Dr. Cyndie Dubé Baril
CIHR Douglas Kinsella Doctoral Award for Research in Bioethics
After completing her doctorate in dental medicine with a specialty in pediatric dentistry, Dr. Dubé-Baril practiced this profession for 15 years in a variety of settings, including private practice, the public service, a university teaching setting, and hospitals. This diverse experience gave her an intimate knowledge of the workings of Quebec's health-care system and the various rights, responsibilities, and obligations of health professionals, staff, and patients. This experience, together with her energetic involvement in numerous professional activities (notably as a member of the disciplinary committee of Quebec Order of Dentists) also made her aware of certain shortcomings in dentists' practices, and especially in their processes for obtaining informed consent.
Dr. Dubé-Baril is just as passionate about the law as she is about dentistry. She is a licensed lawyer and holds two Master of Laws degrees: one in health law and the other in international law and international policy. While completing these degrees, she had the honour of articling for the Honourable Justice Joseph Nuss of the Quebec Court of Appeal from 2001-2002, in addition to completing her internship for admission to the Quebec Bar at the law firm of McCarthy-Tétrault. She also practiced as a lawyer/manager in private industry for four years. She is very active in the legal community; for example, she sits on the Quebec Bar's committee on balancing lawyers' professional and family lives. Over the past few years, she has also delivered a number of lectures on medicine and the law.
In her current research for her Doctor of Laws degree, Dr. Dubé-Baril is seeking a better understanding of the organizational structures and processes and the personal behaviours that affect the quality of patients' consent to treatment. She is studying the objective conditions for obtaining informed consent and, more particularly, the practical methods that dentists must use to ensure that patients have an adequate understanding of the information disclosed.
The CIHR Douglas Kinsella Doctoral Award for Research in Bioethics honours the accomplishments of Dr. T. Douglas Kinsella in bioethics and his lifelong promotion of the ethical treatment of humans in research. Dr. Kinsella, CM, MD, FRCPC (February 15, 1932 - June 15, 2004) dedicated much of his life to the field of bioethics, including research on ethical, legal and medical issues involved in assisted suicide, non-voluntary euthanasia and genetics research.