Department of Bioethics

Faculty of Medicine

Sharon Batt

Adjunct Professor, Independent Researcher and Writer

Sharon Batt

Contact information

Email: sharon.batt @dal.ca
Telephone: 902-329-3072
Mailing address:
Department of Bioethics
C-315 CRC Building, Faculty of Medicine
PO Box 15000, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2

Research topics

  • Ethics and the role of patients’ advocacy organizations
  • The pharmaceutical industry and conflicts of interest in medicine
  • Ethnographic methods in bioethics
  • Lay expertise and health technologies
  • Civil society, neoliberalism and health policy
  • Breast cancer and the politics of women’s health

Related information

Education

  • BA (Hon): Carleton University, Ottawa
  • MA: University of British Columbia
  • PhD: Dalhousie University
  • PDF: Pharmaceutical Policy Research Collaboration (PPRC), 2012-13

Research interests

My work combines scholarly research with public education and social change activism. Recent publications and activities extend my book about industry funding of patient groups (Health Advocacy Inc. UBC Press, 2017) into academic, policy and public discussion. Publications include a critical analysis of evidence in law, journalism and ethnography with an international group of political science scholars, a social history analysis of health advocacy in the United States with members of PharmedOut at Georgetown University, reflections on being heckled at a health technology conference, and a project with the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions on corporate opposition to universal Pharmacare. Academic exchanges include visits to the Mario Negri Institute in Milan, Concordia University in Montreal, and the University of Windsor. My public and community engagement includes briefs and consultations to support controls on the price of patented medicines in Canada, membership on Health Canada’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Health Products for Women, membership on the executive of the Nova Scotia Health Coalition, and membership in the advocacy collaboration, Independent Voices for Safe and Effective Drugs.

Selected publications

Media appearances

  • Appearances on CBC’s Information Morning, CBC Ideas, CBC Commentary, Cross-country Check-up, The National, TVO-The Agenda, and others. Op-eds in the Hill Times, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and others.

Selected awards and honours

  • Lilian Robinson Visiting Scholar, Concordia University, Winter 2017
  • Pharmaceutical Policy Research Collaboration (PPRC) Fellowship, 2012-13
  • Dalhousie University, Faculty of Graduate Studies Doctoral Thesis Award: Outstanding doctoral thesis in the humanities and social sciences, 2011-2012, for The breast cancer movement in Canada: from grass roots to pharma partnerships.
  • Essay competition winner, Thirteenth Berlin Roundtable on Transnationality: Health Politics in an Interconnected World, Irmgard Coninx Foundation, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and the Humboldt-University Berlin. Berlin (December, 2010)
  • Laura Jamieson Award (1995), best feminist book published in English Canada, for Patient No More: the politics of breast cancer

Memberships

  • Society for Social Studies of Science (4S)
  • Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA)
  • The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC)

Employment (selected)

  • Elizabeth May Chair in Women’s Health and the Environment, Dalhousie University (2001-2003)
  • Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University (1999-2001)
  • Co-founder and Director of Breast Cancer Action Montreal (BCAM) (1991-1999)
  • Consultant to Health Canada, Planning and follow-up to the National Forum on Breast Cancer (1993-1994)
  • Editor, Protect Yourself Magazine, Quebec Consumer Protection Office, Montreal (1985-91)

Teaching

  • Professional Competencies II, Co-tutor, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, 2012-13 and 2013-2013
  • Women’s Health and the Environment, Graduate Seminar, Faculty of Health Professions, Dalhousie University, 2002-2003
  • Women’s Health and the Environment, Introductory Course, Faculty of Health Professions, Dalhousie University, 2001-2002
  • The Politics of Women's Health, Senior Seminar, Department of Women’s Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University, 1999-2001
  • A Feminist Approach to Women's Health Policy, Senior Seminar, Department of Women’s Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University, 1999-2001

Service & activity