Rate My Professor Taryn Knox

Dr Taryn Knox is a Lecturer in the Department of Bioethics within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Otago, Dunedin. She holds a PhD, Master of Bioethics and Health Law (MBHL), Master of Arts (MA), Bachelor of Arts with Honours (BA(Hons)), and Bachelor of Laws (LLB), all obtained from the University of Otago. Her 2018 PhD thesis, titled 'Safeguarding against the medical treatment of homosexuality,' investigated definitions of 'mental illness' designed to protect against abusive medical interventions, including forced conversion therapy for gay individuals and the institutionalisation of political dissidents. Knox serves on the University of Otago Human Ethics Committee and teaches ethics to students in medicine, physiotherapy, pharmacy, dentistry, and oral health through courses such as BITC 201.

Knox's academic interests center on the philosophy of psychiatry and medicine, mental health ethics, and sports ethics, exploring how the philosophy of language and the philosophy of science can inform ethical decisions in medicine, especially psychiatry. She currently collaborates with Associate Professor Lynley Anderson on research addressing the gender binary in elite sports and adaptations to ensure fairness and inclusion for transgender athletes. Her publications include 'Pregnant women are often not listened to, but pathologising pregnancy isn’t the solution' (Journal of Medical Ethics, 2025, with Brad Partridge), 'Sport-related concussion research agenda beyond medical science: Culture, ethics, science, policy' (Journal of Medical Ethics, 2025, with Mike McNamee et al.), 'Operationalizing Fairness' (American Journal of Bioethics, 2024), 'Pregnancy should not be classified as a disease: A normative argument' (Proceedings of the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law Conference, 2025), and 'Calling time on collision sport for children?' (seminar, 2024, with Alexander Gilbert and Lynley Anderson). Earlier works feature 'Transwomen in elite sport: scientific and ethical considerations' (Journal of Medical Ethics, 2019, with Lynley C. Anderson and Alison Heather) and 'Kid's Cage-fighting: It Should Be Banned, Right?' (Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 2022, with Lynley Anderson).