Shawn Harmon

Shawn Harmon is a Research Associate at the IWK Health Centre, a Part-Time Faculty Member at the Schulich School of Law and School of Health Administration at Dalhousie University, and an associate lawyer at C3 Legal, Halifax, Nova Scotia. His research encompasses issues related to the governance and regulation of health and emerging technologies, and the interaction of the research and governance setting with commercial interests (particularly intellectual property). Recent and ongoing work has resulted in reports to government on data use and on immunization, and he is currently co-investigator on the CIHR-funded project, 'Trust, Acceptance and Sufficiency: Law as a Barrier to and Enabler of Routine and Responsive Immunization'. He also undertakes research on health equity and Indigenous Peoples, and serves on the NSHA Research Ethics Board.

Past work has examined the nature of governance and role of socio-moral values in regulation relating to biobanks, regenerative medicine, and public health interventions, and in the realization of human rights in multiple settings. He has worked with the Argentine government in the development of biomedical legislation, and he has had work highlighted by the ESRC and AHRC in the UK. Prior to coming to Dalhousie, Dr. Harmon was Lecturer in Risk and Regulation and then Reader of Law at the University of Edinburgh, where he participated in a wide range of interdisciplinary research. While there, he was associated with the ESRC Centre for Social and Economic Research on Innovation in Genomics (Innogen), and the AHRC Research Centre in Intellectual Property and Technology Law (SCRIPT), and he co-founded the J Kenyon Mason Institute in Medicine, Life Sciences and Law. He has also been an Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Harmon earned a BA (Political Science) from Saint Mary's University, an LLB (Common Law) from the University of New Brunswick, and an LLM (International Law) and PhD in Law from the University of Edinburgh. He has also earned an UG Certificate in Cultural Studies from the Shandong Teachers University, a PG Certificate in Academic Practice from the University of Edinburgh, and Certificate in the 4 Seasons of Reconciliation from the First Nations University of Canada. He articled with Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales in Halifax, clerked with the Federal Court in Ottawa, practiced law with Huestis Ritch in Halifax.