Thomas Alured Faunce
Encyclopedia
Thomas Alured Faunce is an Associate Professor jointly in the College of Law and Medical School at the Australian National University
(ANU) at Canberra
Australia
. His main area of research has been health technology law and policy and in 2009 he was awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship to study nanotechnology and global public health.
was part of a team which won the Philip C. Jessup Cup international law mooting competition. Faunce was legal associate to Justice Lionel Murphy
of the High Court of Australia
in 1983 in the year when it was involved in important decisions about the Australian constitutional power to protect the world's natural heritage in the Franklin River
dam case, Scientology
and the Australian constitutional meaning of religion
, freedom of speech
, trial by jury
, the right to vote and the political trials of terrorist groups. Between 1983 and 1987 he worked as a barrister and solicitor with Mallesons Stephen Jaques
in Canberra and with Freehills
in Sydney.
Faunce graduated from medicine at the University of Newcastle
in 1993 and practised in Emergency Medicine
at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital, and Intensive Care and Clinical Pharmacology
and Toxicology
at the Canberra Hospital
and (as Senior Registrar in Intensive Care) at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne
Australia (where he treated patients involved in the 2002 Bali bombings). He has published a text on anaesthetic and intensive care physiology and pharmacology.
Faunce completed a PhD on the Human Genome Project
and Health Policy at the ANU in 2000 and it was awarded the Crawford prize (best PhD in all fields at the ANU in 2001), named in honour of John Crawford (economist)
. This has now been published as 'Pilgrims in Medicine' by Kluwer law International. Faunce was a founding member of the National Biosecurity
Centre at the ANU, has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Medical Humanities
and edits the Medical law Reporter for the Australian Journal of Law and Medicine. He currently serves on the executive board and in the artificial photosynthesis group with the ANU Energy Change Institute and on the ACT Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
In 2009, he was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship for his project, 'Fostering Safe Nanotechnology Research Focused on Critical Public Health Problems'. This is a 4-year fellowship and builds upon his unique interdisciplinary research and collaborations to develop an innovative framework for fostering the focus of nanotechnology research at the Australian National University on critical public health problems such as climate change, biosecurity, food and water safety, pollution control and equitable access to health technologies. The ARC Future Fellowships scheme supports outstanding mid-career researchers to conduct high quality, innovative research, build Australia's internationally competitive research capacity and develop strong links among researchers, research institutions and other disciplines. The national success rate for applications to this scheme was 20.5%.
Faunce has promoted the idea that whistleblowing, particularly in healthcare, needs to be recognised as having a stronger academic foundation in virtue ethics
. At the ANU Medical School he developed one of the first academic programs for teaching healthcare whistleblowing within a clinical governance
framework and has emphasised the need to draw on the medical humanities to develop professional conscience as well as the importance of teaching medical students about the impact of corporate globalization on health policy. His book Who Owns Our Health argues that corporate executives involved in healthcare institutions should, like doctors, nurses and other health workers, be subject to a code of professional norms. He is a notable proponent of the view that international human rights law may supersede bioethics. Faunce has also encouraged the development of an international treaty
on the safety and cost-effectiveness
assessment of new health technologies. He has directed an Australian Research Council
Discovery Grant into the impact of international trade agreements on Australian medicines policy. He has also directed an ARC Discovery Grant on cost-effectiveness assessment of nanomedicine through the evidence-based processes of the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
. In 2009 he was awarded an ARC Discovery Grant (in collaboration with Gregor Urbas and Lesley Skillen) to investigate mechanisms for discovering fraud in the Australian Pharmaceutical Industry using methods developed under the United States False Claims Act
. Through these projects he has assisted to develop the regulatory concept of 'health innovation' or innovation
based on objective assessment of the comparative therapeutic significance of a new health technology product. In 2010 he was awarded (with Dr Hitoshi Nasu and Assoc. Prof. Margaret Kosal) an ARC Discovery Grant to investigate Australia's legal response to military and security applications of
nanotechnology.
Faunce in his academic publications and research has investigated the important role of nanotechnology
in resolving or ameliorating many of the critical public health problems facing humanity, but also of the need to apply the precautionary principle
in relation to some of its safety risks. He has promoted the idea of a Global Artificial Photosynthesis
(GAP) Project and coordinated the first international conference on that theme at Lord Howe Island
between 14-18 August 2011 under the auspices of the UNESCO
Natural Sciences Sector.
the grandson of Marcus Gordon Faunce, a Lieutenant with the 6th Regiment of the 2nd Brigade
in the Australian Light Horse, who served in the Gallipoli Campaign, Battle of Romani
and Battle of Beersheba in the First World War, the great grandson of Rev. Canon Alured Dodsworth Faunce of Queanbeyan and Yass, New South Wales
1840–1910 and the great great grandson of Captain Alured Tasker Faunce the first police magistrate in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region 1837–1856. Tom Faunce is married and has a son.
