About the Department of Bioethics and Humanities

Welcome to the Department of Bioethics and Humanities. The primary strength of the department is its rich, talented, interdisciplinary nature, which is a function of the faculty.  Capitalizing on this strength and expanding the visibility of the department has emerged as a key goal for us. 

The Department provides academic education and professional training in bioethics and humanities through an MA in Bioethics; an undergraduate Minor in Bioethics and Humanities; curricula in clinical ethics and professionalism for medical students, residents, and fellows; and sponsored continuing education activities for practicing health care professionals.

Welcome to new faculty

We welcome two new faculty effective January 1, 2013. 

Jamie L. Shirley, PhD RN joins us as Adjunct Lecturer. Jamie’s primary appointment is with the Nursing Program at UW Bothell.  Jamie is a valued guest lecturer and student mentor. Jamie also serves as a member of the UWMC Ethics Consult Service.  We’re proud to recognize her contributions via this faculty appointment. 

Faculty

Wylie Burke receives IOM Health Sciences Policy Appointment

Professor and Chair Wylie burke has been appointed to a three-year term on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Board on Health Sciences Policy. Dr. Burke was elected a member of IOM in 2007 and currently co-chairs IOM's Roundtable on Translation of Genomic-based Research for Health.

Tom Gallagher receives MITSS Hope Award

We are proud to announce that Dr. Thomas Gallagher, Associate Professor of Medicine and Bioethics & Humanities, was selected to receive the 2012 MITSS Hope Award. This award from Medically Induced Trauma Support Services (MITSS) recognizes an individual who exemplifies the MITSS mission to support healing and restore hope to patients, families, and clinicians impacted by adverse medical events. Congratulations to Tom on this well-earned recognition.

http://www.mitsshopeaward.org/

to see the entire article, click here

Recent Faculty Publications

Robert A. Pearlman, MD, MPH and Mary Beth Foglia, RN, PhD, adjunct and affiliate faculty in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities (respectively) are also staff members of the VA’s National Center for Ethics in Health Care and the authors of five peer-reviewed papers featured in a special issue of AJOB Primary Research, a journal of the American Journal of Bioethics.

The papers describe VA’s experiences evaluating ethics quality in the VA health care system as part of IntegratedEthicsTM (IE), VA’s comprehensive model for managing ethics in health care organizations. The issue appeared online on February 11, 2013. The papers are available at www.tandfonline.com/toc/uabr20/current

“It can be a challenge to evaluate ethics quality in health care,” said Dr. Ellen Fox, Chief Ethics in Health Care Officer at VA. “These publications show that ethical practices and culture can be measured and managed just like every other dimension of health care quality.” In the issue’s lead article, commentators Bette-Jane Crigger, Director of Ethics Policy for the American Medical Association, and Matthew Wynia, Director of the AMA’s Institute for Ethics, describe (continue reading...)

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Archived News

Bioethics listserv

Are you interested in receiving information about bioethics events, lectures, discussions, and news of interest? Click here to subscribe to our bioethics listserv.

SAVE THE DATE - Bioethics Grand Rounds

April 8, 2013    4:00-5:30 pm
Speaker: Rebecca Leah Levine
"From Congress and Courts to the Bench and Bedside: Promoting Dialogue Between the Medical and Disability Communities"

FACULTY SEARCH

Associate or Full Professor,
Department of Bioethics and Humanities
University of Washington
School of Medicine, Seattle WA

Our collaborative multidisciplinary bioethics department is recruiting for a full-time (100% FTE, 12 month service period), Associate Professor or Professor (without tenure for reasons of funding) for a research-oriented position focused on health disparities and/or behavioral research in a social context. Candidates should have a strong interest in research that combines empiric and normative methodologies, and their scholarship should demonstrate an understanding of the ethical aspects of their work. Responsibilities will include sponsored research (60-80% of effort), teaching in departmental undergraduate and/or graduate programs (10-20% of effort), and other academic/administrative activities including mentoring junior faculty (10-20% of effort).

Candidates must have a doctoral degree or equivalent, a nationally-recognized research program and proven success in securing extramural grant funding related to health disparities and/or behavioral research. Experience with university-community research partnerships is preferred. Appointee will be expected to maintain a vigorous, extramurally-funded research program in his/her areas of interest and to promote collaboration and cross-disciplinary research involving the social sciences, bioethics, and clinical and public health disciplines.

The University of Washington is ranked #2 overall in the nation in NIH-funding, and #1 among public institutions. We offer a highly collaborative research environment with support from the Institute for Translational Health Sciences (our CTSA) and affiliations with Seattle Children’s, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and other local and regional research institutes.  To learn more about our multidisciplinary department and faculty, visit our website: http://depts.washington.edu/bhdept/

Applications received on or before April 1, 2013 will be assured full consideration. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled and must include a curriculum vitae with a complete list of publications, grants (submitted and received), and teaching experience; a summary of research interests and future plans; and three letters of reference (confidential letters to be sent directly from reference). Send materials electronically to bhsearch@uw.edu or in hardcopy format to:

Search Committee
Dept. of Bioethics and Humanities
University of Washington School of Medicine
Box 357120
Seattle, WA 98195-7120

For more information, contact the coordinator at bhsearch@uw.edu or the Search Committee Chair, Dr. Benjamin Wilfond at bwilfond@uw.edu. Anticipated start date is September, 2013.

University of Washington faculty engage in teaching, research and service. The UW is building a culturally diverse faculty and strongly encourages applications from women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and covered veterans. The UW is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

For the pdf version of the ad, click here.

To view the department fact sheet, click here.

Resources

Have you seen the online American Medical Association's Journal of Ethics? It is a great resource for ethical issues, case studies, ethics polls, and podcasts.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has launched a project titled Global Ethics Observatory. It is a world-wide network of databases in bioethics and in other areas of applied ethics including lists of experts in the field of ethics, ethics institutions, ethics teaching programs, and a database of legislation, guidelines and regulations relating to ethics.

Open Spaces: Views from the Northwest is a quarterly magazine for voices from the Northwest that speak with knowledge and insight to issues affecting people in every region. It is created in Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Open Spaces offers perceptive articles as well as thought provoking stories, essays and poetry on many subjects including medicine, politics, publishing, culture, law, science, music, business, art, education, health, sleep, food, travel and gardening.

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"

Dr. Kelly Edwards, Dr. Malia Fullerton, and Sue Trinidad have developed a discussion guide for use with Rebecca Skloot's book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". Click here to download the guide.