Josephine Johnston
LL.B., MBHL.
Director of Research, Research Scholar
Download CV for Josephine Johnston
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. In addition to numerous scholarly publications, her commentaries have appeared in Stat News, The New Republic, Time, Washington Post, and The Scientist. Ms. Johnston is interviewed frequently by the media, appearing in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, Wired, and Vice Media and on ABC’s “Nightline.”
Ms. Johnston’s current projects address the ethical implications of new kinds of prenatal genetic tests, the relationship between gene editing technologies and understandings of human flourishing, and, with colleagues at University of California, San Francisco, the potential use of genetic sequencing technology in newborns. She is also a member of Columbia University Medical Center’s Center for Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social Implications looking at psychiatric, neurologic and behavioral genetics. In addition, Johnston has, with colleagues at Kent Place School, developed a Hastings Center-style research program for high school students.
Josephine Johnston 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 became director of research in 2012. Prior to coming to Hastings Center, Ms. Johnston 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.
In the Media
STAT on animal-human chimeras
Wired on gene editing
The Guardian on egg freezing
ABC’s “Nightline” on egg freezing
Wall Street Journal on fertility treatment and multiple births
NPR’s “Science Friday” on stem cell research and the legacy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
New York Times Magazine on multiple pregnancies
Selected Commentaries
Josephine Johnston, “Is Finding Out Your Baby’s Genetics A New Responsibility of Parenting?” LeapsMag, March 13, 2018.
Josephine Johnston and Elizabeth Dietz, “Bioethics: Key Concepts and Research,” JSTOR Daily March 8, 2018.
Josephine Johnston, “The Nebulous Ethics of Human Germline Gene Editing,” Hastings Bioethics Forum January 23, 2017.
Josephine Johnston and Eric Trump, “Uterus transplants are no match for the safety of surrogacy,” Stat News, March 7, 2016.
Josephine Johnston and Miriam Zoll, “Is Freezing Your Eggs Dangerous? A Primer,” The New Republic, November 1, 2014.
Josephine Johnston, “The Ghost of the Schizophrenogenic Mother,” AMA Journal of Ethics 2013; 15:801-805.
Josephine Johnston, “Pitch Perfect,” The Scientist 2012; 26(1): 24-25.
Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, “As Tests to Predict Alzheimer’s Emerge, So May Debates Over the Right to Die,” Time, June 8, 2011.
Josephine Johnston, “The Trouble with Twin Births: Government Limits and Price Controls,” New York Times Room for Debate, October 11, 2009.
Selected Scholarly Publications
Josephine Johnston and Rachel Zacharias, “The Future of Reproductive Autonomy” Hastings Center Report 2017; 47(6): S6-S11.
Josephine Johnston, Ruth M Farrell, and Erik Parens, “Supporting Women’s Autonomy in Prenatal Testing,” New England Journal of Medicine 2017; 377(6):505-7.
Insoo Hyun, Amy Wilkerson, and Josephine Johnston, “Revisit the 14-Day Rule,” Nature 2016; 533(7602):169-71.
Josephine Johnston, Mohini P. Banerjee, and Gail Geller, “Trustworthy Research Institutions: The Challenging Case of Studying the Genetics of Intelligence,” Hastings Center Report 2015; 45(5): S59-S65.
Josephine Johnston, Michael K. Gusmano, and Pasquale Patrizio, “Preterm Births, Multiples, and Fertility Treatment,” Fertility and Sterility 2014; 102(1): 36-40.
Amy Wilkerson, Kathaliya Wongsatittham, and Josephine Johnston, “The NIH Stem Cell Registry: An Absence of Gamete Donor Consent,” Cell Stem Cell 2013; 12(2):147-8.
Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, “Neuroimaging: Beginning to Appreciate Its Complexities” Hastings Center Report 2014; 44(2): S2-S7.
Josephine Johnston, “Normalizing Atypical Genitalia: How a Heated Debate Went Astray,” Hastings Center Report 2012; 42(6): 32-44.
Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston, “Troubled Children: Diagnosing, Treating, and Attending to Context,” Hastings Center Report 2011; 41(2): S1-S31.
Erik Parens, Josephine Johnston and Gabrielle A. Carlson, “Pediatric Mental Health Care Dysfunction Disorder?” New England Journal of Medicine 2010; 362(20): 1853-1855.
Books
Thomas H Murray and Josephine Johnston (eds.), Trust and Integrity in Biomedical Research: The Case of Financial Conflicts of Interest, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.
Posts by Josephine Johnston
- Bioethics Forum Essay
The Nebulous Ethics of Human Germline Gene Editing
Read the PostBioethics Forum EssayShould scientists pursue research that would enable prospective parents to edit the genes of their future children in ways that could be passed onto subsequent generations? Not for now, according to the organizers of a summit held in Washington DC at the end of 2015. The three day International Summi...Read the Post - From Bioethics Briefings
Mental Health in Children and Adolescents
Read the PostFrom Bioethics BriefingsFraming the Issue In 2000, the U.S. Surgeon General reported that approximately 1 in 5 children and adolescents experiences the signs and symptoms of a mental health disorder during the course of a year, and that about 1 in 10 children experiences “significant functional impairment” as a result. ...Read the Post - From Bioethics Briefings
Intellectual Property and Biomedicine
Read the PostFrom Bioethics BriefingsFraming the Issue On April 12, 1955, after eight years of research and testing, Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was pronounced safe and effective. In the last century polio was a feared killer: an outbreak in 1916 left 6,000 American children dead and another 27,000 paralyzed. Two years following releas...Read the Post - From Bioethics Briefings
Conflict of Interest in Biomedical Research
Read the PostFrom Bioethics BriefingsFraming the Issue Traditionally, academic biomedical research institutions and for-profit companies have had different missions. Academic institutions have focused on teaching, research, and public service, whereas companies have focused on generating revenue through commercial activities. But the di...Read the Post
Related Posts
- Bioethics Forum Essay
Thinking Beyond “The Border”: American Bioethics and the Repair of U.S. Immigration Policy
Read the PostBioethics Forum EssayHow should the American bioethics community respond to the latest “crisis at the border,” focused on record numbers of unaccompanied minors – children and teenagers traveling from the Northern Triangle of Central America without parents or guardians — presenting at border crossings along...Read the Post - In the Media
U.S. Must Do Heavy Lifting to Prepare for Human Genome Editing
Read the Post - In the Media
Children and the Pandemic: Hastings Scholars Make Three Policy Recommendations
Read the Post Resources: Art of Flourishing Public Events Series
Read the Post- Hastings Center News
Watch the Livestream Tonight: Ethics of Technology Keynote Lecture by Hastings Center’s Josephine Johnston
Read the PostHastings Center NewsThe Hastings Center’s director of research Josephine Johnston will explore how parental responsibilities are challenged by new genetic technologies in the keynote address of the “Ethics of Technology,” a yearlong lecture series at Washington & Lee University that begins on September 26.Read the Post - In the Media
Josephine Johnston in STAT News: Should We Implant Human Brain Tissue in Mice?
Read the PostIn the Media“It brings up some pretty interesting questions about what allows us, ethically, to do research on mice in the first place—namely, that they’re not human,” Johnston told STAT News. “If we give them human cerebral organoids, what does that do to their intelligence, their level of consciousne...Read the Post - Hastings Center News
Josephine Johnston Tackles Gene Editing in “Prestigious Speaker” Series
Read the PostHastings Center NewsUsing gene editing to modify genes responsible for devastating illnesses such as cystic fibrosis seems overwhelmingly desirable, but could there be unintended consequences? Might the ability to select for certain traits in human embryos increase discrimination or merely reflect it? These were two of ...Read the Post - Hastings Center News
Johnston Discusses Ethical Concerns about Human Gene Editing
Read the Post Pharmacological Treatment of Emotional and Behavioral Disturbances in Children
Read the Post