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
(ANU) at Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. His main area of research has been health technology law and policy and in 2009 he was awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship to study nanotechnology and global public health.
Career
Thomas Alured Faunce graduated with arts and law (honours) from the Australian National University in 1982. As a law student he won the prizes for contracts and air and space lawSpace law
Space law is an area of the law that encompasses national and international law governing activities in outer space. International lawyers have been unable to agree on a uniform definition of the term "outer space," although most lawyers agree that outer space generally begins at the lowest...
was part of a team which won the Philip C. Jessup Cup international law mooting competition. Faunce was legal associate to Justice Lionel Murphy
Lionel Murphy
Lionel Keith Murphy, QC was an Australian politician and jurist who served as Attorney-General in the government of Gough Whitlam and as a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1975 until his death.- Personal life :...
of the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
in 1983 in the year when it was involved in important decisions about the Australian constitutional power to protect the world's natural heritage in the Franklin River
Franklin River
The Franklin River lies in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park at the mid northern area of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Its source is situated at the western edge of the Central Highlands and it continues west towards the West Coast of Tasmania...
dam case, Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
and the Australian constitutional meaning of religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, trial by jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
, the right to vote and the political trials of terrorist groups. Between 1983 and 1987 he worked as a barrister and solicitor with Mallesons Stephen Jaques
Mallesons Stephen Jaques
Mallesons Stephen Jaques is a commercial law firm that operates in the Asia-Pacific region. It is one of the 30 largest law firms in Australia, and is widely regarded as one of the top commercial law firms in Australia.-Offices:...
in Canberra and with Freehills
Freehills
Freehills is a commercial law firm that operates in the Asia-Pacific region. In Australia it is considered one of the 'Big Six' law firms.-Offices:Freehills has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane in Australia...
in Sydney.
Faunce graduated from medicine at the University of Newcastle
University of Newcastle, Australia
The University of Newcastle is an Australian public university that was established in 1965. The University's main and largest campus is located in Callaghan, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales...
in 1993 and practised in Emergency Medicine
Emergency medicine
Emergency medicine is a medical specialty in which physicians care for patients with acute illnesses or injuries which require immediate medical attention. While not usually providing long-term or continuing care, emergency medicine physicians diagnose a variety of illnesses and undertake acute...
at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital, and Intensive Care and Clinical Pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
and Toxicology
Toxicology
Toxicology is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms...
at the Canberra Hospital
Canberra Hospital
The Canberra Hospital is a public hospital located in Garran, Canberra. It is a tertiary level centre with 500 beds and caters to a population of about 520,000...
and (as Senior Registrar in Intensive Care) at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
Australia (where he treated patients involved in the 2002 Bali bombings). He has published a text on anaesthetic and intensive care physiology and pharmacology.
Faunce completed a PhD on the Human Genome Project
Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project is an international scientific research project with a primary goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA, and of identifying and mapping the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional...
and Health Policy at the ANU in 2000 and it was awarded the Crawford prize (best PhD in all fields at the ANU in 2001), named in honour of John Crawford (economist)
John Crawford (economist)
Sir John Grenfell Crawford AC CBE was an economist and a key architect of Australia's Post-War growth.Born in Sydney, among the positions he held were Adviser to the World Bank, Washington D.C., Director, Australian Japanese Economic Research Project, and Chairman, Advisory Board, Australian...
. This has now been published as 'Pilgrims in Medicine' by Kluwer law International. Faunce was a founding member of the National Biosecurity
Biosecurity
Biosecurity is a set of preventive measures designed to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases, quarantined pests, invasive alien species, living modified organisms...
Centre at the ANU, has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Medical Humanities
Medical Humanities
Medical Humanities explores how humanities disciplines can engage and illuminate the nature, goals and practice of medicine.Editor: Deborah Kirklin...
and edits the Medical law Reporter for the Australian Journal of Law and Medicine. He currently serves on the executive board and in the artificial photosynthesis group with the ANU Energy Change Institute and on the ACT Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
In 2009, he was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship for his project, 'Fostering Safe Nanotechnology Research Focused on Critical Public Health Problems'. This is a 4-year fellowship and builds upon his unique interdisciplinary research and collaborations to develop an innovative framework for fostering the focus of nanotechnology research at the Australian National University on critical public health problems such as climate change, biosecurity, food and water safety, pollution control and equitable access to health technologies. The ARC Future Fellowships scheme supports outstanding mid-career researchers to conduct high quality, innovative research, build Australia's internationally competitive research capacity and develop strong links among researchers, research institutions and other disciplines. The national success rate for applications to this scheme was 20.5%.
Academic contribution
Faunce is an author of books, published articles and book chapters about health law, health policy and bioethics. His main area of research is nanotechnology and its impact on global public health.Faunce has promoted the idea that whistleblowing, particularly in healthcare, needs to be recognised as having a stronger academic foundation in virtue ethics
Virtue ethics
Virtue ethics describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior, rather than rules , consequentialism , or social context .The difference between these four approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way moral dilemmas are...
