Carolyn Johnston

Dr Carolyn Johnston is a senior lecturer in health law, ethics and biotechnology. She joined Melbourne Law School as a Senior Research Fellow in October 2017 and will be working alongside Professor Jane Kaye to build collaborations between the Melbourne Law School and the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct.

Before joining Melbourne Law School, Carolyn was Adviser, Medical Law & Ethics at King’s College London School of Medicine and Senior Lecturer, Kingston University, London, UK. She has extensive experience of teaching ethics and law to undergraduate and postgraduate students and to clinicians and is regularly invited to speak at conferences on health law and clinical ethics. She is Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. Her book 100 Cases in Clinical Ethics and Law, co-authored with Bradbury (2016, Boca Raton, U.S.: CRC Press. 288p. ISBN 9781498739337) was Highly Commended in the Basis of Medicine category, British Medical Association Book Awards 2016.

In her role with the Institute of Medical Ethics she was involved with the revision of the core curriculum for medical ethics and law in UK medical schools.

Carolyn has worked for the UK Clinical Ethics Network providing training to support clinical ethics committees in the UK. She was Vice Chair of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Clinical Ethics Advisory Group and a member of 2 other NHS Trust Clinical Ethics Committees in London. In 2010 she established the King’s College London Student Clinical Ethics Committee.

Carolyn’s research focuses on the legal issues that arise from the establishment of large-scale research infrastructures such as biobanks and data-sharing networks, advance decisions and best interest decision making for adults who lack capacity.