Officer of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: April 6, 2006
• Invested on: December 15, 2006

Bernard Dickens, a professor emeritus in the faculties of Law and Medicine at the University of Toronto, is a pioneer in the field of health law in Canada. He is renowned nationally and internationally as an authority on the legal and ethical issues that have arisen due to the development of new medical knowledge and technologies. His seminal scholarship has examined topics such as cloning, the use of human embryos for research, and new reproductive technologies. A world figure in bioethics, he has worked with teaching hospitals, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the World Health Organization to develop ethical standards for medical research.