Josephine Johnston is a New Zealand-trained lawyer with a Masters degree in bioethics and health law from the University of Otago. She joined the staff of the Hastings Center in August of 2003 as a Research Scholar.
Ms. Johnston’s research focuses on controversial uses of medicine and biomedical technologies. She is particularly interested in conceptual and practice issues in psychiatry, stem cell research, and assisted reproduction. She is currently completing a Dana Foundation funded project about the meaning of neuroimages. Ms Johnston recently received funding for two new projects: one investigating whether anything can be done to reduce the multiple birth rate following fertility treatment, and the other to run a Hastings Center-style research project with a group of high school students. Ms Johnston has written about the potential for patents to act as barriers to access essential medicines and biological materials, ethical issues arising in the management of financial conflicts of interest in biomedical research, stem cell research, diagnostic and treatment controversies in pediatric psychiatry, and assisted reproduction. She is also Director of Research Operations at the Center.
Selected Publications
Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, “Troubled children: Diagnosing, Treating, and Attending to Context,” Hastings Center Report 2011; 41(2) :S1-S31, http://childpsychaitry.thehastingscenter.org.
Thomas H Murray and Josephine Johnston (ed.s), Trust and Integrity in Biomedical Research: The Case of Financial Conflicts of Interest, Baltimore (MD); Johns Hopkins University Press: 2010.
Erik Parens, Josephine Johnston and Gabrielle A. Carlson. “Pediatric Mental Health Care Dysfunction Disorder?” New England Journal of Medicine 2010; 362(20): 1853-1855.
Erik Parens, Josephine Johnston and Gabrielle A. Carlson, response to Pies; Hoffman, Rahtz and Wein; Biederman, Wozniak and Faraone (Correspondence), New England Journal of Medicine 2010; 363 (12):1188-9.
Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, “Controversies Concerning the Diagnosis and Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in Children,” Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2010; 4:9-23; www.capmh.com/qc/content/4/1/9.
Josephine Johnston, “Judging Octomom,” Hastings Center Report 2009; 39(3): 23-25. Reprinted in David DeGrazia , Thomas A Mappes and Jeffrey Brand-Ballard (ed.s), Biomedical Ethics, 7th Edition, New York; McGraw-Hill, 2010: 176-8.
Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, “Facts, Values, and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,” Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2009; 3:1; www.capmh.com/content/3/1/1.
Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, Facts, Values, and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2009; 3:1.
Erik Parens, Josephine Johnston, and Jacob Moses, Do We Need Synthetic Bioethics, Science 2008; 321(5895): 1449.
Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, Understanding the Agreements and Controversies surrounding Childhood Psychopharmacology, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2008; 2:5, reprinted in Focus 2008; 6(3): 322-330.
Josephine Johnston, Tied up in Nots Over Genetic Parentage, Hastings Center Report 2007; 37(4):28-31.
Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, Does it make sense to speak of neuroethics? EMBO Reports 2007; 8(Special Issue):S61-S64.
Josephine Johnston and Angela Wasunna, Patents, Biomedical Research, and Treatments: Examining Concerns, Canvassing Solutions, Hastings Center Report 2007; 37(1) (Special Report): S1-S36.
Josephine Johnston, Paying Egg Donors: Exploring the Arguments, Hastings Center Report 2006; 36(1):28-31.
Videos
Bioethics Briefs: Controversies Surrounding the Pediatric Bipolar Diagnosis & Treatment