Biography
Tamara is a bioethicist and philosopher of medicine, working as a Lecturer in Health Ethics and Professionalism in the School of Medicine at Deakin University. She has degrees in Biotechnology, History and Philosophy of Science, and Sociology. She completed her PhD at the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge. Her primary research expertise is in the ethics of non-medical sex selection, mental illness and gender. Her book, Depression and the Self: Meaning, Control and Authenticity, published this year with Cambridge University Press, focuses on issues of control, responsibility and the self in depression and uses qualitative interviews with women to explore this topic.
Read more on Tamara's profileBiography summary
Her papers have appeared in such journals as the Journal of Medical Ethics, Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology, Health, Risk and Society and Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy. Her work has also appeared in the media, including The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Psychology Today, The Globe and Mail, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, ABC radio and The Project. She has received professional recognition for her teaching, becoming a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. While a Lecturer in Bioethics at the Australian National University, her skills were also recognised with three teaching awards – the Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning - with a Colleges of Science Award, a Vice-Chancellor’s Award and a National Award.
Affiliations
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Teaching interests
Bioethics
Health ethics
Expertise
- Ethics
- Gender
- Gender issues
- Philosophy
Conferences
Invited presentations
2020 “Is Gender Disappointment a Valid Justification for Sex Selection?”, History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney, Oct
2019 “Authenticity and Antidepressants”, Neuroscience and Society Group, Monash University, 18 Sep
2017 “Is Gender Disappointment a Mental Illness?”, CAVE/VELiM workshop: Sex Selection: Changes in Australian Policy, Macquarie University, 9 June
2016 Panellist, film discussion of “I, Robot”, National Science Week, Canberra 14 Aug
2016 “Why Parents Should Not Be Told the Sex of Their Fetus”, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, Mar
2015 Speaker for the debate “Prospective Parents Should be allowed to Choose the Sex of Their Children Using Embryo Selection and/or Sperm Sorting,” Emerging Reproductive Technologies: Ethics, Law and Policy workshop, University of Sydney, 9 Nov
2014 “Selecting Embryos for Non-Medical Reasons,” Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, 26 Nov
2013 “Authenticity and Antidepressants”, Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State University, Feb
Refereed presentations
2019 “Critiquing Gender Disappointment”, Feminist Panel at IALMH International Congress on Law and Mental Health, Rome, 21-27 July
2018 “Is Gender Disappointment a Justification for Sex Selection?”, Queer Legacies, New Solidarities Conference, Melbourne, 22-24 Nov
2018 “Is Gender Disappointment a Mental Illness?”, International Network of Philosophy and Psychiatry Conference, Hong Kong, 4-6 Oct
2016 “Is Gender Disappointment a Mental Illness?”, Australasian Association for Bioethics and Health Law Conference, Melbourne, 24-26 Nov
2016 “Sex Selection and a Parent’s Right to an Open Future”, International Association of Bioethics World Congress, Edinburgh, 15-17 June Highlighted on the Journal of Medical Ethics blog as a stand-out presentation
2016 “Sex Selection and a Parent’s Right to an Open Future”, Feminist Approaches to Bioethics World Congress, Edinburgh, 13-15 June
2015 “Why Parents Should Not Be Told the Sex of Their Fetus,” Australasian Association for Bioethics and Health Law Conference, Wellington, 25-28 June
2014 “A Role for Philosophers, Sociologists and Bioethicists in the Development of the DSM,” 9th International Conference on Philosophy, Athens, 26-29 May
2013 “Is Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder Really a Disorder?” and “A Role for Bioethicists in the Making of the DSM”, Australasian Association for Bioethics and Health Law Conference, Sydney, 14 July
2013 “Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder… to Move or Remove from the DSM?” and “Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis: Why Canadians Should Care About National Oversight”, Canadian Bioethics Society Conference, Banff, June
2010 “Making Sense of Melancholy: The Role of Perceived Triggers in Depression,” British Sociological Association Medical Sociology Group Annual Conference, Durham, 3 Sep
