This summer intensive learning experience aims to engage undergraduates in some of the most important bioethics issues of the day. The program will stimulate students’ curiosity about bioethics, prepare them to think hard about the many bioethics challenges our society faces, and consider integrating bioethics into their career plans. Hastings Fellows and other experts in bioethics from around the nation and the world teach in this program.
The program is a week-long experience that will take place virtually from June 3-7, 2024. Students will develop skills in explaining and justifying their views on topics in bioethics, as well as learned how to listen with respect to divergent views. Sessions include lectures, group discussions, and small group exercises.
Sana Baban is a Project Manager and Research Assistant at The Hastings Center. She is interested in a wide range of bioethical issues, such as transplant ethics, immigration and refugee health, global health, clinical ethics, and research ethics. Sana is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Harvard Medical School’s Masters in Science in Bioethics Program and an Educator at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine’s Department of Population Health and Epidemiology. She graduated with her MBE from Harvard Medical School and BA in Communication Sciences and Disorders from The University of South Florida. She will be attending medical school in the fall at the University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine.
Nancy Berlinger is a senior research scholar at The Hastings Center. Her research focuses on ethical and social challenges arising from population aging and near the end of life, and on topics in community and immigrant health.
Calvin Bradley Jr., MDiv, MS, CFLE, BCC, HEC-C is the Director of Education and Assistant Professor for the Patient Counseling Program at Virginia Commonwealth University, as well as President-Elect for the Pediatric Chaplains Network. Some of his research interests include pediatric health disparities and justice in healthcare, adolescent spiritual care assessment and interventions, non-verbal communication and conflict in pediatric care settings. He is a 2021 Sadler Scholar, 2018 Drexel University 40 under 40 recipient, and current Health Equity Fellow at VCU.
Virginia A. Brown is a research scholar in social justice and population health. She joined The Hastings Center in September 2023 from the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School where she served as an assistant professor in the department of population health in the division of Community Engagement and Health Equity and as the associate director of the Liberal Arts Honors program in the College of Liberal Arts.
She brings to the Center expertise on protecting the autonomy of persons living with serious mental illness using psychiatric advance directives. She works to respond to health and health care inequity at the individual, community, and institutional level and as she writes, this gives her “the moral courage to speak truth to power.”
Dr. Carey Candrian is an associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is on the Board of Directors at GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing Health Equity and the Vice President for the Lesbian Health Fund. She received her MA in Organizational Communication and PhD in Health Communication from the University of Colorado. She completed post-doctoral training in Health Literacy from the Institute of Communication and Health at the University of Lugano, Switzerland. Dr. Candrian’s research examines how communication affects outcomes in healthcare — and specifically how it impacts older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) adults, and those who care for them. As a qualitative and community-based researcher, her goal is to effect change on an interaction and policy level so that older LGBTQ adults receive the support they and their loved ones want, when they need it most. Dr. Candrian’s work has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Cambia Health Foundation, The Colorado Health Foundation, The Colorado Trust, The Next50 Initiative and The Lesbian Health Fund. She has appeared on Colorado Public Radio, NPR’s Here and Now, PBS NewHour’s Brief But Spectacular and the American Medical Association (AMA) Moving Medicine Series for her work advancing health equity for LGBTQ older adults. She is also the creator of Eye to Eye: Portraits of Pride, Strength and Beauty ( a photo exhibit of older LGBTQ women) and director of the documentary, “Just Us: The longing and hope of LGBTQ people.”
Elizabeth Dietz is a postdoctoral fellow in bioethics and the history of genomics at the National Human Genome Research Institute. They have a PhD in Biology and Society from Arizona State University, and their research and teaching uses methods from the field of science and technology studies to examine questions related to the bioethics of queerness and disability. Dietz writes about trans medicine, epistemologies of choice, reproductive ethics, and how bureaucrats work to enact justice through the relationship between information and decision-making. Their current project examines the way that statutory definitions of sex engage scientific tools, methods, and authority to legitimize anti-trans policymaking in the United States.
Dr. Faith Fletcher is an Associate Professor in the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine, a senior advisor to The Hastings Center, a Hastings Center Bioethics Fellow, and a Greenwall Fellow in Bioethics. Her research program investigates the barriers that medically underserved populations encounter in scientific research and healthcare engagement. Her work is rooted in methodological and theoretical approaches from the fields of public health, bioethics, and behavioral science. In collaboration with an antiracism task force, Dr. Fletcher played a key role in leading The Hastings Center Special Report (2022), entitled “A Critical Moment in Bioethics: Reckoning with Anti-Black Racism Through Intergenerational Dialogue.”
