Dr. Judy Illes



Professor (tenure) 

Associate Faculty, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia
Associate Faculty, School of Journalism, University of British Columbia
Associate Faculty, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington

(604) 822-0746
jilles@mail.ubc.ca

Biography & Research Interest:

Dr. Illes, trailblazing neuroethicist, is Professor of Neurology at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Distinguished University Scholar, UBC Distinguished Scholar in Neuroethics, and Director of Neuroethics Canada. She holds appointments in UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, and in Journalism, and in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, in Seattle. She 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.

Dr. Illes received her PhD in Hearing and Speech Sciences and in Neuropsychology from Stanford University in 1987, and turned to ethics in 2000, 25 years ago. She was among the first to use high density EEG recordings and pattern recognition to understand language processing in neurodegenerative disease, and was part of the revolution that functional MRI introduced. Together with a vision for ethics for neuroscience led from within the neurosciences, Dr. Illes has not only placed neuroethics on the world map of , but has tirelessly trained the generation that leads it today, and already those who will lead it tomorrow.

With her expertise in both neurosciences and ethics, Dr. Illes has served in major USA leadership positions, including the first group that formed the Forum on Neurological Sciences at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine where the term connectome was coined. She is the academic lead of the working group convened by Health Canada on neurotechnology ethics, in response to OECD’s principles established in 2018 which she helped to draft, is Canada’s delegate to UNESCO today on this subject, and she has served as an expert advisory for the World Health Organization. Dr. Illes has published 11 edited volumes, including three handbooks in neuroethics and as Editor in Chief of the series of volumes for Developments in Neuroethics and Bioethics. Volumes have been devoted to ethics in pain across the lifespan, global mental health, do-it-yourself neurotechnology,
neurodevelopment, transnational law and ethics for neuroscience, neuroarchitechture and neuro-AI. She has led major research projects and hundreds of publications on invasive and noninvasive technologies, fixed and portable imaging systems such as MRI, biologics, pharmaceuticals, and devices, open science and intellectual property protections. In 2023, she released an award-winning film on neurotechnology ethics and decision-making for children with drug resistant epilepsy. Dr. Illes has also contributed significantly to the Canadian landscape in understanding crosscultural perspectives on brain and mind, including those of Indigenous People. She has received countless awards and recognitions for her empirical work and her mentoring alike.

Dr. Illes places a particular emphasis on issues of ethics in neuroscience with attention to biomedicine, innovations that seek to alleviate the burden of psychiatric and neurologic disease, including spinal cord injury, both expected and unexpected incidental findings, holism, human rights and health disparities. With this open and broad perspective, she capably leads the seven-nation International Brain Initiative dedicated to global neuroscience that is inclusive and politically free. To this end, Dr. Illes is tapped
frequently by the international ethics, neuroscience, and engineering communities, by the media for public comment, and by governments around the world for her wisdom and guidance.

Dr. Illes was awarded the Order of Canada, the country’s highest recognition of its citizens, in 2017.