Getting to know...Julian Savulescu
Julian Savulescu
Name: Julian Savulescu
Title: Sir Louis Matheson Distinguished Visiting Professor
Faculty: Philosophy/Centre for Human Bioethics
Campus: Clayton
How long have you worked at Monash? I did my medical degree, a Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons) and a PhD all at Monash. In fact, I have done all my degrees at Monash and was a Logan Research Fellow. Recently, I have been the Sir Louis Matheson Distinguished Visiting Professor since 2009. This position brings me to Monash over the European summer. I have also been the Uehiro Chair of Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford since 2002.
What do you like best about your role? It enables me to forge collaborations with colleagues in Australia, especially at the Centre for Human Bioethics, which, in my view, is one of the best centres of its kind in the world. I always come away energised and inspired.
Together with the medical faculty, I also run a regular Bachelor of Medical Science elective for students who spend a year across the Centre for Human Bioethics and at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford. It’s been great to work with some of the smartest young minds in Australia. The future is in safe hands. So far we have had nine students complete their Bachelor of Medical Science with us and a number of them have published papers based on their honours year.
Why did you choose your current career path? I started medicine in 1982 and studied philosophy as my fifth subject. Peter Singer was teaching Practical Ethics and I was so inspired that this guy could speak logically and sensibly about things like abortion, animals and poverty. I almost dropped out of medicine for philosophy then.
When I was working as a young doctor at the Alfred, I started studying master's in bioethics part-time after work. I was studying under Justin Oakley, an inspirational teacher. Initially it was just something fun to do outside of work, but I soon realised I wanted to take this further. I was then fortunate enough to study for my PhD at Monash under Peter Singer.
First job? I initially trained in medicine and worked as a resident at the Alfred Hospital and worked in the emergency department while studying my PhD.
Worst job? I had various backbreaking summer jobs throughout my studies. The worst was working in freezer packing pallets for supermarkets while trying to write up my BMedSc. I wanted to make money to go to Europe over the summer break.
What project are you currently working on and what does it involve? I’m about to start a Welcome Trust funded project on people’s responsibility and healthcare. It will look at lifestyle choices in their role as a highly significant and increasing contributors to the global burden of disease. Because these disorders arise from people's choices, some ethicists argue that people should be held responsible for their ensuing need for treatment.
Given that medical resources are scarce, the question arises as to whether priority should be given to those who are not responsible for their medical condition. We aim to answer this question. Doing so requires understanding the nature of moral responsibility. It also requires understanding how people make choices, and how these choices are influenced by the actions and choices of others, including people who attempt to promote healthy or unhealthy choices (from governments to advertisers). It requires understanding the extent to which substances (such as alcohol and tobacco) that are addictive, but which cause significant health problems, affect the responsibility of people who ingest them, as well as discovering whether activities (like gambling) might also be addictive.
It also requires understanding how psychiatric disorders like ADHD and personality disorders affect responsibility. We will probe the extent to which it might be justifiable for governments to actively attempt either to promote healthier behaviours – perhaps at some expense to individual responsibility – or alternatively to actively promote individual responsibility.
I have a group of collaborators in Australia and hope to spend more time here as part of our work on this project.
What is your favourite place in the world and why? The Australian coast! I love surfing. It’s what I miss most in landlocked Oxford.
What is your favourite place to eat and why? I spend as much time in Melbourne restaurants as I can during my visits. Living mainly abroad I don’t have any one favourite - I just try to keep up with Melbourne’s fast moving scene! My favourite used to be Vlado's, but I haven't been for 10 years.
What is the best piece of advice you have received? Always choose freedom. Advice from my father, who chose freedom when he left communist Romania for Australia rather than agree to join the Communist Party. I am thankful each day for his brave choice. It was hard for him, but life-giving for me.
Tell us something about yourself that your colleagues wouldn’t know. On my father's side, I am related to Count Dracula (but only by marriage to the Tepez family, his direct descendants). On my mother's side, her maternal grandfather is (at least part, allegedly) an aborigine. I would like to chase down the family tree on her side - I think there were even convicts somewhere.