Mercer Gary was a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Hastings Center and is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Drexel University. Her research is centered on the ethical value of care in the contemporary marketized and technologized care sector. She received a dual PhD in Philosophy and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University.
Susan Gilbert is the director of communications of The Hastings Center and editor of Hastings Bioethics Forum. Before joining The Hastings Center in 2007, she was an editorial consultant and a freelance writer specializing in health and medicine. She was a frequent contributor to The New York Times science section and a consultant to Harvard Health Publications. Earlier, she was an editor of The New York Times Good Health Magazine and Science Digest. Gilbert is the author of A Field Guide to Boys and Girls (HarperCollins, 2000) and coauthor of The Harvard Medical School Guide to Optimal Memory (McGraw-Hill, 2005) and Children’s Hospital Guide to Your Child’s Health and Development (Perseus 2001). Her articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Scientific American, Redbook, Parenting, and Forbes. She has received two awards from the American Medical Writers Association.
Adira Hulkower is the Director of the Bioethics Consultation Service at Montefiore Medical Center where her days are devoted to guiding patients, families, and healthcare teams through complex ethical dilemmas that arise at the bedside. In addition to her clinical role, Ms. Hulkower holds the position of Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where she teaches bioethics to first, second and third-year medical students. Ms. Hulkower is faculty in the Einstein Cardozo Masters in Bioethics program and course directs clinical ethics and mediation intensives. Ms. Hulkower has lectured internationally on topics including clinical ethics, end-of-life care decision-making, healthcare delivery for the unhoused, narrative medicine, and decision-making for unrepresented patients. Ms. Hulkower holds a JD from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a Masters in Bioethics from Columbia University.
Josephine Johnston is an expert on the ethical, legal, and policy implications of biomedical technologies, particularly as used in human reproduction, psychiatry, genetics, and neuroscience. She is a New Zealand-trained lawyer with a master’s degree in bioethics and health law from the University of Otago. She joined the staff of The Hastings Center as a research scholar in 2003 and was director of research from 2012-2022. She is a Hastings Center fellow. In addition to her position at The Hastings Center, Ms. Johnston is an associate professor at the University of Otago’s Bioethics Centre in Dunedin, New Zealand. worked as a bioethics researcher at Dalhousie University and the University of Minnesota. She has also worked as a lawyer in both New Zealand and Germany.
Abel Knochel, PhD, MSW, is an Associate Professor of Social Work at University of Minnesota Duluth who teaches undergraduate and graduate students about socially just, anti-oppressive practice with groups, organizations and communities. Abel’s research focuses on aging among transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people, including experiences with medical and service providers, expectations of aging into dependence, and what TNB people need in order to age well. They also co-facilitate a monthly online group for TNB elders.
Stephen R. Latham, JD, PhD, is Director of the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. Before entering academia full-time, he was secretary to the AMA’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. He has been a graduate fellow of Harvard’s Safra Center on Ethics, a Research Fellow of the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, and a board member and Secretary of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, from which he received a Distinguished Service Award. He is a Fellow of the Hastings Center.
Latham is author of over one hundred publications on bioethics and health law; these have appeared in numerous university-press books, law reviews and peer-reviewed bioethics and medical journals. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Health Care Analysis and the American Journal of Bioethics, and has been a Contributing Editor for the Hastings Center Report.
Latham has been faculty chair of Yale’s Human Subjects Committee (its social/behavioral IRB) for several years, and also co-chairs its Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee. He has done clinical ethics consultation at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital and on the Medical Review Board of Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families. Latham teaches bioethics and law to undergrads in Political Science as well as to Yale Law students. He also teaches environmental ethics at the Yale School of the Environment.
Barron H. Lerner, MD, PhD is a Professor of Medicine and Population Health at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He received his M.D. from Columbia in 1986 and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Washington in 1996. In addition to his research, Lerner practices internal medicine and teaches medical ethics and the history of medicine. Dr. Lerner is the author of five books, including The Breast Cancer Wars: Hope, Fear and the Pursuit of a Cure in Twentieth-Century America, which won the William Welch award from the American Association for the History of Medicine. Dr. Lerner has also published extensively in scholarly journals and contributes essays to the “Well” blog section of The New York Times, Slate and the Washington Post among others. He has also appeared on numerous NPR broadcasts, including “Fresh Air,” “All Things Considered” and “Science Friday.”
