Dr. Kenneth Goodman Named Fellow of The Hastings Center

Widely recognized for his work on ethical issues related to health care, life science and information technology, Kenneth W. Goodman, Ph.D., has been named a fellow of The Hastings Center, a prestigious international organization for bioethics professionals.

“This is a remarkable and exciting opportunity,” said Dr. Goodman, who is founder and director of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy and co-director of the university’s Ethics Programs. “I look forward to contributing to the center’s vital work in fostering research into some of the most relevant and challenging issues facing our society.”

Based in Hastings, N.Y., The Hastings Center selects fellows who are academic bioethicists, scholars from other disciplines, scientists, journalists, lawyers, novelists, artists or other highly accomplished individuals.

Insight and impact

“Their common distinguishing feature is uncommon insight and impact in areas of critical concern to the center, including advances in the life sciences, the need to improve health and health care for people of all ages, and mitigation of human impact on the natural world,” said Millie Solomon, Ed.D., president of The Hastings Center.

Drawing on his research into a wide range of ethical issues related to health care, informatics and information technology, Dr. Goodman has been invited to visit The Hastings Center and has contributed to its journal, The Hastings Center Report. His most recent book, Ethics, Medicine, and Information Technology: Intelligent Machines and the Transformation of Health Care, analyzed issues in biomedical informatics.

“For professionals in the ethics world, being elected a fellow of The Hastings Center is the equivalent of getting elected to the National Academy of Medicine,” said Jeffrey P. Brosco, M.D., Ph.D., professor of clinical pediatrics, associate director of the Mailman Center for Child Development and director of population health ethics for the UM Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy.

Additional honors

Dr. Goodman has also been elected a fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics and chairs the Ethics Committee of its parent organization, the American Medical Informatics Association. In addition, he is a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology, and past chair of its Ethics Committee.

Dr. Goodman is professor of medicine and jointly of philosophy, public health sciences, health informatics electrical and computer engineering, and nursing and health studies. He also serves as director of data ethics and society for the UM Institute for Data Science & Computing. He directs the Florida Bioethics Network and chairs the UHealth/University of Miami Hospital Ethics Committee and the Adult Ethics Committee for Jackson Health System. He is a co-founder of the North American Center for Ethics and Health Information Technology, a partnership with the Center for Bioethics at Indiana University.

For the past 29 years, Dr. Goodman has hosted or organized a series of monthly “Dialogues in Research Ethics” for the UM community.

“Today, it is especially important to consider the ethical issues associated with public health, epidemiology and the life sciences,” he said. “A greater understanding of the values and choices available is essential to establishing appropriate guidance for our community, our nation and our world.”