Orlando (Carter) Snead

Carter Snead is Charles E. Rice Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, Concurrent Professor of Political Science and former director of the Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture (2012-24). An expert on public bioethics, Professor Snead’s research explores issues relating to neuroethics, human enhancement, human embryo research, assisted reproduction, abortion, and end-of-life decision-making. He is author of What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics (Harvard University Press 2020), which the Wall Street Journal named one of the top 10 books of 2020 and was listed in the New York Times in 2022 as "One of Ten Books to Understand the Abortion Debate in the U.S." Professor Snead has worked extensively in domestic and international bioethics and policy arenas for more than two decades. He was general counsel for the United States President’s Council on Bioethics, led the U.S. delegation and was its chief negotiator for the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (2005), served on the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee, was the U.S. Government's Permanent Observer to the Council of Europe's Steering Committee on Bioethics, regularly testifies before Congress and federal courts, and is a member of the principal bioethics advisory body to the Pope.