Boston University’s health law, bioethics and human rights department at the School of Public Health focuses on law and public policy, as well as patients’ rights. Chairman George Annas, as well as Dr. Michael Grodin, Wendy Mariner and Leonard Glantz, are pre-eminent scholars in the field. Kara Peterson is the director of communications.

The University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics in Philadelphia is one of the pre-eminent bioethics centers in the United States, with more than 20 faculty. The center’s staff includes experts in philosophy, medicine, law, anthropology, sociology and religion. Its website is an excellent place to start an exploration of any bioethics topic and is also home to The American Journal of Bioethics.

The American College of Physicians – American Society of Internal Medicine’s Center for Ethics and Professionalism focuses on developing and carrying out policy on issues related to medical ethics. Its ethics and human rights committee develops educational programs on bioethics, human rights and professionalism.

The nonprofit Hastings Center in Garrison, N.Y., explores bioethics questions in health care, biotechnology and the environment. Recent research projects range from genetic paternity testing to newborn screening to palliative care. Susan Gilbert is the director of communications.

The Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research/Applied Research Ethics National Association in Boston focuses on the ethics of human and animal research. It organizes conferences each year that are attended by researchers, subject advocates, ethicists, policy-makers, attorneys and pharmaceutical and biotech leaders. Meredith Elkins is director of marketing and communications.

The American Society for Bioethics and Humanities in Glenview, Ill., is a professional advocacy group that brings together bioethicists from medicine, nursing, law, sociology, anthropology, government and philosophy. The society organizes a large educational conference each year and periodic smaller, topical meetings.

Laurie Zoloth is a professor of religion and ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where she previously served as dean. Before coming to the University of Chicago, she was a professor of religious studies at Northwestern University and professor of bioethics and medical humanities at the university’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Zoloth is a […]

Paul Root Wolpe directs the Center for Ethics at Emory University. He is first Chief of Bioethics for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), charged with safeguarding research subjects and astronauts. He is also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry, director of the Program in Psychiatry and Ethics at the School of Medicine, and […]

LeRoy Walters is Senior Professor of Christian Ethics and professor of philosophy at Georgetown University. He has taught at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics since its founding in 1971. Walters served as director of the institute from 1996-99 and has written, taught and lectured extensively on ethical issues in genetic research and gene therapy, stem cell […]