Here are the profiles of the speakers of our workshop “Philosophy of Science and Ethics” that will start on the 13th of december 2019.
The workshop is organised with the collaboration of the Health Ethics and Policy LAB of the ETH Zurich.
Alessandro Blasimme is a senior scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He studied philosophy and bioethics at La Sapienza University of Rome (Italy) and holds a PhD in bioethics from the University of Milan (European School of Molecular Medicine, Italy). Before joining ETH in 2017, he has held research appointments at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) and the University of Zurich (Switzerland). In 2013 he received a Fulbright-Schuman scholarship to undertake research at Harvard University (Kennedy School of Government, STS Program). His interests revolve around ethical and policy issues in biomedical innovation and biotechnology. His areas of expertise include regenerative medicine, genetic engineering, precision medicine, digital health and ageing.
Giovanni Boniolo (doctoral degree in Physics and in Philosophy), Full Professor of Philosophy of Science and Medical Humanities, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Chirurgico Specialistiche (Università di Ferrara). Honorary Ambassador of the Technische Universität München. President of the Accademia dei Concordi (Rovigo). Scientific Director of the Civitas Vitae Research Centre (Padova). Editor-in-chief of History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. Series Editor of Springer Briefs on Ethical and Legal Issues in Biomedicine and Technology. His work in the fields of the philosophy of biomedicine and its ethical implications is witnessed by 13 books (plus 12 books edited) and about 230 papers most of which in international peer reviewed journals. The latest two books: G. Boniolo, V. Sanchini (eds), Ethical counselling and medical decision-making in the era of personalized medicine, Springer, Heidelberg 2016; G. Boniolo, M. Nathan (eds), Philosophy of Molecular Medicine: Foundational Issues in Research and Practice, Routledge, New York 2016. http://docente.unife.it/giovanni.boniolo.
Justin Garson is an associate professor of philosophy at Hunter College of the City University of New York. His main interest is in understanding how biology shapes our ideas about human nature. His most recent book, What Biological Functions Are and Why They Matter (Cambridge 2019) develops an account of biological functions and explores its implications for philosophy of mind, philosophy of medicine, and philosophy of biology. He also writes on the history of science.
Stefano Giaimo. Formerly educated as a philosopher of science (University of Padua, European School of Molecular Medicine/University of Milan), Stefano Giaimo has transitioned to mathematical evolutionary biology and he is currently a postdoc in the Theory Department at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology where he works on the evolution of structured populations and aging.
Nancy S. Jecker, Ph.D. is a Professor of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg, African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science and Department of Philosophy. She holds adjunct appointments in the Department of Global Health, School of Law, and Department of Philosophy. Dr. Jecker’s research focuses on individual and societal aging, justice, human dignity, medical futility and ìglobal perspectives in philosophy and bioethics. Dr. Jecker has published over 175 articles and 3 books. Her books include Wrong Medicine: Doctors, Patients and Futile Treatment, 2nd Edition, with Lawrence Schneiderman (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011); Bioethics: An Introduction to the History, Methods, and Practice, 3rd edition, with Albert Jonsen and Robert Pearlman (Jones and Bartlett, 2011); and Aging and Ethics: Philosophical Problems in Gerontology (Humana Press, distributed internationally by J. Wiley). Dr. Jecker’s 4th book is scheduled for publication in 2020 and titled, Ending Midlife. Bias: New Values for Old Age (Oxford University Press).
Sara Green works as assistant professor at the Section for History and Philosophy of Science at Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen. Moreover, she’s part of the research project “Personalized Medicine in the Welfare State”, MeInWe, at the Center for Medical Science and Technology Studies, Department of Public Health, Copenhagen. Her research focuses on modelling and explanation in systems biology as well as the epistemic and social implications of personalized medicine and health technologies.
Marco J. Nathan is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Denver. His main area of research is the philosophy of science, with particular emphasis on the fields of biology, psychology, neuroscience and economics. His work has been published in several philosophical and scientific venues.
