Jackie Leach Scully

Jackie Leach Scully has been involved with Quakers for over 40 years, first in the United Kingdom, then Switzerland, again in the UK and now in Australia. She has occupied a variety of roles too, from Attender to Member to Clerk of Switzerland Yearly Meeting and served on more committees than she cares to remember. In 2002, she gave the annual Swarthmore Lecture to Britain Yearly Meeting, Playing in the presence: Genetics, ethics and spirituality.
Jackie first trained as a molecular biologist and spent several years investigating the mechanisms of cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Later, she became interested in the ethical and legal issues raised by contemporary medicine, and studied philosophy, theology and psychology as she moved her focus to bioethics and medical ethics. At the University of Basel, she helped to establish the first interdisciplinary bioethics centre in Switzerland, and at Newcastle University in the UK was Executive Director of the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre. In 2019, she moved to Sydney to lead the Disability Innovation Institute at the University of New South Wales, where she is also Professor of Bioethics.
Disability has shaped her family, career, personal and professional life, and her engagement with faith and spirituality. Now making her home in Australia, she tries to follow the suggestion of Britain Yearly Meeting’s Advices and Queries 27, “Live adventurously”.

Scroll to Top