Clinical & Organizational Ethicist · Educator · Researcher

Ruby
Shanker

MBBS, MHSc (Bioethics) · PhD Candidate

University Health Network — Toronto Rehab Women's College Hospital Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care Doctoral Candidate, IHPME & The Wilson Centre, U of T

Work With Ruby → Speaking & Scholarship

"There is a unique energy of hope... to ask the morally tough questions — to repair and heal from point of care across to leadership."

— Ruby Shanker, Women's College Hospital

About

Where medicine
meets ethics.

Dr. Ruby Shanker is a Clinical & Organizational Ethicist at University Health Network's Toronto Rehab, Women's College Hospital, and the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care. Her work sits at the intersection of clinical practice, organizational decision-making, and education — bringing an ethically grounded, equity-centred lens to some of healthcare's most complex questions.

Her first profession is medicine. With a background in general and community medicine, Ruby brings lived clinical experience to bioethics practice — navigating the real tensions that arise between patients, families, and healthcare systems every day.

She teaches the Teaching Bioethics course (CHL3002Y) in the University of Toronto's MHSc Bioethics program at the Joint Centre for Bioethics, and is a doctoral candidate in Health Professions Education Research through IHPME and The Wilson Centre — where her work draws on post-structuralist thought to trace power, voice, and moral resistance within healthcare ethics practice.

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Clinical experience in general and community medicine

Master of Health Sciences in Bioethics — University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics

Fellowship in Clinical & Organizational Bioethics University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics

Doctoral Candidate — Health Professions Education Research IHPME & The Wilson Centre, University of Toronto

Research & Interests

Areas of inquiry
and practice.

⚕

Clinical & End-of-Life Ethics

Ethics of acute care, chronic illness management, and end-of-life decisions including Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), capacity assessments, and Advance Care Planning.

🏥

Organizational & Discharge Ethics

Ethical considerations around Alternate Level of Care (ALC) status, discharge planning, and organizational decision-making around priority-setting and resource allocation.

♀

Reproductive Justice & Women's Health

Ethics in abortion care, moral injury, and conscientious care — including work with the Canadian Abortion Hospitals Network — alongside the ethics of caring for women living with HIV/AIDS.

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Power, Privilege & Social Justice

Examining relations of power and oppression in healthcare through a post-structuralist lens. Cultural dexterity and ethical care for diverse patients, including LGBTQ2S+ and trans communities.

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Bioethics Education

Health professions education research and bioethics education for interprofessional audiences — exploring the hidden curriculum within healthcare ethics training and practice.

🤝

Patient Engagement

Patient empowerment and navigation of complex healthcare systems. Supporting patients and families in understanding their rights, roles, and choices within care contexts.

Philosophy

"Ethics is part of everyone's work. The values of our patients and healthcare professionals lie at the heart of many ethical issues."

Ruby approaches bioethics as an inherently collaborative discipline — one that must be attentive to diverse worldviews, life experiences, and the structural forces that shape healthcare encounters.

Her practice draws on frameworks including the IDEA Framework for clinical ethics (Identify, Determine, Explore, Act) and the Accountability for Reasonableness (A4R) approach for organizational ethics challenges.

At the heart of her work is a conviction that bioethics must constantly interrogate its own assumptions, amplify voices that are difficult to hear, and pursue equity not as an aspiration, but as a practice.

Scholarship

Selected publications
and presentations.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Where Do I Go to Wait? Ethical Considerations During the 90 Day Reflection Period for MAiD

Disha K, Bianchi A, Shanker R, Lukich N. Canadian Journal of Bioethics, 2023;6:70–4. doi:10.7202/1098559ar

Clinical Ethics Consultations: A Scoping Review of Reported Outcomes

Bell JA, Salis M, Tong E, et al., incl. Shanker RR. BMC Medical Ethics, 2022;23(1):99. doi:10.1186/s12910-022-00832-6

A Scoping Review of the Literature on Public Solicitations for Living Organ and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donations

Shanker RR, Anthony SJ, Wright L. Progress in Transplantation, 2018;28(3):288–295. doi:10.1177/1526924818781578

Book Chapters

Ethical Issues in the Care and Support of Women Living with HIV

Shanker RR, Nicholson V, Underhill A, Kennedy L, Jaworsky D, Loutfy M. In Ethical Issues in Women's Health Care: Practice & Policy. Oxford University Press USA, 2019.

Our Last, Best Judgement: Assisted Death for Intolerable, Irremediable Suffering in Mental Health/Substance Use

Reel K, Macri R, Dembo JS, Bean S, Shanker RR, Costa L, Waxman R. In Ethics in Mental Health-Substance Use. Taylor & Francis, 2017.

Upcoming in 2026

When Silence Speaks: Bioethics Beyond the Emperor's Parade

18th World Congress of Bioethics — Johannesburg, South Africa

July 2026

Power, Voice, and Moral Resistance: A Post-Structuralist Lens on Clinical Ethics

20th International Conference on Clinical Ethics & Consultation — Cleveland, USA

June 2026

Tracing Power and Resistance: A Commensal, Ethics-Informed Intervention in Post-Acute Rehabilitation Care

International Congress on Academic Medicine — Ottawa, Canada

April 2026

Ruby has delivered 80+ invited presentations, conference papers, and workshops across international, national, and local venues since 2013.

Roles & Affiliations

Where I work
and contribute.

UHN Toronto Rehab

Clinical & Organizational Ethicist

Providing clinical and organizational ethics consultation, education, and program support at University Health Network's Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. Previously served at Toronto General Hospital (2016–2020).

2021 — Present

Women's College Hospital

Clinical & Organizational Ethicist

Supporting staff, patients, and families through the WCH Ethics Program with consultations, policy guidance, and organizational ethics work focused on equity and inclusion — including reproductive justice and conscientious care.

2016 — Present

Yee Hong Centre

Clinical & Organizational Ethicist

Providing ethics consultation and organizational ethics support at the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care, one of Canada's largest not-for-profit providers of culturally appropriate seniors' care.

2026 — Present

University of Toronto

Course Instructor, Teaching Bioethics (CHL3002Y)

Teaching the graduate Teaching Bioethics course in the MHSc Bioethics program at the Joint Centre for Bioethics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Associate (Restricted) Member, School of Graduate Studies.

2017 — Present

Research Ethics Boards

REB Member — Scientific & Ethics Expertise

Member of the Women's College Hospital Research Ethics Board and alternate member of the University Health Network Research Ethics Board. Previously served on the Public Health Ontario Ethics Review Board (2018–2024).

2016 — Present