LESLIE FRANCIS

Distinguished Professor

Philosophy

  • Distinguished Professor
    Philosophy
  • Distinguished Professor
    College of Law
  • Adjunct Professor
    Political Science
  • Adjunct Professor
    Family Medicine & Public Health
  • Adjunct Professor
    Internal Medicine

BIO

Leslie P. Francis, Ph.D., J.D., holds joint appointments as Alfred C. Emery distinguished professor of law and distinguished professor of philosophy, and adjunct appointments in Family and Preventive Medicine (in the Division of Public Health), Internal Medicine (in the Division of Medical Ethics), and Political Science, at the University of Utah. She was founding director of University of Utah Center for Law and Biomedical Sciences from 2015-2022. Professor Francis was President of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association in 2015-2016. From 2015-2019 she served as the elected Secretary-General of the International Society for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. She is a past member of the Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and past co-chair of the Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security Subcommittee of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics. Professor Francis also has been a member of the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee and of the American Bar Association's Commission on Law and Aging. She regularly provides pro bono representation for people who are the subject of guardianship petitions through a special program of the Utah State Bar and state courts.p.p1 Professor Francis's books include States of Health: Federalism and Bioethics, (co-authored with John Francis (Oxford 2024); Sustaining Surveillance: The Importance of Information for Public Health (co-authored with John Francis; Springer, 2021), The Patient as Victim and Vector: Ethics and Infectious Disease (co-authored with Battin, Jacobson, & Smith; Oxford University Press, 2010; reissued with a new preface 2021) and Privacy: What Everyone Needs to Know (co-authored with John Francis; Oxford, 2017). She edited the Oxford Handbook of Reproductive Ethics (Oxford University Press, January 2017) and is the author of many papers in the areas of disability law and ethics, privacy and data use, justice, and bioethics.

INSTITUTIONAL APPOINTMENTS

  • Distinguished Professor
    Philosophy1 Jul 2009 - present
  • Distinguished Professor
    College of Law1 Jul 2009 - present
  • Adjunct Professor
    Political Science1 Jul 1999 - present
  • Adjunct Professor
    Family Medicine & Public Health1 Jan 2009 - present
  • Adjunct Professor
    Internal Medicine1 Jan 1990 - present

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Adjunct Assistant Professor
    University of Utah, Philosophy1 Jul 1976 - 30 Jun 1979
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor
    University of Utah, Political Science1 Jul 1979 - 30 Jun 1986
  • Assistant Professor
    University of Utah, Philosophy1 Jul 1979 - 30 Jun 1986
  • Associate Professor
    University of Utah, College of Law1 Jul 1982 - 30 Jun 1987
  • Associate Professor
    University of Utah, Philosophy1 Jul 1986 - 30 Jun 1994
  • Adjunct Associate Professor
    University of Utah, Internal Medicine1 Jul 1990 - 30 Jun 1995
  • Adjunct Associate Professor
    University of Utah, Political Science1 Jul 1986 - 30 Jun 1999
  • Professor
    University of Utah, Philosophy1 Jul 1994 - 30 Jun 2009
  • Professor
    University of Utah, College of Law1 Jul 1987 - 30 Jun 2009

DEGREES

  • JD, Law
    University of Utah1981
  • PhD, Philosophy
    University of Michigan1974

LANGUAGES

  • French

FIELDS OF RESEARCH