Dr. Illes is Professor of Neurology, Distinguished University Scholar and UBC Distinguished Professor in Neuroethics, and Director of Neuroethics Canada (formerly the National Core for Neuroethics) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She is also faculty in the Centre for Brain Health at UBC and at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, and holds associate faculty appointments in the School of Population and Public Health and the School of Journalism at UBC, and in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. USA. She is also a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. She received her PhD from Stanford University in Hearing and Speech Sciences, and Neuropsychology, in 1987.
Dr. Illes is a pioneer of the field of neuroethics through which she has made groundbreaking contributions to cross-cultural ethical, legal, social and policy challenges at the intersection of the brain sciences and biomedical ethics. Among her many international commitments, she is co-Lead of the Canadian Brain Research Strategy, Vice Chair of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addiction (CIHR), Director-at-Large of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, a member of the Ethics Law and Humanities Committee of the American Academy of Neurology, the Ethics Advisor to the EuroBioImaging Consortium, and a member of the GESDA Task Force on neurorights.
Dr. Illes was appointed to the Order of Canada in December 2017. She was elected to the Royal Society (Life Sciences) in 2012, to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2011, and to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Division of Neuroscience) in 2013.
Neuroethics Canada today is home to more than 50 active faculty, researchers, and students. We are formally located in Vancouver at two sites – UBCH and BCCWH – and informally at satellites at the University of Manitoba, Division of Neurosurgery, and the Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation and the Focused Ultrasound Centre of Excellence at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
Our research, educational and outreach programs are made possible by generous support from the UBC Distinguished Scholar Program, the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the National Science and Engineering Council (NSERC), the USA National Institutes of Health (USA), the ERAnet Neuron Program, the North Family Foundation, and the Dana Foundation.
For more details, please visit: https://neuroethics.med.ubc.ca