Lainie Friedman Ross Designated as First Chair for Health Humanities and Bioethics Department

Lainie Friedman Ross, M.D., Ph.D., a renowned bioethicist with nearly three decades of experience, has been appointed as the inaugural chair of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry's new Department of Health Humanities and Bioethics. The announcement was made by Mark Taubman, M.D., CEO of the University of Rochester Medical Center and Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Ross, who hails from Jericho on Long Island, began her career at the University of Chicago in 1994 as an assistant professor of Pediatrics and assistant director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. She has since risen through the ranks, becoming the Carolyn and Matthew Bucksbaum professor of Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago.

Ross' expertise spans across various domains, including ethical and policy issues in pediatrics, organ transplantation, genetics/genomics, clinical research ethics, and human subject protections. She has been awarded several prestigious honors, including the Kellogg National Leadership Fellow Class of XVI (1997-2000), a 2009 Hastings Fellow, the Patricia Price Browne Prize in Biomedical Ethics in 2009, a 2014 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, and the American Academy of Pediatrics William G. Bartholome Award for Ethical Excellency in 2015.

The new department at the University of Rochester Medical Center will focus on the moral aspects of research and patient care programs, embodying the core principles of the biopsychosocial model. Ross will also serve as the director of the Paul M. Schyve, MD Center for Bioethics, pending approval by the Office of the Provost.

Ross earned her undergraduate degree in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University in 1982 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in 1986. She trained in Pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital at Columbia University, and earned a doctorate in philosophy from Yale University in 1996.

Throughout her career, Ross has published five books, over 225 peer-reviewed journal articles, and is currently writing a sixth book examining ethical issues related to siblings in health care, funded by the National Library of Medicine. She serves on the editorial boards of several prominent journals, including the Journal of Pediatrics, the Journal of Clinical Ethics, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, and the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics.

In her spare time, Ross enjoys the theater, travel, reading, and spending time with her husband, John, and their two grown daughters. She is a diehard fan of the New York Yankees. Ross begins her role at the University of Rochester on Jan. 9.

The University of Rochester Medical Center is one of eight academic medical centers in the nation to have a dedicated humanities and bioethics department. Ross' appointment marks a significant step forward in the centre's mission to address the moral and ethical dimensions of healthcare.

Lainie Friedman Ross Designated as First Chair for Health Humanities and Bioethics Department