Silke Schicktanz is full-professor at the Department for Medical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University Medical Center Goettingen, Germany. She leads the working group ‘cultural and ethical studies of biomedicine. Trained in biology and philosophy, she gained her PhD in Ethics of Life Science in 2002 at the University of Tuebingen, Germany. She was visiting research fellow at Ben-Gurion University (IL), JNU Delhi (India), at CESAGEN Lancaster (UK), the University of California, Berkeley (USA) and Université Montreal, Canada. As PI she has extensive experience in conducting international and interdisciplinary research projects, including EU-funded project, German-Israeli Foundation, Volkswagen-Foundation, Swedish Reijksbank Foundation, German Research Council and DAAD-UGC India. She was panel member of the Advanced Grant Evaluation Panel of the European Research Council (ERC) (2009-2017) and member of the Committee of Freedom and Responsibility in Research (CFRS) of the International Council of Science (ICSU) (2011-2018). She has receved a Feodor-Lynen-Fellowship of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation. She publishes internationally – together with many colleagues from various fields – on issues such as aging, dementia and dying, gender issues, transplantation, genetic research, reproductive medicine, democratizing science and empirically informed ethics. Among her publications is: Leibing / Schicktanz: Preventing dementia? (under contract with Berghan), Raz, A./Schicktanz, S. (2016): Comparative Empirical Bioethics: Dilemmas of Genetic Testing and Euthanasia in Israel and Germany. Springer Brief in ethics (2016) and M. Schweda, l. Pfaller, K. Bauer, F. Adloff, S. Schicktanz (eds.) (2017): Planning Later Life. Bioethics and Public Health in Ageing Societies, Routledge.
Mark Schweda is professor for Ethics in Medicine at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Department of Health Services Research of the University of Oldenburg. His academic background is in philosophy and medical ethics. He was research associate at the Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine of the University Medical Center Göttingen (2015-2018) and Junior Research Fellow for the Ethics of Living at the Lichtenberg-Kolleg / Göttingen School for Advanced Study (2014-2015). Research stays at the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society of the University of California, Berkeley (2012), the Department of Philosophy of the San Francisco State University (2011), as well as at the Center for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics at the University of Lancaster (2009). Mark Schweda’s research focuses on the role of modern medicine, healthcare and technologies for aging, the life course, and human temporality in general. He investigates the influence of new possibilities of medical prediction and prevention on individual life planning, the role of medical treatment and the assistive (information) technologies for a good life in old age, as well as the importance of changing scientific concepts and cultural interpretations of dementia. His recent publications include M. Schweda, M. Coors, and C. Bozzaro (eds.) (2019): Aging and Human Nature. Perspectives from Philosophical, Theological, and Historical Anthropology, Springer (forthcoming); M. Schweda, l. Pfaller, K. Bauer, F. Adloff, S. Schicktanz (eds.) (2017): Planning Later Life. Bioethics and Public Health in Ageing Societies, Routledge; and A. Swinnen, M. Schweda (eds.) (2015): Popularizing Dementia. Public Expressions and Representations of Forgetfulness, transcript.
Jonathan Sholl is assistant professor of medical philosophy and philosophy of science at Aarhus University. He has background interests in historical epistemology and the sociology of medicalization. He is currently researching the naturalization of health and disease concepts via systems biology, the social and public health implications of stress research (hormesis), and the epistemological challenges of nutrition science.
Christopher Wareham received his doctorate from the European School of Molecular Medicine and the University of Milan. He joined the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics in 2014, where he is currently Senior lecturer, Head of the MSc Research Methods Unit, and Head of Undergraduate Studies in Bioethics for the Faculty of Health Sciences. He sits on the Research Ethics Committee (Non-medical) of the University of the Witwatersrand, and regularly consults on ethical issues in biomedical science, education, and research. Christopher’s core areas of research are the Ethics of Ageing, the Ethics of Emerging Technologies, and African Bioethics. He is an NRF Rated Researcher, and has previously been awarded a European School of Molecular Medicine Doctoral Fellowship, and a South African National Research Fund (NRF) Innovation Fellowship.