Michelle Taylor-Sands

Michelle Taylor-Sands is Professor at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, serving as Director of the Health Law and Ethics Network and Director of the Master of Health and Medical Law program. She earned a PhD from the University of Melbourne and a BA/LLB (Hons) from Monash University. Prior to academia, she worked nine years as a senior lawyer with the Australian Government Solicitor, specializing in litigation involving government law and regulation. Subsequently, she advised the Victorian Government on assisted reproductive treatment law and policy reform.

In her current roles, she is a legal member of the Victorian Mental Health Tribunal and Patient Review Panel, and serves on the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority Advisory Panel and Melbourne Law School Staff Equity and Diversity Committee. She was appointed to the Australian Health Ethics Committee for 2024–2027. Michelle teaches and researches health law and bioethics, focusing on reproductive health law, ethics of selective reproduction, welfare of the future child, prenatal screening, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, non-invasive prenatal testing, and trans and gender diverse healthcare for children and adolescents. Her key publications include the book Saviour Siblings: A Relational Approach to the Welfare of the Child in Selective Reproduction (Routledge, 2013); "Regulating non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for fetal sex determination" (2023); "Re Imogen: the role of the Family Court of Australia in disputes over gender dysphoria treatment" (2021); "The role of the Mental Health Tribunal in setting duration of compulsory treatment in Victoria" (2020); and "Australia's courts and gender dysphoria" (Pursuit, 2022). Her work has over 224 citations on Google Scholar and appears in leading legal, medical, and bioethical journals.

Professional Email: m.taylor-sands@unimelb.edu.au