Leah Lomotey-Nakon, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.T.S., is a multi-disciplinary trained researcher who uses community-engaged mixed method research as a pathway to identify the root causes of health inequities and address wicked problems impacting human flourishing. Dr. Lomotey-Nakon is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center and in August will join Baylor University as Assistant Professor of Bioethics in the Department of Religion.
Daphne Martschenko, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics. Dr. Martschenko holds an MPhil from the University of Cambridge in Politics, Development, and Democratic Education and in 2019 received a Ph.D. in Education, also from the University of Cambridge. Her work advocates for and facilitates research efforts that promote socially responsible conduct, communication, and community engagement in human genomics. Dr. Martschenko has appeared in numerous podcasts including Freakonomics Radio. Her work has been published in publicly accessible media outlets like Scientific American and The Conversation.
Currently, Dr. Martschenko is writing a book with friend and colleague Sam Trejo – a quantitative social scientist interested in how social and biological factors jointly shape human development across the life-course. In it, they unpack various social, ethical, and policy issues related to the DNA revolution. The floodgates of genetic data have opened, resurfacing age-old debates and raising new questions. They hope their book moves past the dichotomies – interpretivist vs. positivist, qualitative vs. quantitative, optimism vs. pessimism regarding biological explanations – that vex the biosocial sciences.
Lisa Moses is a veterinarian and bioethicist, whose work focuses on various aspects of animal ethics including conservation, animal research, and veterinary medical ethics. She is a core faculty member of The Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics, a bioethics scholar at The Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics at Yale University, and a visiting scientist at The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Her current research interests include animal ethics considerations in xenotransplantation and futile care in veterinary medicine.
Danielle M. Pacia focuses on bioethics topics related to individualized therapies, community health, and the ever-changing landscape of reproductive health care in the United States. She is interested in high-level questions related to reciprocity, relationality, and solidarity, and how these concepts impact health policy in the U.S. and inform pathways for improved health care access. She received her MBE from Harvard Medical School and BA in bioethics and interdisciplinary studies from the University of Alabama.
Vardit Ravitsky, PhD, is the President and CEO of The Hastings Center, an independent, nonpartisan bioethics research institute that is among the most prestigious bioethics and health policy institutes in the world. Ravitsky joins the Center from the University of Montreal where she was Professor at the Bioethics Program, School of Public Health. She is also a Senior Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She received her PhD from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, her MA from the University of New Mexico, and her BA from the Sorbonne University in Paris, France.
Alison Reiheld is Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Dr. Reiheld’s work in medical ethics covers a broad array of issues–disability, gender, transgender, reproduction, civility, fatness, and more–unified by concerns about how persons are rendered vulnerable in health care settings. Recently, she has begun exploring how ideal theory complicates our attempts to provide ethically robust health care in a non-ideal world.
Deborah Rose is a rising PGY-4 Neurology Resident at Duke University Medical Center. She is a first-generation Jamaican-American, born and raised in New Jersey. She completed her undergraduate education at Cornell University and medical school at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Following residency at Duke, she will pursue a Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry fellowship at Johns Hopkins and research training as a clinical fellow at the NINDS/NIA. Currently, her research is focused on exploring ways to optimize diagnostic screening modalities for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and examining the biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying racial disparities in the development of mild cognitive impairment and AD. She has a particular interest in studying the role that adverse childhood experiences and chronic toxic stress may play in the pathogenesis of AD and contribute to the racial disparities seen in the condition.
Seema K. Shah, JD, HEC-C is Associate Professor in Pediatrics at Northwestern University Medical School and the Founder’s Board Professor of Medical Ethics at Lurie Children’s Hospital. Prof. Shah is also the Director of Research Ethics and leads the Pediatric Research Ethics and Policy Program at Lurie Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on pediatric and global health research ethics, including on ethical and regulatory issues arising in controlled human infection studies and pediatric pandemic preparedness. She is also an expert on the legal aspects of the determination of death. Prof. Shah has served as Chair of an NIH panel on ethical considerations in conducting Zika virus human challenge trials and currently serves on expert advisory groups for World Health Organization
Patrick T. Smith is the Director of Bioethics Programs for the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. He is an Associate Research Professor of Theological Ethics and Bioethics at Duke University Divinity School and Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences, Duke University Medical School. He also is a Senior Fellow with the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke. Patrick was recently elected as President-Elect for the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities. He also is a Fellow with the Hastings Center. He has experience in clinical ethics previously serving as a Director of Ethics at Angela Hospice Care Center in Michigan and as an Ethics Associate with Boston Children’s Hospital.
