Dr Leslie Cannold is an author, commentator, ethicist and activist. She has a BA from Wesleyan University in the USA, a Masters Degree in Medical Ethics from Monash University and a PhD from the University of Melbourne. Her books include the award-winning The Abortion Myth and What, No Baby? which made the Australian Financial Review's top 101 books list. Her first novel, The Book of Rachael was published in 2011 and reprinted in 2012 by Text.

Leslie is an award-winning columnist, oft-noted as one of Australia's leading public thinkers. She has been listed alongside Professor Peter Singer, Professor Gustav Nossal and Inga Clendinnen as one of Australia's top 20 public intellectuals and recently made the Power Index's Top Ten List of most influential brains. She was a finalist in the best science tweet contest for Science Week 2010 and in 2011 was honoured as Australian Humanist of the Year. Her 2012 Tedx talk is nearing 10,000 views and has widely shared on sites as influential and diverse as RHReality Check & Mamamia.

You can hear Leslie talk ethics on the morning show on ABC Central West NSW, with past regular ethics appearances including ABC 774 Melbourne, 702 Sydney, Brisbane radio 4BC, 9am with David and Kim and The Project on Network Ten. She reads the morning papers with Virginia Trioli & Michael Rowland on ABC News Breakfast, appears regularly on ABC TV?s The Drum and Q & A, and her columns have appeared in the Fairfax Press for nearly 20 years.

Leslie is an adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Gender, Leadership & Social Sustainability Research Unit at Monash University and is the research or community member of several Victorian committees, councils and boards, including the Department of Health's Human Research Ethics Committee, the Consultative Council for Clinical Trial Research, the Physiotherapy Board and the Nursing & Midwifery Board. An ICMI exclusive speaker, Leslie deploys her experience as a former company director and small businesswoman to provide stimulating and entertaining presentations to a wide range of audiences on topics including leadership, professional ethics and work/life balance.

Areas of Expertise