Carter Snead is professor of law at Notre Dame LawSchool, concurrent professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, and the director of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. He is one of the world’s leading experts on public bioethics – the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods. His research explores issues relating to neuroethics, enhancement, human-embryo research, assisted reproduction, abortion, and end-of-life decision-making.
In addition to his scholarship and teaching, Professor Snead has provided advice on the legal and public policy dimensions of bioethical questions to officials in all three branches of the U.S. government, and in several intergovernmental fora. Prior to joining the law faculty at Notre Dame, he served as general counsel to the President’s Council on Bioethics, chaired by Dr. Leon Kass, and led the U.S. government delegation to UNESCO where he served as its chief negotiator for the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights.
Professor Snead served as the U.S. government’s Permanent Observer to the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee on Bioethics, and in 2008 was appointed to a four-year term on the International Bioethics Committee. In 2016, he was appointed to the Pontifical Academy for Life, the principal bioethics advisory body to Pope Francis. He is also an elected fellow of the Hastings Center, the oldest independent bioethics research institute in the world.
Professor Snead is most recently the author of What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics (Harvard University Press, 2020), named one of the ten best books of the year by the Wall Street Journal and winner of the 2021 ExpandedReason Award.