. At the ANU Medical School he developed one of the first academic programs for teaching healthcare whistleblowing within a clinical governance
Clinical governance
Clinical governance is the term used to describe a systematic approach to maintaining and improving the quality of patient care within a health system. The term became widely used in health care following the Bristol heart scandal in 1995, during which anaesthetist Dr Stephen Bolsin exposed the...
framework and has emphasised the need to draw on the medical humanities to develop professional conscience as well as the importance of teaching medical students about the impact of corporate globalization on health policy. His book Who Owns Our Health argues that corporate executives involved in healthcare institutions should, like doctors, nurses and other health workers, be subject to a code of professional norms. He is a notable proponent of the view that international human rights law may supersede bioethics. Faunce has also encouraged the development of an international treaty
Treaty
A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...
on the safety and cost-effectiveness
Cost-effectiveness
Cost-effectiveness analysis is a form of economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes of two or more courses of action. Cost-effectiveness analysis is distinct from cost-benefit analysis, which assigns a monetary value to the measure of effect...
assessment of new health technologies. He has directed an Australian Research Council
Australian Research Council
The Australian Research Council is the Australian Government’s main agency for allocating research funding to academics and researchers in Australian universities. Its mission is to advance Australia’s capacity to undertake research that brings economic, social and cultural benefit to the...
Discovery Grant into the impact of international trade agreements on Australian medicines policy. He has also directed an ARC Discovery Grant on cost-effectiveness assessment of nanomedicine through the evidence-based processes of the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme or PBS is a program of the Australian Government that provides subsidised prescription drugs to residents of Australia. The PBS ensures that all Australians have affordable and reliable access to a wide range of necessary medicines.-History:The PBS was established...
. In 2009 he was awarded an ARC Discovery Grant (in collaboration with Gregor Urbas and Lesley Skillen) to investigate mechanisms for discovering fraud in the Australian Pharmaceutical Industry using methods developed under the United States False Claims Act
False Claims Act
The False Claims Act is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies who defraud governmental programs. The law includes a "qui tam" provision that allows people who are not affiliated with the government to file actions on behalf of the government...
. Through these projects he has assisted to develop the regulatory concept of 'health innovation' or innovation
Innovation
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
based on objective assessment of the comparative therapeutic significance of a new health technology product. In 2010 he was awarded (with Dr Hitoshi Nasu and Assoc. Prof. Margaret Kosal) an ARC Discovery Grant to investigate Australia's legal response to military and security applications of
nanotechnology.
Faunce in his academic publications and research has investigated the important role of nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
in resolving or ameliorating many of the critical public health problems facing humanity, but also of the need to apply the precautionary principle
Precautionary principle
The precautionary principle or precautionary approach states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those...
in relation to some of its safety risks. He has promoted the idea of a Global Artificial Photosynthesis
Artificial photosynthesis
Artificial photosynthesis is a chemical process that replicates the natural process of photosynthesis, a process that converts sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen. The term is commonly used to refer to any scheme for capturing and storing the energy from sunlight in...
(GAP) Project and coordinated the first international conference on that theme at Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, directly east of mainland Port Macquarie, and about from Norfolk Island. The island is about 11 km long and between 2.8 km and 0.6 km wide with an area of...
between 14-18 August 2011 under the auspices of the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Natural Sciences Sector.
Family
He is the son of the Canberra consulting physician Dr Marcus de Laune FaunceMarcus de Laune Faunce
Marcus de Laune "Marc" Faunce, CVO, AM, OBE, FRCP, FRACP was a Canberra consultant physician, head of Royal Canberra Hospital, doctor to five Australian Prime Ministers and six Governors-General of Australia and former Senior Physician Consultant to the RAAF.- Early medical career:Faunce was...
the grandson of Marcus Gordon Faunce, a Lieutenant with the 6th Regiment of the 2nd Brigade
2nd Light Horse Brigade
The 2nd Light Horse Brigade was a mounted infantry brigade of the First Australian Imperial Force which served in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. The brigade first saw action during the Dardanelles Campaign in the Battle of Gallipoli. After being withdrawn to Egypt in February 1916 they...
in the Australian Light Horse, who served in the Gallipoli Campaign, Battle of Romani
Battle of Romani
The Battle of Romani was fought east of the Suez Canal, near the Egyptian town of Romani and the site of ancient Pelusium on the Sinai Peninsula during the First World War...
and Battle of Beersheba in the First World War, the great grandson of Rev. Canon Alured Dodsworth Faunce of Queanbeyan and Yass, New South Wales
Yass, New South Wales
Yass is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Yass Valley Shire. The name appears to have been derived from an Aboriginal word, "Yarrh" , said to mean 'running water'....
1840–1910 and the great great grandson of Captain Alured Tasker Faunce the first police magistrate in the Queanbeyan-Canberra region 1837–1856. Tom Faunce is married and has a son.