His current research and writing are in the areas of moral philosophy, religious bioethics, and the intersection of the arts and the promotion of health justice and equitable health care. Patrick is especially committed to exploring the close and often forgotten links between bioethics, public health, community engagement, and social justice. He has served on the board of directors of organizations working for more equitable social arrangements such as YW Boston, which aims to empower women and eliminate racism. He currently is on the board of Elevate Theatre Company out of New York City and a Research Advisory Group member with One Nation/One Project, National Arts in Public Health Initiative.
Dr. Joseph Stramondo (he/him/his) is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Humanities, Director of the Institute for Classics and Public Affairs, and Chair of Classics and Humanities at San Diego State University. During the 22-23 Academic Year, he was also the Hubert Mader Visiting Professor in Bioethics at the Albert Gnaegi Center for Healthcare Ethics at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on how bioethics can be reframed by centering the lived experiences of disability as a crucial source of moral knowledge that should guide clinical practice, biomedical research, and health policy.
Sridhar Venkatapuram is an interdisciplinary academic-practitioner in public/global health ethics and justice. He is an Associate Professor at King’s College London. Since early 1990s he has worked with WHO (HQ), NHS, Wellcome Trust, BMA, Human Rights Watch, and others. He lectures widely and publishes research on public health and global health ethics; global and health justice philosophy; capabilities approach; social determinants of health; and health equity. His Twitter handle is @sridhartweet.
Jada Wiggleton-Little is a Neuroethics Fellow at Cleveland Clinic and an incoming Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Ohio State (starting August 2024). She primarily works in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and clinical ethics. She is especially interested in how these areas intersect as it relates to pain. Dr. Wiggleton-Little’s research is focused on pain communications, particularly in the context of racial and gender disparities in pain management.
Click a day to view its schedule.
All times in US Eastern.
Mon, Jun 3
INTRODUCTIONS
Icebreaker + Schedule
Stephen Latham
Faith Fletcher
DISCUSSION
“What is Bioethics?”
Patrick Smith
Lunch BREAK
A Critical Moment in Bioethics: Anti‐Black Racism and Intergenerational Dialogue
Virginia Brown and Faith Fletcher
BREAK
DEBRIEF
Stephen Latham
Faith Fletcher
END OF DAY
Tue, Jun 4
INTRODUCTIONS
Icebreaker + Schedule
Stephen Latham
Faith Fletcher
LECTURE
Bioethics for Aging Societies: Late Life and the End of Life
Nancy Berlinger
LUNCH BREAK
COMMUNITY BUILDING WITH SADLER SCHOLARS
Faculty:
Calvin Bradley, Asst. Prof, Virginia Commonwealth University
Leah Lomotey-Nakon, Asst. Prof, Baylor University
Deborah Rose, MD, Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins University
Jada Wiggleton-Little, Asst. Prof, Ohio State University
Moderator: Nancy Berlinger
Care Ethics
Faculty:
Mercer Gary
DEBRIEF
Stephen Latham
Faith Fletcher
END OF DAY
Wed, Jun 5
INTRODUCTIONS
Icebreaker + Schedule
Stephen Latham
Faith Fletcher
PANEL
Bioethics & LGBTQ+ Issues
Faculty:
Liz Dietz, on LGBTQ+ bioethics as a justice discourse
Alison Reiheld, on anti-trans policymaking and its consequences for health care access
Abel Knochel, on research supporting community building for older trans people
Carey Candrian, on queer aging and end of life issues
Moderator: Nancy Berlinger
LUNCH BREAK
LECTURE
Pandemic and the Law
Steve Latham
SHORT BREAK
LECTURE
Disability Bioethics
Joe Stramondo
DEBRIEF
Stephen Latham
Faith Fletcher
END OF DAY
Thu, Jun 6
INTRODUCTIONS
Icebreaker + Schedule
Stephen Latham
Faith Fletcher
LECTURE
Race & Genetics Research
Daphne Martschenko
SHORT BREAK
PATHWAYS IN BIOETHICS
Faculty:
Faith Fletcher
Joe Stramondo
Adira Hulkower
Moderator: Nancy Berlinger
LUNCH BREAK
PANEL
Human Life, Animal Ethics: Emerging Issues in Organ Transplantation
Faculty:
Seema Shah
Lisa Moses
Moderator: Stephen Latham
Early Career Writing and Publishing
Susan Gilbert and Sana Baban
END OF DAY
Fri, Jun 7
INTRODUCTIONS
Icebreaker + Schedule
Stephen Latham
Faith Fletcher
LECTURE
Community Health, Rural Healthcare Access
Danielle Pacia
LECTURE
Reproductive Ethics