2010 “Authenticity and Antidepressants: The Role of Medication in Narratives of Depression,” Qualitative Research in Mental Health Conference, Nottingham, 27 Aug
2010 “Making Sense of Melancholy: The Role of Perceived Triggers in Depression,” 11th Annual Graduate Conference Observing, Promoting and Resisting Social Change, London, 22 May
2006 “Designer Babies,” Cambridge Interdisciplinary Reproduction Workshop, Sep
2006 “Measurements of Wellbeing,” Bioethics: Past, Present and Future conference, Birmingham, June
Media appearances
Television
2018 Sex selection, The Project
Radio
2020 Gender disappointemt, ABC Radio Melbourne, 16 April
2018 Gender neutral clothing, ABC Radio Melbourne, 27 Nov
2018 Depression and your sense of self, All in the Mind, ABC Radio National
2017 Sex selection, ABC Radio Melbourne, Talking Lifestyles and National Radio News
2015 Sex selection, ABC Radio Canberra
2014 Premenstrual dysphoric disorder, ABC Radio Canberra
Newspaper
2017 Gender and clothing, The Sydney Morning Herald
2017 Sex selection, the Huffington Post UK and Australian Fairfax newspapers, e.g. The Age
2014 Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder reported in Australian Fairfax newspapers, e.g. The Sydney Morning Herald, and news.com.au
2013 Female Sexual Dysfunction, The Globe and Mail
Podcasts
2012 Bioethics on Entitled Opinions
Opinion Pieces
2020 Hendl, T. and Browne, T.K. Sad About Having a Boy Not a Girl? Your Distress Might be Real but ‘Gender Disappointment’ is No Mental Illness, The Conversation, 10 March
2018 Browne, T.K. The Importance of Feeling Authentic on Antidepressants, Fifteen Eighty Four,13 Sep
2017 Browne, T.K. We Need to Rethink How We Classify Mental Illness, The Guardian, 30 Oct.
2017 Browne, T.K. and Hendl, T. Gender Equity, Not Sex Selection, Journal of Bioethical Inquiry Blog, 20 June.
2017 Browne, T.K. Parents Don’t Need Sex Selection to Get the Gender They Want, The Guardian, 29 April.
2015 Browne, T.K. Parent Planning: We Shouldn't Be Allowed to Choose Our Children's Sex, The Ethics Centre, 16 Sep (reprinted in Center for Genetics and Society blog).
2015 Browne, T.K. The Disordered Logic of Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder, Impact Ethics, 8 Sep.
2013 Kayali, T. Forgotten Ethics in Canadian Dementia Care Guidelines, Impact Ethics, 17 April.
2013 Kayali, T. Female Sexual Dysfunction and Disease Mongering, Psychology Today and The Huffington Post, 4 March.
Awards
2016 Australian Award for University Teaching – Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning
2016 Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Education – Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (Early Career), ANU
2015 Colleges of Science Award – Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (Early Career), ANU
Publications
Bioconservatism, bioenhancement and backfiring
T Browne, S Clarke
(2020), Vol. 49, pp. 241-256, Journal of moral education, Abingdon, Eng., C1
Is 'gender disappointment' a unique mental illness?
T Hendl, T Browne
(2020), Vol. 23, pp. 281-294, Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, Berlin, Germany, C1
How should we understand family-centred care?
Suzanne Uniacke, Tamara Browne, Linda Shields
(2018), Vol. 22, pp. 460-469, Journal of child health care, London, Eng., C1
Why parents should not be told the sex of their fetus
T Browne
(2017), Vol. 43, pp. 5-10, Journal of medical ethics, London, Eng., C1
A relational approach to genetic counseling for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer
R Forbes Shepherd, T Browne, L Warwick
(2017), Vol. 26, pp. 283-299, Journal of genetic counseling, New York, N.Y., C1-1
How sex selection undermines reproductive autonomy
Tamara Browne
(2017), Vol. 14, pp. 195-204, Journal of bioethical inquiry, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, C1
An ethics review panel for the DSM: a worthwhile challenge
T Browne
(2017), Vol. 24, pp. 235-240, Philosophy, psychiatry and psychology, Baltimore, Md., C1
T Browne
(2017), Vol. 24, pp. 187-201, Philosophy, psychiatry and psychology, Baltimore, Md., C1
Is Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder really a disorder?
T Browne
(2015), Vol. 12, pp. 313-330, Journal of bioethical inquiry, Berlin, Germany, C1-1
T Browne, F Iqbal
(2013), Vol. 16, pp. 31-39, Medicine, health care and philosophy, Berlin, Germany, C1-1
Making sense of melancholy: sub-categorisation and the perceived risk of future depression
T Browne, F Iqbal
(2012), Vol. 14, pp. 171-189, Health, risk and society, Abingdon, Eng, C1-1
Funded Projects at Deakin
No Funded Projects at Deakin found
Supervisions
No completed student supervisions to report