معرفی
Professor Al Dowie is the inaugural Professor of Medical Ethics and Law at the University of Glasgow's School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing, where he serves as the lead for ethics and law across the undergraduate Medical School, Dental School, and Nursing and Health Care School. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and holds a Visiting Research Professor position at Sapienza Università di Roma.
His academic background includes a first degree in mathematics and natural philosophy (physics) from the University of Glasgow, followed by humanities studies at the same institution, a master's degree from Princeton University, and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. His doctoral research focused on the intersection of ethics, hermeneutics, and social anthropology, with ethnographic work published in 2002.
Professor Dowie's philosophical interests span from the pre-Socratics to Aristotle, with particular focus on Scottish Enlightenment philosophers of moral motivation (David Hume and Thomas Reid) and the neo-Aristotelian hermeneutical theory of Hans-Georg Gadamer. His medical ethics expertise centers on confidentiality, consent, capacity, ethical reasoning in clinical practice, medical ethics education, and the history of medical ethics in Britain since John Gregory (1724-73) and Thomas Percival (1740-1804).
His recent scholarly output demonstrates consistent engagement with evolving ethical challenges in medicine, particularly in AI ethics, end-of-life care, professional ethics, and innovative approaches to medical ethics education using methodologies like maieutics (Socratic questioning).
- Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
- Associate Editor for History and Medical Humanities: Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
- Editorial Board Member: Medical Teacher
- Member of General Medical Council's Confidentiality guidance Task and Finish Group
- Chair of NHS Scotland National Services Division Expert Panel on Pre-implantation Genetic Testing
Professor Dowie delivers ethics and law curricula across 18 distinct year groups for MBChB, BDS, and BN (Honours) degrees. He serves as Course Director for the MSc module in Medical and Research Ethics (MED5408) and contributes to the Graduate Certificate in Burns & Plastic Surgery Care, covering topics from introductory ethics to specialized areas including the ethics and law of confidentiality, consent, negligence, mental health, and end-of-life care.
