Nova Scotia Health Ethics Network (NSHEN) is a collaboration between Nova Scotia Health, IWK Health, Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness. We provide ethics support through education, resource development and consultation.
If you are looking for ethics support at Nova Scotia Health click here
If you are looking for ethics support at IWK Health click here
Advisory Council
The mandate of the NSHEN Advisory Council is to oversee and direct the activities of the Network.
Lynn Boudreau
Nova Scotia Health Zone 1 Western
Cheryl Smith
Advisory Council Chair
Ashley Cameron
Nova Scotia Health Zone 3 Eastern
Gail MacDougall
Nova Scotia Health Zone 4 Central
Christy Simpson, PhD
Dalhousie University
Katie Hollis
IWK Health
Tessa Morse
Department of Health and Wellness
and
Eric Blake
Department of Health and Wellness
OPERATIONS TEAM
The Operations Team manages all Network requests, projects, and events.
Christy Simpson, PhD
Ethics Collaborations Coordinator
Dalhousie University
Christy Simpson is the Department Head of the Department of Bioethics at Dalhousie University. She is the coordinator for the ethics-based collaborations between the Department, Capital Health and the IWK Health Centre, as well as NSHEN. Her primary responsibilities include ethics education and capacity-building, policy development and review, and support for clinical and organizational ethics consultations.
Christy completed her doctorate in philosophy, specializing in bioethics, at the Department of Philosophy at Dalhousie University in 2001. During her doctoral studies, Christy also undertook two clinical practicums at local health care facilities, which stimulated her interest in the role of hope in health care. Her research in this area continued during a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta (2000-2002) and is still strong today, in conjunction with health care ethics. Other research interests include rural bioethics and organizational ethics.
Marika Warren, PhD
Health Care Ethicist
Marika Warren is an assistant professor with the Department of Bioethics at Dalhousie University and a health care ethicist for the Nova Scotia Health Ethics Network (NSHEN). Her role with NSHEN involves building ethics capacity in Nova Scotia by providing ethics support such as education, consultation, and assistance with policy development. Marika also be participates in ethics research and collaborations as a member of the Ethics Collaborations Team.
Marika completed a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Toronto. Her dissertation focused on equality rights in the case of severe cognitive disability. She gained additional experience in bioethics as an undergraduated reserach assistant at the University of Alberta’s John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre for a project entitled “Relational Ethics: Foundation for Health Care” and through work for the Provincial Health Ethics Network (PHEN) in Alberta between 1999 and 2008.
Marika’s broad research interest is in social justice and equality, particularly in the context of health and health care. Specific areas of current interest include policy and organizational ethics, social determinants of health, relational conceptions of autonomy, feminist bioethics, the intersection of academic and clinical bioethics, and disability rights.
Lisbeth Witthøfft Nielsen
Program Coordinator
Lisbeth Witthøfft Nielsen is affiliated as lecturer at Department of Bioethics at Dalhousie University and is the Program Coordinator for the Nova Scotia Health Ethics Network.
In her role as program coordinator, Lisbeth contributes to the production of NSHEN’s online ethics education resources and tools, including the NSHEN Fireside Chat series, Featured Article Summaries, NSHEN’s Book Club, and the newly added ethics resource feature ‘Ethics after Hours’.
Amanda Porter, PhD
Health Care Ethicist
Amanda Porter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioethics at Dalhousie University and member of the Ethics Collaborations Team which participates in ethics-based collaborations between the Department, Nova Scotia Health, the IWK Health Centre and the Nova Scotia Health Ethics Network (NSHEN). Amanda completed her doctorate in philosophy at Western University, and a fellowship in Clinical Ethics at London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care London. Prior to joining the Bioethics Department, she worked as a Clinical Ethicist for Alberta Health Services and then as a Policy Analyst for the Nova Scotia College of Pharmacists.
Amanda’s work focuses on clinical and organizational ethics issues that arise in health care. Her collaborative work is intended to build capacity and opportunity for thoughtful handling of ethically challenging situations that arise in everyday practice.
Krista Mleczko-Skerry
Administrator
Krista Mleczko-Skerry is the Administrator for the Nova Scotia Health Ethics Network. Her primary responsibilities include managing NSHEN administratively, coordinating Network education and events, and liaising with Network partners throughout the province.