Brief CV

Academic Appointments

Director, Centre for Bioethics, Memorial University 
September 2022- present 

Visiting Fellow, Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University
September 2019-June 2020

Associate Professor, Memorial University
September 2018- present 

Assistant Professor (tenure track), Memorial University
September 2012-September 2018

Academic Fellow, Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto
July 2009- June 2010

Education

B.A. Honours, Queen’s University

M.A. Philosophy, Queen’s University

Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Virginia

  • Dissertation: “The Relevance of Method: Moral Theory and Moral Thought” 
  • Supervisor: Cora Diamond  
  • Examination Committee: John Arras, Talbot Brewer, James Childress, Daniel Devereux
  • Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Year Fellow
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellow

Selected Publications 

Flynn, J. "Theory and Bioethics," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), first published November 25, 2020. (Currently under major revision).

Flynn, J. (2024).[Review of Bioethics: What Everyone Needs to Know, by Bonnie Steinbock and Paul T. Menzel]. Bioethics, 38(4), 375–376. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.13259

Seavilleklein, V., Flynn, J., Frolic, A., Wagner, F., & Lee-Ameduri, K. (2024). Do Clinical Ethicists Improve with Experience? And, If So, How Would We Know? Canadian Journal of Bioethics, 7(2–3), 209–213. https://doi.org/10.7202/1112300ar

Flynn, J., & Ramji, N. (2019). Uterine Transplantation: Ethics in Light of Recent Successes. International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, 12(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.3138/ijfab.12.1.01

Flynn, J. (2018). Effort? Natural Talent? More on the Normative Structure of Sport. American Journal of Bioethics, 18(6), 28–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2018.1459946

Flynn, J., Watson, J. C., & Guidry-Grimes, L. K. (2018). Clinical Ethics Consultation: Moralism and Moral Expertise. In Moral Expertise (Vol. 129, pp. 259–274). Springer International Publishing AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92759-6_15

Flynn, J., Shaul, R. Z., Hanson, M. D., Borschel, G. H., & Zuker, R. (2014). Pediatric facial transplantation: Ethical considerations. Canadian Journal of Plastic Surgery, 22(2), 67–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/229255031402200212

Flynn, J. (2013). Is Williams a Dancian Particularist?, in C.B. Herrera and Alexandra Perry, eds., The Moral Philosophy of Bernard Williams (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press), 93-102. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-4438-4790-2-sample.pdf

Flynn, J. (2010). The lives of animals and the form-content connection. In A. Leist & P. Singer (Ed.), J. M. Coetzee and Ethics: Philosophical Perspectives on Literature (pp. 317-336). New York Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.7312/leis14840-015

Flynn, J. (2010). Recent Work: Moral Particularism. Analysis, 70(1), 140–148. https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anp154

Selected Presentations 

“Moral Sensibility and Moral Justification in Bioethics,” Canadian Philosophical Association, June 2nd, 2021.

“Clinical Ethicists and their Improvement with Experience,” Canadian Bioethics Society, May 27th, 2021.

“Pandemic Measures: Moral Reasoning and Public Response,” as part of speakers’ series entitled “Unapparent Ethical Implications of COVID-19,” University of Toronto Philosophy Student Course Union, Toronto, ON, January 22nd, 2021.

Talk to grade seven/eight class, “Being a Moral Philosopher,” Lord Roberts French Immersion School, London ON, December 19th, 2019.

“Moralism and Moral Expertise,” as member of panel entitled “Moral Expertise from International Perspectives,” International Conference on Clinical Ethics Consultation (ICCEC), University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, June 21st, 2018.

“Moral Naturalism and Naturalized Bioethics,” American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, Washington, DC, October 7th, 2016.

 “Clinical Ethics Consultation: Is it Ever Moralistic?,” Bioethics Seminar Series, University of Toronto, Joint Centre for Bioethics, Toronto, ON, October 26th, 2016.

Selected Committees 

Memorial University Senate, elected member, September 2021-August 2023.

Interdisciplinary Committee on Ethics in Human Research, Memorial University, October 2012-August 2024 (with a break from July 2019-August 2021.

Selected Media

CBC Radio One, St. John’s Morning Show, live interview on the discontinuation of an expensive cancer therapy, September 19, 2023 (https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-56-st-johns-morning-show/clip/16133017-questions-around-bioethics-drug-coverage).

CBC Radio One, St. John’s Morning Show, interview on ethical issues raised by the covid-19 pandemic, February 3, 2022 (https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-56-st-johns-morning-show/clip/15892962-ethics-fighting-pandemic).

CBC Radio One, St. John’s Morning Show, interview on the NL physician shortage and the moral right to health care, November 16, 2021 (https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-56-st-johns-morning-show/clip/15878632-the-doctor-dilemma-part-1).

CBC Radio One, On the Go, interview on organ allocation and liver transplantation, December 18, 2017 (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/delilah-saunders-ethics-liver-donation-1.4454795).

CBC Radio One, On the Go, interview on medical assistance in dying, July 27, 2017.