Leslie P. Francis, Ph.D., J.D.

Professor and Chair, Philosophy
Alfred C. Emery Professor of Law, College of Law
Adjunct Professor, Political Science
Adjunct Professor, Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine

Correspondence:

College of Law
University of Utah
332 South 1400 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Phone: (801) 581-4289 (School of Law),
(801) 581-3489 (Dept. of Philosophy)
Email: Francisl@law.utah.edu

Philosophy Department

Biosketch

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Leslie P. Francis holds joint appointments as Alfred C. Emery professor of law and professor and chair, department of philosophy. Professor Francis received a B.A. from Wellesley (1967), where she graduated with high honors in philosophy and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received a Ph.D. in philosophy (1974) from the University of Michigan. After joining Utah's philosophy faculty, she received her J.D. from the University of Utah (1981). Appointed to the law faculty in 1982, she teaches and writes extensively in the areas of health law, bioethics, and disability. Professor Francis has been a member of the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee and of the American Bar Association.s Commission on Law and Aging.

Professor Francis teaches contracts, disability law, and bioethics and the law.

Education / Training

Wellesley College, Philosophy, 1963-67, B.A., 1967
University of Michigan, Philosophy, 1967-73, Ph.D., 1974
St. Hilda's College, Oxford 1971-73
Georgetown Law Center, Summer, 1968.
University of Utah College of Law, J.D., 1981.

Honors / Awards since 2000

Peggy Battin, M.F.A., Ph.D.; Leslie Francis, J.D., Ph.D.; Jay Jacobson, M.D. National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Seminar, July 2003
Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence, University of Utah, 2000

Present Positions / Appointments

Professor, College of Law, Alfred C. Emery Chair
Professor and Chair, Philosophy
Adjunct Professor, Political Science
Adjunct Professor, Internal Medicine
Member, National Committee on Health and Vital Statisitics
Member, Board of Trustees, Disability Law Center (Utah)
Member, Ethics Committee, American Society for Reproductive Medicine
Member, Utah Health Data Committee
Member, Ethics Committee, Primary Childrens’ Medical Center
Member, Utah State Health Department IRB Member, Advisory Board, Matheson Center
Member, organizing group, American Association of Bioethics
University Senate, elected member, executive committee, elected member
Environmental Studies Program, faculty advisory committee, honors advisor
Programs committee, chair,

Interests

Bioethics
Health law
Disability law
Environmental ethics
Philosophy of law

Selected Publications since 2004

Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson & Charles Smith, The Patient as Victim and Vector: Ethics and Infectious Disease, Oxford University Press, 2009.
Leslie P. Francis, "Understanding Autonomy in Light of Intellectual Disability," forthcoming in Disability and Disadvantage, ed. Kimberley Brownlee and Adam Cureton (Oxford University Press, 2008).
Leslie P. Francis and Anita Silvers, “Debilitating Alexander v. Choate: “Meaningful Access” to Health
Care for People with Disabilities,” 45 Fordham Urban Law Journal 101 (2008).
Silvers, Anita, and Leslie P. Francis, “Law School Education, Disability, and Standpoint Theory,”
University of Pittsburgh Law Review (forthcoming 2008).
Leslie P. Francis, “Privacy and Confidentiality: The Importance of Context,” Monist 91(1) (January 2008).
Leslie P. Francis and Anita Silvers, “Liberalism and Independently Scripted Accounts of the Good:
Meeting the Challenge of Dependent Agency,” Social Theory and Practice (Spring 2007): 311-334.
Leslie P. Francis and Anita Silvers, “(Mis)framing Schiavo as Discrimination against People withDisabilities,” University of Miami Law Review 61:789-820 (2007).
Silvers, Anita and Leslie P. Francis, “A New Start on the Road Not Taken: Driving With Lane To Head Off Disability- Based Denials of Rights,” Washington University Journal of Law and Policy 23: 33-94.
Terry, Nicholas P. and Leslie P. Francis, “Confidentiality and Electronic Medical Records,” 2007 Illinois Law Review 681-735.
Smith, Charles B., Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, & Jay A. Jacobson, “Should Rapid Tests for HIV Infection Now Be Mandatory During Pregnancy? Global Differences in Scarcity and a Dilemma of Technological Advance,” Developing World Bioethics, forthcoming (2007).
Rosamond Rhodes, Anita Silvers, and Leslie P. Francis, Blackwell Guide to Medical Ethics, Oxford and New York: Blackwell’s, 2006.
M.P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Charles B. Smith, and Jay A. Jacobson, “The Patient as Victim and Vector: The Theoretical Challenge of Infectious Disease,” in R. Rhodes, A. Silvers, & Leslie P. Francis, Blackwell Guide to Medical Ethics, Oxford and New York: Blackwell’s, 2006, pp. 269-289.
Leslie P. Francis. “Discrimination in Medical Practice,” in Rosamond Rhodes, Anita Silvers, and Leslie P. Francis, Blackwell Guide to Medical Ethics, Oxford and New York: Blackwell’s, 2006, pp. 162-180.
Francis, Leslie P., M.P. Battin, J. Botkin, J. Jacobson, and C. Smith. “Infectious Disease and the Ethics of Research: the Moral Significance of Communicability,” in Matti Hayry, Tuija Takala, and Peter Herissone-Kelly, eds. Ethics in Biomedical Research: International Perspectives, Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2006.
Silvers, Anita and Leslie P. Francis, “A New Start on the Road Not Taken: Driving With Lane To Head Off Disability- Based Denials of Rights,” 2006, Washington University Journal of Law and Policy (2006)
Terry, Nicholas P. and Leslie P. Francis, “Confidentiality and Electronic Medical Records,” Illinois Law Review. (2006).
Francis, Leslie P., Margaret P. Battin, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith, “The Patient as Victim and Vector: The Significance of Contagious, Infectious Disease for Bioethics,” ASBH Exchange 9(1): 1, 4-5 (Winter 2006).
Review of Childress, ed., Belmont Revisited, Lancet (2006)
Silvers, Anita and Leslie P. Francis, “Justice Through Trust: Resolving the Outlier Problem in Social Contract Theory,” Ethics 116: 40-77 (2005).
“Employment and Intellectual Disability,” Journal of Gender, Race & Justice 299 (2004).
“Legitimate Expectations, Unreasonable Beliefs, and Legally Mandated Coverage of Experimental Therapy.” Indiana Health Law Review 1: 215-251 (2004).
Smith, Charles B., Battin, MP, Botkin, J, Francis, LP & Jacobson, J. (2004). “Are there Characteristics of Infectious Diseases that Raise Special Ethical Issues?” Developing World Bioethics 4:1, pp.1-16.

Selected National/ International Presentations since 2004

“Feminism and Disability,” APA Central Division, spring 2006.
“Unanticipated Risks, Communicability, and Informed Consent in Research Ethics,” American Society for Public Health, December 2005.
“Research Ethics and Infectious Disease: the Moral Significance of Communicability,”
International Association of Bioethics, Sydney, November 2004.
“Political Philosophy and Bioethics,” American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, October 2004.
“Recent Developments in Ethics,” Conference of Appellate State Judges (CASA), Park City, Utah, July 2004.
“Stem Cell Research and the President’s Council on Bioethics: Of What Value is Consensus?” Eastern Division Meetings, American Philosophical Association, 2004.