Our Team — JustCan ethics lab

Meet the JustCan Ethics Lab team.

LAB DIRECTOR
Jennifer A.H. Bell is the Director of the JustCan Ethics Lab. She is a Senior Bioethicist and Director of Bioethics Research in the Department of Clinical and Organizational Ethics, and Clinician Scientist within the Department of Supportive Care (Research Division) at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and member of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics.
Jennifer received an honours bachelor's degree in philosophy specializing in bioethics from the University of Toronto, a master's degree in philosophy and biomedical ethics from McGill University, and a doctoral degree in interdisciplinary studies (bioethics and psychosocial oncology) from the University of British Columbia. She is an alumna of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Psychosocial Oncology Research Training (PORT) and Ethics of Health Research and Policy Training Programs.
In 2020, Jennifer received the CIHR - Institute of Cancer Research - Early Career Investigator Award from the Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology.

BIOETHICS RESEARCH ANALYST I 2024 - PRESENT
Akosua Nwafor (she/her) is a Bioethics Research Analyst at the University Health Network and a Bioethicist at Ontario Shores Centre for the Mental Health Sciences. Her research interests include decision-making in clinical research, racial justice, and access to care. Akosua earned a Master of Health Sciences in Bioethics from the University of Toronto and an Honours Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science with a Minor in Applied Ethics from the University of Ottawa. At the JustCan Ethics lab, Akosua primarily supports a project exploring the use of personalized next generation cell and gene technologies.

RESEARCH VOLUNTEER I 2020 - PRESENT
Dilpreet Matharu (she/her) is a Master of Public Health graduate with a specialization in Infection Prevention and Control from Queen’s University. Her research interests encompass critical domains, including health equity, the ethical dimensions of HIV/AIDS research, women's reproductive health, and the multifaceted ethical considerations in complex healthcare decisions, particularly in cancer care and medical assistance in dying.
Dilpreet earned her Honours Bachelor of Science degree with a minor in Biology from the University of Waterloo, where her coursework in public health and ethics fostered her passion for the field of bioethics. With a strong foundation in research, data analysis, and program evaluation, Dilpreet has actively engaged in diverse research initiatives. Her previous research work at Refuhope included investigating the unique challenges faced by refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic. At JustCan ethics lab, Dilpreet is currently working on a project exploring the ethical concerns of utilizing AI in HIV research and prevention strategies.

RESEARCH VOLUNTEER I 2023 - PRESENT
Thomas Liang is an undergraduate student studying Health Sciences at Western University. His research interests include bioethics, applied ethics, social & behavioural health sciences, health equity, and public health. Within ethics, he is especially passionate about reproductive ethics, population ethics, normative ethics, and public health ethics.
Recently, he has enjoyed delving into topics such as human enhancement through gene editing and embryo selection, end-of-life issues and the philosophy of death, and our responsibilities to future generations. Thomas’ scholarly work has been published in journals, such as the American Journal of Bioethics (including two recent commentaries on diversity among bioethicists and gene editing) and the University of Toronto Journal of Public Health.
In the lab, he is currently working on a normative paper on the ethics of using large language model chatbots in the patient-trial matching process to support the decision-making and autonomy of patients with cancer. He also manages the lab website!

RESEARCH VOLUNTEER I 2024 - PRESENT
Danylo is a graduate of the Harvard Medical School Master of Bioethics (MBE) program. His capstone thesis explored questions of autonomy for patients with mental health issues and the role of narrative medicine in patient-centered mental health care.
Within bioethics, his research interests include autonomy and decision-making, mental health ethics, and issues of equity and access .
At the JustCan Ethics lab, he supports projects relating to CAR T-cell therapy and bioethics in cancer research.

RESEARCH VOLUNTEER I 2024 - PRESENT
Natalie Yeh is a graduate from the University of Toronto where she earned her Honours Bachelor of Science degree majoring in bioethics and minoring in biology and physiology. She is especially passionate about the fields of AI ethics, philosophy of law and bioethics within philosophy.
Her research interests in bioethics include applications of AI in bioethics, healthcare policy, resource allocation and clinical decision making. At JustCan Lab, she supports a project that looks at the application of large language models to support patient decision making in cancer clinical-trial matching.