Sean Hillman is a Buddhist scholar from Toronto working on a third degree from U of T with the start of a collaborative PhD in South Asian Religions and Bioethics. He earned a B.A. in East Asian Studies, and his Masters research (also a collaborative degree, in Buddhist Studies and Bioethics) looked at the bioethical interactions between voluntary/ritual death practices in the Indian religious traditions and secular end-of-life care. His doctoral research will explore the impact religious texts have on views on health and disease, and how they influence healthcare decision-making, among Buddhists, Hindus and Jains in India and Canada.

Sean has been a bedside caregiver for over a decade and was a Buddhist monk for 13 years, ordained twice by H.H. the Dalai Lama in India. While in India he also studied Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan language at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives and the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics. With the start of his doctorate he also began studying the Hindi language to enrich his field-work in India.

Sean frequently talks in hospitals, at conferences, on T.V. and at Buddhist centres on various topics, particularly on death and dying, caring for Buddhist patients and a Buddhist approach to caregiving. He is a volunteer teacher with the Buddhist Education Network (which held its first day-camp for Buddhist youngsters this past summer), and a Buddhist consultant for authorial research. He hopes one day to compile a comprehensive South Asian Religions Health Ethics Guide to assist those caring for diverse patient populations