Since 1989 the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care has partnered with practitioners of all health professions regionally and nationally to be a leading voice for compassionate health care. The Center is committed to providing an ethical perspective of compassion, respect and justice to ensure that such care is delivered wisely and well.
Recent Announcements
We are excited to announce that Dr. Daniel Kim has been named the next Madeline Brill Nelson Chair for the Center for Ethics in Health Care!
"I am thrilled to be joining the faculty, staff, and students at OHSU's Center for Ethics in Health Care,” said Dr. Kim. “The Center has long been a national leader in the field, advancing our health care practices toward ever greater justice, compassion, and respect. I could not be happier to be joining in on the Center's venerable history and shared mission, and I'm excited about its many opportunities for collaborative research and innovative programming in ethics education. My family is very excited to be moving to such a vibrant, diverse, and beautiful city like Portland. We can’t wait to share in its life and call it home."
Please check out this recent podcast: The Philosophical Pulse: Open Discourse on Medicine and Medical Education by Fabrice Jotterand PhD, MA & James N. Woodruff MD
Upcoming Events
Please also note that all times referenced below are in pacific time (PT).
Thursday & Friday, May 6-7, 2027 – the Annual Kinsman Bioethics Conference presents Dan Sulmasy, MD, PhD as the Keynote Speaker. Location at Best Western Plus Agate Beach Inn: 3019 N Coast Hwy, Newport, OR 97365.
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Friday, January 9, 2026 at 12:00 PM – the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents Drew Grabham, LCSW.
Friday, February 6, 2026 at 12:00 PM – the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents Clara Bosco, MD.
Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 8:00 AM – The Madeline Brill Nelson Speaker Series in collaboration with OHSU Department of Medicine Grand Rounds presents James N. Woodruff, MD
Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 8:30 AM - TalkOregon CME Workshop (virtual).
Friday, May 1, 2026 at 7:00 AM - the Annual Kinsman Bioethics Conference presents Tenzin Wangmo, PhD as the Keynote Speaker. Location at Westside Commons Hillsboro: 801 NE 34th Ave, Hillsboro, OR 97124.
Tuesday, May 12, 2026 at 1:00 PM - TalkOregon CME Workshop (virtual). Register here.
Friday, May 22, 2026 at 12:00 PM – the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents Brian Park, MD, MPH.
Friday, June 12, 2026 at 12:00 PM – the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents Daniel T. Kim, PhD, MPH.
Recent Publications
Cajiga, R. M., Blattner, C.H., Wahlberg, B., Suksi, M., Jotterand, F. Elger, B.S., (2026) “Cross-Jurisdictional Study of the 3Rs: A Comparative Legal Analysis of Animal Research Governance in Finland and Switzerland,” Journal of Animal Law, Ethics and One Health 62-98. DOI: 10.58590/leoh.2026.012
Millhollin, J., Liang, E., Loveless, Z., Kim, S., Shinkunas, L., Ark, T. K., Kaldjian, L.C., Jotterand, F. & Yoon, J.D. (2026) “Practical Wisdom through Narratives as Told by Medical Students and Physicians”, Southern Medical Journal, 119(5), 242–251. https://doi.org/10.14423/SMJ.0000000000001967
Toledo, V., Yunus, R., Nickel, L., Jotterand, F. & Padela, A. “Considering ‘Big Questions’ about the Human Being in Medical Education” (Commentary) (2026), Wisconsin Medical Journal, 125(1):109-110, 114.
Coleman C., Lin C. Effect of a Clear Communication Training on Medical Residents’ Use of Jargon in Written Messages to Patients. Healthcare, 2026;14, 1374. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare14101374
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Levine DR, Laventhal NT, Macauley R; Committee on Bioethics. Responding to Parental Requests for Potentially Nonbeneficial Treatment in Life-Threatening Situations: Clinical Report. Pediatrics. 2026 Mar 23:e2026076118. doi: 10.1542/peds.2026-076118. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41866039.
