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
Director Emerita, Dr. Susan Tolle, Wins Esteemed Career Achievement Award
We are pleased to share that Susan Tolle, M.D., emerita and founding director of the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care and inaugural Cornelia Hayes Stevens Endowed Chair, has received the 2026-27 John Phillips Memorial Award for Outstanding Work in Clinical Medicine from the American College of Physicians. Since 1929, this prestigious career achievement award has been given annually to a Fellow or Master of the American College of Physicians whose lifetime contributions to clinical medicine have been innovative and have had a significant regional or national impact.
Dr. Fabrice Jotterand, Ph.D. and Kristin Whitman, M.L.S weigh in on combating medical misinformation online
Kristin Whitman, head of Learning and Information Services for the OHSU Library, and Dr. Fabrice Jotterand, director of the Center for Ethics in Health Care, were interviewed by KOIN and OPB on strategies to filter out medical misinformation online. You can view the KOIN story at this link. You can view the OPB story at this link.
Dr. Daniel Kim, Ph.D. Joins the Center for Ethics as Madeline Brill Nelson Chair in Ethics Education
We are excited to welcome Dr. Daniel Kim as 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).
Friday, November 13, 2026 at 12:00 PM - the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents Samuel Reis-Dennis, Ph.D.
Wednesday, December 8, 2026 at 1:00 PM - TalkOregon CME Workshop (virtual). Register HERE.
Friday, December 11, 2026 at 12:00 PM - the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents Keisha Ray, Ph.D.
Friday, January 15, 2027 at 12:00 PM - the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents Mark Lazenby, Ph.D., RN, FAAN
Friday, February 12, 2027 at 12:00 PM - the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents Danielle Spencer, Ph.D.
Tuesday, March 2, 2027 at 12:00 PM – The Madeline Brill Nelson Speaker Series
Monday, March 8, 2027 at 8:30 AM - TalkOregon CME Workshop (virtual). Register HERE.
Friday, April 16, 2027 at 12:00 PM - the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents Mark Kuczewski, Ph.D.
Thursday & Friday, May 6-7, 2027 – the Annual Kinsman Bioethics Conference in Newport, Oregon, presenting Dan Sulmasy, MD, PhD as the Keynote Speaker. Registration required.
Monday, May 10, 2027 at 8:30 AM - TalkOregon CME Workshop (virtual). Register HERE.
Friday, June 18, 2027 at 12:00 PM - the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents Gretchen Case, Ph.D., M.A.
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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.
Thursday, September 10, 2026 at 6:00 PM - The Dizzy & Unfixed Path: Narrative, Meaning, and Living Beyond the Cure Story. Register HERE.
Monday, October 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM – the Oregon Bioethics and Humanities Colloquium presents David Magnus, PhD.
Friday, October 23, 2026 at 9:30 AM - 2026 OHSU Health Literacy Symposium.
Faculty Publications
Kim, D. T., & Ranganathan, B. (2026). A Thick Ethical Concept: Defending Solidarity’s Normativity for Public Health. The American Journal of Bioethics, 26(11), 77–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2026.2741305
Kaldjian, L.C., Bettendorf, B.A., Jotterand, F. (2026). “Virtues and Narratives in Medicine: An Analysis and Collection of Virtue-Illustrating Stories in Medical Journals”, Journal of Medical Humanities, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-026-10057-y
Tabouy, L. & Jotterand, F. (2026). “Les Enjeux Anthropologiques des Neurosciences à l’Ere de l’Intelligence Artificielle et des Neurotechnologies”, Annales des Mines, 35:5-12.
Tabouy, L. & Jotterand, F. (2026). “Neuroéthique Clinique à l’Ere de l’Intelligence Artificielle et des Neurotechnologies”, Annales des Mines, 35: 13-25.
Jotterand, F. & Tabouy, L. (2026). “Identity Integrity and the Anthropological Project of Neuroethics”, Annales des Mines, 35:98-100.
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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Kozman, R., Jotterand, F., Joda, T., Beckers, M., Maren Severin, R., & Nguyen, T. M. (2026). “Beyond Humanitarian Aid: The Economic Evaluation of NGO Providing Dental Care in Germany: A Pareto-Improving Model. Health Economics and Policy, 1(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/hep1010004
Kozman, R., Jotterand, F. The dis-economy of precision medicine: how stratification multiplies social tension in healthcare systems. Med Health Care and Philos (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-026-10381-z
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.0000000000001967Toledo, 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.
Scholar Publications
Versalovic E, Mamede B, Goering S, and Klein E. Recognizing Brain Pioneering as Hard Work: Strategies for Making Research Participation More Meaningful. Hastings Center Report 56, no. 5 (2026): 31-42. DOI: 10.1002/hast.70047
Klein E. Neurotechnology and the relational self: Sharing agency with family, clinicians, and devices. Les Annales des Mines. 2026. 35:38-41.
Lanocha N, Price C, Wheat Z, Macauley R, Taub S. What Not to Say: Language Traps in Palliative Care Communication. J Palliat Med. 2026 Jul 29:10966218261473686. doi: 10.1177/10966218261473686. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42528002.
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/
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
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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
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
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.
Newsletter
To read the June 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
Ethics Consult
Do you need an ethics consult?
OHSU Employees
Pager: 18028
Epic: IP Consult to Ethics
ethicsconsultservice@ohsu.edu
503-494-7959
Patients & Family Members
503-494-7959
ethicsconsultservice@ohsu.edu
Or ask your care team to page the Clinical Ethicist
Ethics consults are available Monday – Friday 8am – 5pm.
After hours please reach out to the Administrator on Duty.