic counsellor, researcher, and lecturer in Health Ethics, Law and Professionalism at Deakin.
She completed her clinical genetic counselling training at the University of Melbourne. Fiona followed this with a PhD at the University of Melbourne and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, which involved a qualitative exploration of the genetic counselling issues surrounding the use of rapid genomic sequencing in the neonatal and paediatric acute care setting. She continued at MCRI and then the Melbourne Law School in a research role.
Her research focuses on the ethical and social issues that arise in the context of genetic counselling and the use of genetic technologies. Fiona has a passion for mixed-methods research in the fields of genetic counselling, health services delivery and bioethics, and a keen interest in contributing to quality research in these areas. Her research responds to real-world problems and is driven by her passion to promote patient-centred care in the field of medical genetics.
She is passionate about training and sharing her research expertise in the use of qualitative research methodologies, and enjoys participating in activities and engagement on the topic of qualitative research, as well as student supervision.
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Dr Pat McConville
Pat is a philosopher and bioethicist and a lecturer in Health Ethics, Law and Professionalism at Deakin. He has broad interests in continental philosophy, phenomenology (especially in the tradition of Maurice Merleau-Ponty), philosophy of medicine and bioethics, and non-clinical aspects of cardiology. Pat believes that deep reflection on ideas can enrich and help us make sense of our lives. Pat has taught into a number of subjects in philosophy, bioethics, nursing, and medicine at Deakin and other universities. As part of the ethics, law, and professional team in the School of Medicine, he teaches into the Medical Doctor course. Pat is also Chair the undergraduate unit HMM105 Applied Ethics and the postgraduate unit HME711 Health Law and Ethics.
He mostly undertakes research in phenomenology of health and illness, particularly applications of phenomenology to healthcare, and has a keen interest in cardiac experience and heart-related medical interventions. Some of his research interests are informed by his own lived experience as a single-ventricle heart disease patient, about which he has written and published.
He hosts the podcast Concept : Art, featuring interviews with philosophers about the influence of art on their scholarly work. Concept : Art is available on major podcast platforms or on the website: www.conceptart.fm. Prior to working in academia, Pat worked in politics and the trade union movement.
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