CCA announces Dr. Eric M. Meslin, FCAHS, as new President and CEO

On behalf of the Board of Governors of the Council of Canadian Academies, Chair of the Board, Margaret Bloodworth, announced today the appointment of Eric M. Meslin, PhD, FCAHS as the Council’s new President and CEO, commencing February 1st, 2016.

“We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Meslin joining the Council as its new President and CEO,” said Ms. Bloodworth. “His wealth of leadership experience and diverse background in academia and advisory roles makes him uniquely qualified to take the Council through its next phase of growth. I would also like to extend our sincere thanks to Ms. Janet Bax, who stepped in as Interim President and CEO when the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell was appointed as Ontario’s 29th Lieutenant Governor,” Ms. Bloodworth added. “We are very grateful to Ms. Bax for her leadership over the past year guiding the Council through renewed federal funding and its inaugural privately funded assessment.”

Dr. Meslin is founding Director of the Indiana University Center for Bioethics and Associate Dean for Bioethics in the Indiana University School of Medicine. He was also Professor of Bioethics; of Medical & Molecular Genetics; of Bioethics and Law; of Public Health, and of Philosophy and has held visiting positions at the University of Toronto, University of Oxford, University of Western Australia, and the Université de Toulouse as the Pierre de Fermat Chaire d’Excellence.

“I have followed the Council since its inception and have been very impressed with the diversity and rigour of its expert panel reports,” said Dr. Meslin. “I look forward to returning to Canada to work with this well-respected and evidence-driven organization, its member academies, and supporters. This is an exciting time for science.”

Born in Canada, Dr. Meslin received his BA from York University, and his MA and PhD from Georgetown University. Prior to his time in Indiana, he was director of bioethics research for the ELSI program at the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute from 1996 to 1998, and then Executive Director of the U.S. National Bioethics Advisory Commission from 1998 to 2001, appointed by President Bill Clinton. He regularly advises international organizations including the WHO and the UK Biobank, and has been a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Ethical and Scientific Issues in Studying the Safety of Approved Drugs; the Ethics Subcommittee to the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the Board of Directors and Science and Industry Advisory Committee of Genome Canada. He was appointed a Chevalier de l’Order nationale du Mérite (Knight of the National Order of Merit) by the French Ambassador to the United States for contributions to French bioethics policy in 2007, and inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2015.

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The Council of Canadian Academies is an independent, not-for-profit organization that began operation in 2005. The Council undertakes independent, evidence-based, expert assessments that inform public policy development in Canada. Assessments are conducted by independent, multidisciplinary panels of experts from across Canada and abroad. Panel members serve free of charge and many are Fellows of the Council’s Member Academies – the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. The Council’s vision is to be a trusted voice for science in the public interest. For more information about the Council or its assessments, please visit www.scienceadvice.ca

For more information please contact:

Samantha Rae Ayoub
Communications and Publishing Director
Council of Canadian Academies
613.567.5000 x 256
samantha.rae@scienceadvice.ca