Bernadette Tobin

Bernadette Tobin is an Australian Catholic ethicist and professor of philosophy. She is the daughter of political activist and journalist B.A. Santamaria.
Education.
Tobin received her undergraduate degree from the University of Melbourne in 1968. She also completed a Masters of Education (1977) and a Master of Arts (1983) at the same institution.
Tobin completed her doctoral degree at Cambridge University in politics.
Career.
Tobin began her career as a teacher. She taught philosophy at Mercy Teachers' College, Melbourne and English at Tottenham Technical School.
Tobin is a founding director of The Plunkett Centre. The centre was established in 1992 as a joint venture between St Vincent's Hospital and the Australian Catholic University. Tobin was appointed a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University in 1996. She held this position until 2002.
Tobin is an honorary member of the medical faculty at the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney through the Clinical School at St Vincent's and the Children's Hospital, Westmead respectively. She has been a featured speaker at the Wheeler Centre speaking about faith, religion and spirituality.
Tobin has served on the Australian Health Ethics Committee, the Garvan Medical Research Institute ethics committee, and she chaired the St John's College, University of Sydney council between 2013 and 2020. In 2017, Tobin was appointed as a life member of the Pontifical Academy.
Awards.
In 2016, Tobin received an Order of Australia medal for her work in bioethics, and public advisory and research councils.
In 2018, Tobin was made a Dame of the Grand Cross of St Gregory the Great, alongside her husband Terence Tobin. The papal award was for her service in ethics and education.