Sophie Nunnelley

Assistant Professor,
Lincoln Alexander School of Law

Areas of Expertise

The regulation of health-AI
Mental health and human rights
Legal capacity and informed consent

The rapid innovation in health AI offers tremendous promise. However, we urgently need inclusive discussion about the legal innovation needed to ensure health-AI is safe, effective, and consistent with core human rights.

Sophie Nunnelley is an Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law. Her scholarship tackles pressing issues of health law and policy, focusing on issues relating to mental health and the law; disability, consent and capacity; human rights; and the regulation of health-related artificial intelligence. She was awarded an AMS Fellowship in Compassion and Artificial Intelligence (external link, opens in new window) in 2023-2024 for work investigating the rights implications of mental health AI, and has several related publications forthcoming. As part of a CIHR-funded research project, Machine MD: How Should we Regulate AI in Healthcare (external link, opens in new window) , she has convened cross-disciplinary experts to examine the legal implications of specific health-AI technologies, leading to a series of reports (external link) . She is also lead author of (PDF file) a scoping review (external link, opens in new window) – recently published in the journal BMJ Health & Care Informatics – which analyzes disciplinary perspectives on the legal issues raised by health AI.

Nunnelley received her SJD from the University of Toronto where she received multiple awards, including a Vanier Canada Scholarship, a CIHR Fellowship in Health Law, Ethics and Policy, and a Lupina Fellowship in Comparative Health & Society. She received her LL.M. from Yale University as a Fulbright Scholar. Prior to joining the LASL she was the Associate Director of the University of Ottawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics (external link, opens in new window) . She also practiced law with the Constitutional Law Branch of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General (McGuinty government); acted as counsel for a major public inquiry (the “Gomery Inquiry”); was a litigator at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP;