Our Mission

The mission of the Center for Bioethics is to advance and disseminate knowledge concerning ethical issues in health care and the life sciences. The Center carries out this mission by conducting original interdisciplinary research, offering educational programs and courses, fostering public discussion and debate through community outreach activities, and assisting in the formulation of public policy.

Interim Co-Directors

Debra DeBruin, PhD, and Mary Faith Marshall, PhD, FCCM, are Interim Co-Directors of the Center for Bioethics.
 

Maas Family Endowed Chair in Bioethics Appointment

The Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota, is pleased to announce that faculty member Steven H. Miles, M.D. is the newly appointed Maas Family Endowed Chair in Bioethics. The Chair acknowledges Dr. Miles' extraordinary record of academic achievement and leadership, and his continuing contributions to the scholarship and practice of bioethics.

Dr. Miles has also received a "Champions of Care" award from the Fairview Foundation. This award provides an opportunity for patients at the University of Minnesota Medical Center (UMMC), Fairview to recognize superb caregivers by donating in their honor to the UMMC, Fairview Greatest Needs Fund.

Dr. Miles is an internationally renowned bioethicist who has had a lasting impact on the fields of bioethics and medicine through his work on human rights, social justice, the history of medicine, and clinical ethics.  As past president of the American Association for Bioethics, Dr. Miles was a core member of the working group that established the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH). He has received the Outstanding Service Award from ASBH.  He has also been named Minnesotan of the Year by Minnesota Monthly for his community service. A tireless and generous teacher, he has mentored scores of medical and nursing students, residents and fellows; advised bioethics graduate students and interns; taught graduate level courses in bioethics, and is in frequent demand as a speaker internationally. He is also an accomplished scholar, publishing four books of great distinction, more than twenty chapters and over 200 medical articles on medical ethics, human rights, tropical medicine, end of life care and geriatric health care.  His work has resulted in fundamental reforms in the health care insurance industry, end of life care, the use of restraints in nursing homes, refugee camp medicine, and prison medical ethics.

Center for Bioethics
2010 Annual Report
 

• At 25, the Center for Bioethics confronts the issues that shape modern medicine

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Education

Spring 2012 BTHX Bioethics courses

MA Program in Bioethics
Graduate Minor in Bioethics

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2012 Seminar Series
 

March 2
"Qualms about Cost-Effectiveness"
Speaker: Daniel Hausman, PhD
Herbert A. Simon and Hilldale Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Cosponsored with Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota

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Congratulations -
Richard Weinmeyer

MA student in Bioethics and the Joint Degree Program in Law, Health & the Life Sciences has been elected Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice, Vol 31.