Josephine Johnston
LUNCH BREAK
DISCUSSION
Bioethics Futures: The Ethics of AI
Vardit Ravitsky
DISCUSSION
Global Health Justice
Sridhar Venkatapuram
FINAL DEBRIEF
Stephen Latham
Faith Fletcher
Closing remarks
Vardit Ravitsky
Aaliyah Campbell is a rising junior at the University of Pennsylvania, where she majors in Health and Societies on the pre-health track. Her interests include healthcare equity, education access, and civic engagement. After graduation, she intends to pursue a MPH to further explore the field of public health. In her free time, she loves to read, write, and explore Philadelphia.
Allison Ambrose is a recent graduate of Georgia Southern University where she majored in Philosophy with a minor in English Literature. Her interests include bioethics, neuroethics, and social and political philosophy. She intends to pursue a doctorate in philosophy to work on issues such as genetic modification and dehumanization in healthcare. In her free time, she likes to collect books and travel.
Amanda Xu is a rising sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she majors in biology and philosophy. Her interests include equity and policymaking in healthcare, social determinants of health, and medical ethics. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in emergency/trauma medicine, as well as continue her work in bioethics through education, research, and advocacy. In her free time, she is a competitive swimmer, but also loves going to concerts and thrifting!
Amber (Raven) Olguin is a senior at MSU, where they major in Interdisciplinary Studies in Social Science – Health and Society and minors in Bioethics, Human Behavior and Social Services, and Digital Cultural Heritage and History. Their interests include disability justice and advocacy, mental health, and intersectional social justice. After graduation, they intend to go to grad school but aren’t sure in what field and intend to work in rehabilitative services/disability advocacy and do research. In their free time, Raven is the Social Media Coordinator and Residence Halls Association Representative for The Council of Students with Disabilities (where they won awards for Best Bill Writing and Best Advocacy), is currently an intern in the Youth Leader Council at the Mental Health Association in Michigan, does theatre, and can be found doing any number of nerdy/creative hobbies like art, writing, video games, Dungeons and Dragons, and more.
Asa Santos is a rising senior at Princeton University, majoring Medical Anthropology with minors in Korean Language & Culture, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and Global Health & Health Policy. They are from São Paulo, Brazil, but lived a large part of their childhood in London, England. They’re a low-income, first-generation, Afro-Brazilian, queer, non-binary international student on a full ride, and will be one of two people in their family to graduate college. After graduation, they hope to pursue a JD/PhD in Philosophy, focusing on Virtue Ethics as it relates to the Bioethics of anti-trans legislation, and they hope to work in reversing anti-trans legislation being presently passed in the United States and globally.
Chiamaka Okorom is a sophomore at Smith College, where she is currently majoring in Philosophy. Her interests include issues where bioethics and political philosophy intersect, such as the ethics of reproductive and enhancement technologies, obtaining access to proper healthcare internationally, and the regulation of biomedical research and the protection of human participants. In her free time she enjoys listening to music, playing folk guitar, and writing.
Craig McFarland is a rising senior at Harvard College studying Neuroscience & Philosophy with a minor in Global Health & Health Policy. At Harvard, he has served as President and Founder of Harvard Undergraduate Ethics Society, Chair of STEAM Policy at the Institute of Politics, and an elected Student Representative in Harvard’s student government. Outside of campus, he serves as a Society for Neuroscience policy ambassador to Congress and conducts neuroscience, applied ethics, and law research at Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, and in France from where his work has been published in journals such as the American Journal of Bioethics and the BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics. In his free time, he loves exploring different coffee shops and learning different languages.
