Email

jennifer.blumenthal-barby@bcm.edu

Positions

Cullen Professor of Medical Ethics, Center Associate Director

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas

Addresses

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy (Office)

One Baylor Plaza
Suite 310D
Houston, TX 77030
United States

Education

M.A. from Bowling Green State University

05/2004 - Bowling Green, Ohio United States

Ph.D. from Michigan State University

05/2008 - East Lansing, Michigan United States

Honors & Awards

Elected a Hastings Center Fellow

01/2023

Associate Editor for The American Journal of Bioethics

01/2022

Associate Editor for Journal of Medical Ethics

Journal of Medical Ethics (01/2019)

Nominated as Member, American Philosophical Association Committee on Philosophy and Medicine

07/2014 - 07/2017

Summer Seminars in Neuroscience and Philosophy (SSNAP) Fellowship

2016

Duke University

Greenwall Faculty Scholar in Bioethics

01/2011 - 12/2014

Fulbright & Jaworski L. L. P. Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching and Evaluation

07/2014

Fulbright & Jaworski L. L. P. Faculty Excellence Award in Educational Leadership

2014

Pfizer Bioethics Fellowship Recipient

01/2011 - 12/2014

Character Project Summer Seminar

Wake Forest University (06/2013 - 06/2013)

Junior Scholars in Bioethics Program

Wake Forest University (09/2011 - 09/2011)

Professional Interests

• Moral Psychology and Moral Philosophy
• Ethics
• Behavioral Economics
• Medical Decision Making
• Psychiatry

Professional Statement

Jenny Blumenthal-Barby, Ph.D., M.A. is the Cullen Professor of Medical Ethics and Associate Director of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy, with a specialization in bioethics, from Michigan State University in 2008.

Dr. Blumenthal-Barby is a philosopher whose research focuses primarily on the ethical issues raised by research on human judgment and decision-making (e.g., decisional biases and heuristics, behavioral economics). Dr. Blumenthal-Barby has been the recipient of a prestigious Greenwall Faculty Scholar Award in Bioethics, a Pfizer Bioethics Fellowship, and has served as the Principal Investigator on four awards from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study and improve decision making in advanced heart failure. Most recently, she received funding as a Co-Principal Investigator to study ethics and decision making in pediatric deep brain stimulation through the NIH BRAIN initiative. She has also received funding as Principal Investigator from AHRQ to study the utilization of an AI/machine learning system that predicts personalized risks using big data. She has published one book and more than 150 articles in bioethics, philosophy, and medical journals as well as served on several expert panels and committees related to bioethics and medical decision making. She is an Associate Editor and Editorial Board Member for The American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB) and on the Editorial Boards of: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Biomedical Ethics Series Editor), Journal of Medical Ethics (where she served as Associate Editor 2019-2025), and JME Practical Bioethics. Previously, she served as an elected member of the Board of Directors for the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) and the American Philosophical Association Committee on Philosophy of Medicine.

She directs the undergraduate medical education ethics pathway at BCM, has taught courses and advised graduate students in ethics at Rice University, and co-directs (on the BCM side) the Rice-BCM Health, Humanism and Society Scholars Program for undergraduates.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Goodman KE, Blumenthal-Barby J, Redberg RF, Hoffmann DE "FAIRS - A Framework for Evaluating the Inclusion of Sex in Clinical Algorithms." New England Journal of Medicine. 2025 Jan 23;392(4):404-411.
• Lang, B. H., Kostick-Quenet, K., Smith, J. N., Hurley, M., Dexter, R., & Blumenthal-Barby, J "Should Physicians Take the Rap? Normative Analysis of Clinician Perspectives on Responsible Use of ‘Black Box’ AI Tools." AJOB Empir Bioeth. 2025 May 12;Online ahead of print Pubmed PMID: 40354225
• Blumenthal-Barby J "Suffering at the Margins: Non-Experiential Suffering and Disorders of Consciousness." Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 2025 Mar 18;Online ahead of print:1-9. Pubmed PMID: 40098393
• Smith, J., Barnhill, A., Savulescu, J., Liao, M., McCoy, M., Blumenthal-Barby. J. "'Why Do You Ask?' Revisiting the Purpose of Eliciting the Public's Moral Judgments About Emerging Technologies." AJOB Empir Bioeth. 2025 Mar;Online ahead of print(24):1-13. Pubmed PMID: 40126216

Memberships

American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Medical Decision Making Affinity Group

Co-Founder and Chair

American Philosophical Association Committee on Philosophy and Medicine

Member

Journal of Medical Ethics

Associate Editor for Journal of Medical Ethics (01/2019 - 01/2024)

Funding

Philosophical Bioethics Seminar Series

Grant funding from Greenwall Foundation FSP Enhancement Grant

The Seminar Series is taught as part of the Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program. The seminar series includes various contemporary bioethical issues in public health, research ethics, clinical ethics, and decision-making. Read more about the series on the Philosophical Bioethics (PBhub) website. (renewed for 2025-2027)

Education and Shared Decision Making for Patients Considering LVAD Therapy

$25,000.00 ( 06/15/2025 - 06/15/2026 )

Grant funding from Professional Medical Education Grant from Abbott

Building on our team's previous work to develop, test, and disseminate a patient-centered decision aid (2014-2020) and examine the impacts of a personalized risk calculator on LVAD patient decision making (2020-2025), this grant will allow us to continue providing this vital clinical decision support tool to clinicians and patients at our partnering sites.

A Multi-Site Trial To Test Benefits of adding a personalized risk calculator to an online decision aid for left ventricular assist device (PI)

$1,960,847.00

Grant funding from AHRQ

This project tests the impact of a personalized, electronically integrated clinical decision support system for heart failure patients contemplating left-ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy. The study involves utilization of an AI/machine learning system that predicts personalized risks using big data. Our study focuses on the ethical issues raised and how patients and clinicians use this information to make decisions. This work is funded by the AHRQ (2020-2025)

Pediatric Deep Brain Stimulation: Neuroethics and Decision Making (Co-PI with Lazaro-Munoz, Storch)

$1,733,920.00 ( 09/18/2019 - 08/31/2023 )

Grant funding from NIH BRAIN Initiative (R01)

Identify and address neuroethics issues and decisional needs related to pediatric deep brain stimulation for intractable movement disorders and psychiatric disorders.