Philosophical Bioethics Consortium and Web Hub
Blumenthal-Barby, Ph.D., M.A. from the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy developed a Philosophical Bioethics Hub with support from the Greenwall Foundation and Consortium partners at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Georgetown’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics, and NYU’s Center for Bioethics. The Hub website includes: Greenwall Philosophical Bioethics Seminar Series, normative-empirical bioethics tookit, events and web-based lecture series in philosophy and bioethics.
Houston/Galveston Philosophical Bioethics Network
The Houston/Galveston Network is comprised of philosophers working at the intersection of philosophy and bioethics. The network is a collaborative between philosophy faculty and post-docs in The BCM Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Rice University’s Philosophy Department, and UTMB’s Institute for Bioethics & Health Humanities.
The network meets in the Fall and Spring for works-in-progress Workshops. Contact Dr. Blumenthal-Barby at jennifer.blumenthal-barby@bcm.edu if you are a philosopher (faculty or post-doc) in Houston/Galveston interested in joining the group.
Recent topics have included consciousness and value, addiction and blameworthiness, the moral authority of experience, fetal pain and personhood—among others.
Philosophy Book Reading Group
The group reads and discusses (through five-six meetings) one new book in philosophy with relevance to bioethics each semester (fall, spring).
Philosophical Bioethics Scholarship
Check out recent philosophical bioethics scholarship from the center’s faculty, post-docs, and staff:
Shea, M. “The Ethics of Clinical Ethics.” HEC Forum 37 (2025): 389–410.
Brummett, A., Eberl, J.T., Shea, M. “Bioethics as an Emerging Moral Tradition and Some Implications for Adversarial Cooperation." Journal of Medical Ethics 26:52 (2026): 22–23.
Omelianchuk A., Smolenski J., Kaplan H., Shea M., Smith J.N., Bibler T., Horner C., Malek J. “Reflecting on Principlism: Explaining, But Not Guiding, Clinical Ethics Analysis” The American Journal of Bioethics (2025). 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2025.2571408.
Kitts M., Smolenski J. “The (In)Capacity to Exclude: The Normative Value of Preferences in Surrogate Exclusion” The Journal of Clinical Ethics (2025). 36:2, 112-120. https://doi.org/10.1086/734766.
Smolenski J. “The Foundations of Informed Consent and Bodily Self-Sovereignty: A Positive Suggestion” Monash Bioethics Review (2024). 42:1, 115-136. doi: 10.1007/s40592-024-00203-4.
Smith J.N., Smolenski J., Lang, B.H., Blumenthal-Barby, J. “From Opioid Overdose to LVAD Refusals: Navigating the Spectrum of Decisional Autonomy” The American Journal of Bioethics(2024) 24:5, 8–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2024.2329496.
Dougherty R., Smolenski J., Smith J.N. “The Lived Realities of Chemical Restraint: Prioritizing Patient Experience” AJOB Neuroscience (2024) 15:1, 29-31. doi: 10.1080/21507740.2023.2292506
Blumenthal-Barby J, Bibler T, Kaplan H, Omelianchuk A, Smolenski J. Can I Get a Witness? The Ethical Dimensions of Family Presence in Patient Suffering. Hastings Center Report, forthcoming.
Moore B, McCoy M, Nelson R, Stahl R, Taylor L, Ubel P, Blumenthal-Barby, J. What Can We Ask of Hospitals? Conceptual Foundations for an Ethics of Healthcare Organizations. The American Journal of Bioethics (target article, forthcoming).
Moore, B., Blumenthal-Barby, J., & Nelson, R. H. (2025). Substituted Judgment and Uncomfortable Truths. The American Journal of Bioethics, 25(11), 1–2.
Blumenthal-Barby J. Death Is Like Health. The American Journal of Bioethics, 25(9), 2025: 1-2.
Lang, B. H., Kostick-Quenet, K., Smith, J. N., Hurley, M., Dexter, R., & Blumenthal-Barby, J. (2025). Should Physicians Take the Rap? Normative Analysis of Clinician Perspectives on Responsible Use of ‘Black Box’ AI Tools. AJOB Empirical Bioethics, 1–12.
Blumenthal-Barby J. Suffering at the Margins: Non-Experiential Suffering and Disorders of Consciousness. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. 2025 March 18: 1-9.
Kelley A, Blumenthal-Barby J. Digital Doppelgängers, Grief Bots, and Transformational Challenges. The American Journal of Bioethics, 25(2), 2025: 1-2.
Smith, Jared N., Anne Barnhill, Julian Savulescu, S. Matthew Liao, Matthew McCoy, and Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby. “‘Why Do You Ask?’ Revisiting the Purpose of Eliciting the Public’s Moral Judgments About Emerging Technologies.” AJOB Empirical Bioethics, 2025: 1–13..
Hurley ME, Lang BH, Kostick-Quenet KM, Smith JN, Blumenthal-Barby J. Patient Consent and The Right to Notice and Explanation of AI Systems Used in Health Care. The American Journal of Bioethics, Published Online First 17 Sept 2024, 1–13.
Nelson, R. H., Kious, B., Largent, E., Moore, B., & Blumenthal-Barby, J. Is Suffering a Useless Concept? American Journal of Bioethics, Published Online First 6 June 2024, 1–8.
Blumenthal-Barby, J, Fletcher F, Taylor L, Nelson R, Moore B, Saloner B, Ubel P. Ethical Complexities in Utilizing Artificial Intelligence for Surrogate Decision Making. American Journal of Bioethics 24 (7), 2024:1-2.
Blumenthal-Barby J., Ubel P. Neuro-Rights in Question: Rethinking the Concept of Mental Integrity. Journal of Medical Ethics, May 2024: 670-675.