Levine DR, Laventhal NT, Macauley R; Committee on Bioethics. Responding to Parental Requests for Potentially Nonbeneficial Treatment in Life-Threatening Situations: Technical Report. Pediatrics. 2026 Mar 23:e2026076119. doi: 10.1542/peds.2026-076119. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41866047.
Coleman C, Birk S, Stowers K, Mullowney C, Chisholm-Burns M. The hidden curriculum undermines teaching about health literacy and clear communication, promoting inequities in care. Social Science and Medicine, 2025. https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0277-9536(25)00876-7
Padela, A.I., Hayek, R., Tabassum, A., Jotterand, F. & Qadir, J. (2025). “Assisting, Replicating, or Autonomously Acting? An Ethical Framework for Integrating AI Tools and Technologies in Healthcare”, Bioethics https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.70019
Shah, R. & Jotterand, F. (2025). “Large Language Models in Neurology Treatment Decision-Making: Current Evidence”, Journal of Medical Systems 49:115 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-025-02254-4
Disher N, Dieckmann NF, Case JR, Rubim F, Eden KB, Golden SE, Matlock DD, Coleman C, Lyons KS, Saha S, Slatore CG, Vranas KC, Sullivan DR. Improving lung cancer decision-making using a conversation tool (iDECIDE): a stepped wedge pragmatic clinical trial. Future Oncol. 2025 Mar 18:1-12. doi: 10.1080/14796694.2025.2475733. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40098532.
Ketterer, B., Dingfield, L., Stowers, K. H., Morrison, K., Bailey, A., Flint, H., Buckholz, G., Morrison, L. J., Yang, H., & Berns, S. (2025). AAHPM Assessment Workgroup: Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Assessment Needs and Directions. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 69(3), e220-e227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2024.12.009
Sam Woodworth, Lisa Abia-Smith, Elizabeth Lahti, Imagine what we can do together: visual art as a catalyst for strengthening connections across the inpatient team, Postgraduate Medical Journal, 2026;, qgaf236, https://doi.org/10.1093/postmj/qgaf236 https://academic.oup.com/pmj/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/postmj/qgaf236/8671876?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Devarajan S, Rdesinski R, Sweeney S, Onishi E, Gallivan E, Krulewitch H, Izumi S. Impact of nurse-led advance care planning in a primary care setting. Palliat Support Care. 2026 May 12;24:e140. doi: 10.1017/S1478951526102508. PMID: 42117191; PMCID: PMC13202411. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42117191/
Brown, A. I., Goering, S., & Klein, E. (2026). Research participants as ‘pioneers’? Exploring how neurotechnology research is adapting the rhetoric of scientific risk-taking, exploration and trailblazing. Science as Culture, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2026.2673139
Osamu Muramoto (2026) Dementia and the Extended Mind Thesis: Grounding Moral Normativity in Care Ethics, The American Journal of Bioethics, 26:4, 54-56. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2026.2637120
Klein E, Wohns N, Goering S. Sharing Agency versus Extending the Self: Relationality and Metaphorical Differences in Dementia Care. The American Journal of Bioethics. 2026 Apr 3;26(4):57-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2026.2637110. Pham MT, de Leeuw A, Burkhart I, Klein E, Goering S. Why We Need Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) in Neuroethics. Neuroethics. 2026 Apr;19(1):15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-026-09643-7
Newsletter
To read the November issue of the newsletter, click HERE.
Impact Report
We remain full of gratitude to all those who have made this work possible. Thank you! To learn about the accomplishments and achievements of the Center for Ethics in Health Care, click HERE.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the original inhabitants and traditional village sites of the land Oregon Health & Science University is occupying and built upon: the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tumwater, Watlala bands of the Chinook, the Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla, Wasco and many Indigenous nations of the Willamette Valley and Columbia River Plateau. We take this opportunity to thank the original caretakers of this land - past, present, and future.
Connect with us
Contact Us
Phone & Email
(503) 494-4466
ethics@ohsu.edu
Office Hours
Monday – Thursday: 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Friday: Closed
Mailing Address
OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd. UHN86
Portland, OR 97239