Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby, Ph.D., M.A.
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Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby, Ph.D., M.A.
Cullen Professor of Medical Ethics, Center Associate Director
Phone
Phone
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)
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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
- 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." Am J Bioeth. 2025 Mar;25(3):102-114. Pubmed PMID: 39288291
- Nelson, R. H., Kious, B., Largent, E., Moore, B., & Blumenthal-Barby, J "Is Suffering a Useless Concept?." Am J Bioeth. 2024 Jun;Online ahead of print(6):1-8. Pubmed PMID: 38842351
- Dickert NW, Spiegelman D, Blumenthal-Barby JS, Graham G, Joffe S, Kahn JM, Kass NE, Kim SYH, Kerlin MP, Langford AT, Lavery JV, Matlock DD, Fenton KN, Mensah GA. "Ethical issues in implementation science: perspectives from a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute workshop." Implement Sci. 2024 Nov;19(1):77. Pubmed PMID: 39563405
- Kious, B. M., Vick, J. B., Ubel, P. A., Sutton, O., Blumenthal-Barby, J., Cox, C. E., & Ashana, D. "Talking About Suffering in the Intensive Care Unit." AJOB Empir Bioeth. 2035 Sep 9;Online ahead of print Pubmed PMID: 39250770
- 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." Am J Bioeth. 2024 Jul;24(7):1-2. Pubmed PMID: 38913463
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.
- Dissemination and Implementation of a Patient-Centered Decision Aid for Ventricular Assist Device Placement (PI)
- $490,000.00 ( 09/01/2018 - 09/01/2020 ) Grant funding from Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Award
- Development and User Testing of a Decision Aid for Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) Placement (PI)
- $1,343,703.00 ( 01/01/2014 - 01/01/2017 ) Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute
- Creating a patient-centered decision aid that presents outcomes, risks, experiences, and uncertainties about ventricular assist device placement in a clear, comprehensive, scientifically valid and unbiased manner.
- Senior Collaboration Project on “Ethically Responsible Choice Architecture in Medical Decision Making” (PI)
- ( 07/01/2013 - 07/01/2015 ) The Greenwall Foundation Making a Difference in Real-World Bioethics Dilemmas Grant Initiative
- This project aims to develop empirically-informed comprehensive normative guidelines for the use of choice architecture in (1) prostate cancer treatment decision-making, and (2) decision-making about tracheostomy placement in critically ill children.
- Integration of Whole Genome Sequencing into Clinical Medicine (Co-I; PI: R. Green & A. McGuire) - #U01 HG 006500
- ( 12/01/2011 - 12/31/2015 ) National Institutes of Health
- The MedSeq Project seeks to develop a process to integrate genome sequencing into clinical medicine and explore the impact of doing so.
- Integrating Ethics into the Science of Behavior Change: An Ethical Framework for Clinicians and Policymakers (PI)
- ( 07/01/2011 - 07/31/2014 ) Greenwall Faculty Scholar Award in Bioethics
- A career development award to enable outstanding junior faculty members to carry out original research that will help resolve important policy and clinical dilemmas at the intersection of ethics and the life sciences.
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