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Dr Peter West-Oram

Senior Lecturer in Bioethics
E: P.West-Oram@bsms.ac.uk
T: +44 (0) 1273 877448
Location: BSMS Medical Research Building, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9PS

Areas of expertise: Political Philosophy, Bioethics

Research areas: Public Health Ethics, Medical Ethics, Global Justice

Other relevant positions: Visiting Research Fellow in the Emmy Noether Research Group Political Philosophy and Bioethics, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany.

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Biography

Dr Peter West-Oram is Associate Professor in Bioethics at BSMS, having joined the medical school in September 2017. Prior to moving to Brighton, he was a Senior Research Fellow in the Division of Biomedical Ethics at Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Birmingham, where he wrote his dissertation on the subject of global health justice, and the nature, justification and extent of rights to health care.

Research

Peter's work explores questions relating to the ethics and justice of health and health care, with a particular emphasis on the origin, nature, and extent of our obligations to other people in the context of health care provision. In 2026, he published his first book, Justice, Solidarity and Global Health: From Globalisation to Collaboration, with Routledge. This book builds on Peter's work on global health justice, and explores the role and impact of solidarity in global health, and the ways in which solidaristic behaviour both aids and impedes health justice. Other recent work includes papers on the rights of migrant health workers and refugees more widely, and the legitimate extent of rights to conscientious objection in health care. Peter is also on of three editors for the book series Off the Fence, with Bloomsbury.

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Teaching

Peter teaches in a wide range of topics in medical ethics across the undergraduate and postgraduate curricula in BSMS. He is open to supervising PhD students working in any of his areas of research interest.

Selected publications

West-Oram, Peter. 2026. Justice, Solidarity, and Global Health: From Globalisation to Collaboration. Routledge.

Ojiako, Chinonso, and Peter West-Oram. 2026. ‘Supporting Those Who Sustain Us: The Role of Immigration Policies and Structural Injustice on the Health of Migrant Healthcare Workers in Medical Brain Drain’. Clinical Ethics, March 18, 14777509261433732. https://doi.org/10.1177/14777509261433732.

Rajalingam, Regina Melissa, and Peter West-Oram. 2026. ‘5 Years Later: Insights from COVID-19 and the Importance of Intersectionality in Addressing Health Inequalities’. Original Research. Medical Humanities, ahead of print, April 13. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2025-013392.

West-Oram, Peter. 2021. ‘Solidarity Is for Other People: Identifying Derelictions of Solidarity in Responses to COVID-19’. Current Controversy. Journal of Medical Ethics, ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-106522.

West-Oram, Peter G. N., Caroline Brooks, and Valerie Jenkins. 2020. ‘From Subject to Fellow Researcher: Reconceptualising Research Relationships to Safeguard Potentially Vulnerable Survey Participants’. The American Journal of Bioethics 20 (10): 72–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2020.1806385.

“From Self-interest to Solidarity: One Path to Delivering Refugee Health.” in Bioethics, 2018 (Online First): [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12472].

“Solidarity as a National Health Strategy.” in Bioethics, 2018 (Online First): [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12443].

Solidarity in Bioethics with Alena M. Buyx, and Barbara Prainsack, Electronic Library of Science, John Wiley & Sons Ltd: Chichester, 2016: [DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0027021].

Global Health Solidarity with Alena M. Buyx, in Public Health Ethics, 2016 (Online First): [DOI: 10.1093/phe/phw021].

Three Approaches to Global Health Care Justice: Rejecting the Positive/Negative Rights Distinction in International Development and Human Aid. Principles, Norms and Institutions for the Global Sphere edited by Paulo Barcelos and Gabriele De Angelis, Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.

Conscientious Objection in Health Care Provision: A New Dimension with Alena M. Buyx in Bioethics, 30 (5), 2015: pp.336-343. [DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12236].

Revising Global Theories of Justice to Include Public Goods with Heather Widdows in The Journal of Global Ethics, 9 (2), 2013: pp.227–243. [DOI: 10.1080/17449626.2013.838457].

Why Bioethics Must be Global with Heather Widdows in Global Health and International Community: Ethical, Political and Regulatory Challenges edited by John Coggon and Swati Gola, London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013: pp 43-62.

Freedom of Conscience and Health Care in the United States of America: The Conflict Between Public Health and Religious Liberty in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, in Health Care Analysis, 21 (3), 2013: pp 237-247. [DOI: 10.1007/s10728-013-0251-6].

Global Population and Global Justice: Equitable Distribution of Resources Among Countries. With Heather Widdows in Electronic Library of Science, John Wiley & Sons Ltd: Chichester, 2012: pp 1-7. http://www.els.net/ [DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0024140].

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