Rate My Professor Josephine Johnston

Josephine Johnston, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Bioethics at the University of Otago's Division of Health Sciences, is a leading scholar in bioethics. Trained as a lawyer in New Zealand, she holds a BA LLB (Hons) and a Master of Bioethics and Health Law (MBHL) from the University of Otago. Her research examines ethical, legal, and policy dimensions of emerging technologies in medicine and science, with particular emphasis on human reproduction, genetics, psychiatry, and neuroscience. Johnston practiced law in New Zealand and Germany before dedicating twenty years to grant-funded bioethics research in North America. She held positions at prestigious institutions including The Hastings Center (serving as Director of Research from 2012 to 2022), Dalhousie University, the University of Minnesota, and Columbia University, where she taught bioethics and health law.

Her prolific scholarship appears in top-tier outlets such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Nature, Hastings Center Report, and Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Notable publications include co-edited volumes Human Flourishing in an Age of Gene Editing (Oxford University Press, 2019) and Trust and Integrity in Biomedical Research: The Case of Financial Conflicts of Interest (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010). Highly cited articles feature "Embryology policy: Revisit the 14-day rule" (Nature, 2016; 255 citations) and "Sequencing Newborns: A Call for Nuanced Use of Genomic Technologies" (Hastings Center Report, 2018; 138 citations). Recent works address human stem cell-based embryo models (Human Reproduction, 2026) and psychosocial impacts of autism-related genetic testing (Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2026). In 2023, she was elected a Hastings Center Fellow. Johnston contributes to policy as co-chair of the Health Research Council of New Zealand Ethics Committee and member of the Gene Technology Advisory Committee. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry and has published public commentaries in Stat News, The New Republic, Time, Washington Post, and The Scientist, influencing academic and public discourse on bioethics.