Deborah Bajomo is a rising junior at Columbia University, where she majors in environmental science with a special concentration in public health. Her interests include environmental justice, animal rights, health policy, and reproductive rights. Upon graduation, she intends to pursue an MD-MPH and a career in preventive medicine. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting, baking, and reading.
Ellie Richards is a junior at Michigan State University, where she majors in Human Biology with a double minor in Bioethics & Women and Gender Studies. Her interests include reproductive justice, physician assisted suicide, and more. After graduation, she is pursing a medical doctoral degree and/or intends to have a career in the healthcare field. In her free time, she loves attending music concerts and festivals, working out through weight lifting and spin classes, and spending time with friends!
Emma Jokisch is a rising senior majoring in Bioethics and Health Studies at Saint Louis University. She hopes to pursue a PhD in Bioethics after undergrad, and her favorite topics in bioethics include reproductive technology, feminist scholarship, and biopower. Emma is a biology lab teaching assistant for her university and President of SLU Bioethics Society, where she authors a monthly segment highlighting intersectional literature, titled, Emma’s Book Club. In her free time, she likes to read contemporary fiction, listen to true crime podcasts, and ride horses.
Jenna Yeam is a rising senior at Duke University studying psychology, where she is researching mistakes made in the end of life and “how to die well”. She is interested in the growing Death Positive movement, the Death Doula trade, and retirement community restructuring. After graduation, she hopes to work in the social impact space and study palliative care systems in graduate school. In her free time, she enjoys surfing, trying new coffee shops, slack lining, and backpacking with friends.
Lourena De Abreu is a recent graduate of Howard University, where she majored in Interdisciplinary Studies: Bioethics and minored in philosophy. Her interests include Black bioethics, narratives in healthcare, pediatric decision making, and the use of psychedelic medicine. In fall of 2024, she intends to pursue a MS in bioethics to continue her research. In her free time she enjoys hiking, biking, and spending time with her many nieces and nephews.
Megan Dwyer is a freshman at the University of Arizona, majoring in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science and minoring in French, Bioethics, and Biochemistry. She is interested in rural and gender disparities in healthcare, as well as diversifying research spaces. After graduation, she intends to go to medical school and become a neurosurgeon. She enjoys painting and hiking in her free time.
Neila Eaddy is a junior at Gallaudet University, where she double majors in Philosophy and Government. Her passions include volunteer work, elder justice, and analyzing ethical concerns within the Deaf community. After graduation, she aims to pursue a JD to support Deaf families navigating the legal sphere. In her free time, she enjoys sewing, and fashion design.
Pauline Caldwell is a junior at Spelman College, where she majors in anthropology and sociology and minors in food studies. Her interests include land justice, feminist ethnography, and various art forms. She is an active campus leader serving as a food studies scholar where she gardens weekly, Spelman social justice fellow, vice president of Project Pad for menstrual equity, plays women’s lacrosse, peer tutor at Spelman’s writing center, and a follower of Jesus Christ.
Sandipta Ghosh is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh, where she majors in psychology, minors in computer science, and pursues a certificate in bioethics. Her interests include developmental psychopathology, child and adolescent mental health issues, and bioethical considerations regarding consent in medical procedures and legislative frameworks. She is currently interning at Pitt’s School of Public Health, helping spearhead a seminar-series focused on topics in ethics. After graduation, she aims to pursue a career in healthcare, where she can advocate for patient rights and ethical medical practices. Beyond academia, Sandipta loves to sing and dance, and frequently performs at showcases around campus.
Shraddha Potti is a rising sophomore at the University of Minnesota majoring in Biology, Society, and Environment with a double minor in neuroscience and psychology. Her interests include medical accessibility, cancer research, and psychopathology. In her free time, she enjoys creative writing, karate, and singing on an acapella team.
Shreya Shankar is a rising junior at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, where she is majoring in psychology and minoring in developmental psychology and philosophy. Her interests include research ethics, end-of-life care, and ethics in the fields of psychology and psychiatry. After graduation, she intends to pursue a PhD in psychology. In her free time, she likes to bake.
Vikram Saigal is a Sophomore at New York University with a target double major in Psyy and Political Science, with a minor in Bioethics. He is also a nationally ranked Policy debater at NYU CEDA Policy debate. His interests include politics, disability rights, and philosophy. He would like to learn and contribute to policies and ethics related to Patient access, Expanded Access, Healthcare AI.
