Vardit Ravitsky

Vardit Ravitsky is Professor in the Bioethics Program at the School of Public Health, Université de Montréal, and serves part-time as Senior Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is President of the International Association of Bioethics and Director of Ethics and Health at the Center for Research on Ethics, Université de Montréal. During the COVID-19 pandemic she founded and chairs the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation’s COVID-19 Impact Committee and co-leads a FRQ-funded research project examining the experiences of pregnant women giving birth under pandemic conditions.

Research Focus: Professor Ravitsky’s scholarship integrates normative bioethics with empirical investigation, addressing ethical challenges in reproductive medicine, clinical practice, public health policy, and emerging technologies. She is particularly noted for work on the ethics of prenatal testing, maternal-fetal conflicts, and the societal implications of genomics and epigenetics. Her COVID-19 initiatives extend this agenda, exploring the impact of physical-distancing protocols on obstetric care, the moral distress of front-line clinical ethicists, and equitable allocation of scarce resources.

Recent Leadership & Grants:

• Co-leader, FRQ-funded study ‘Pregnancy and Childbirth during COVID-19’
• Principal architect, collaborative network of Quebec clinical ethicists for COVID-19 response
• Chair, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation COVID-19 Impact Committee

She actively disseminates findings through media interviews and social media, promoting nuanced public discourse on pandemic-related ethical dilemmas.