​Professional Philosopher & Bioethicist

Amateur Distance Runner

Husband & Father of Four
​
​Proud Kansas Citian

RECENT ENDEAVORS

       2023

• Promoted to Professor of Pediatrics & Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (effective September 1, 2023)
• Published "Should the Brain Death Exam with Apnea Test Require Surrogate Informed Consent? Yes" (co-authored with Ivor Berkowitz) in Neurology [READ]
• Published "Addressing the Burdens that Newborn Screening Imposes on Underserved Communities" (co-authored with Meghan E. Strenk & Courtney Berrios) in the American Journal of Bioethics [READ]
• Presented "What Do We Owe Future Adults? Rights, Interests, and Future Autonomy in Pediatric Health Research" for Pediatric Research and Innovation: Ethical and Social Considerations at University Autonomous of Madrid in Madrid, Spain on March 23

       2022

• Presented "Disability in Pediatric Care" (co-presented with Leslie Ann McNolty) for Advocates for Disabilities in Healthcare at Kansas City University on November 28
• Published "Against Multiplying Clinical Ethics Standards without Necessity: The Case for Parsimony in Evaluating Decision-Making Capacity" (co-authored with John C. Moskop & J. Clint Parker) in the American Journal of Bioethics [READ]
• Presented in a workshop entitled "Confronting Culture Wars in Clinical Encounters: Should Clinicians Advance or Retreat?" (co-presented with John C. Moskop & J. Clint Parker) on the main program at the 24th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities on October 28
• Presented "Counseling at the Border of Different Health Care Systems: Ethical Challenges for the Management of Critically Ill Neonates" (co-authored with Nithi Fernandes & Stephanie Kukora) on the main program at the 24th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities on October 29
• Presented "What Do We Owe Future Adults? Evaluating Rights, Interests, and Future Autonomy in Pediatric Decision Making" for Ethics Grand Rounds at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital on September 14 [VIEW]
• Presented "Against 'Following the Science': Reasserting the Primacy of Values in Clinical Medicine and Public Health" for Medical Grand Rounds at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University & Rhode Island Hospital on June 28
• Co-authored paper entitled, "Using Care and Narrative Ethics to Guide Research and Clinical Care for Families Receiving a Positive Newborn Screen for a Lysosomal Storage Disease" presented by first-author Courtney Berrios for the 5th ELSI Congress (Virtual Meeting, May 31-June 3)
• Presented "Navigating Values, Identity, and Culture for Underrepresented Medical School Applicants" (with Leslie Ann McNolty) for the Journey for Underrepresented Students in Medicine Program at Kansas City University on May 15
• Presented "The Unavoidable Priority of Values in Medical Decision Making: Why Ethics Always Precedes Religion and Science" for the Religion & Healthcare Lecture Series at the University of Pittsburgh on May 3 [VIEW]
• Presented and participated on a panel (w/ John C. Moskop & J. Clint Parker) entitled, "Patient Assent to Treatment: Assessing Its Rationale Scope, and Limits," for the Exploring Ethics Series at Wake Forest School of Medicine & Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist on February 22
• Published "Does Anyone Need to Regulate Parental Access to Fetal Genetic Information?" in the American Journal of Bioethics [READ]

       2021

• Published a chapter entitled "The Child's Right to an Open Future: Philosophical Foundations and Bioethical Applications" for a volume entitled, Pediatric Ethics: Theory and Practice (eds. Nico Nortjé & Johan C. Bester) [READ]
• Presented "Ethical Issues in Genetics and Genomics" (with John Lantos) for a webinar hosted by the Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care on November 29 [VIEW]
• Presented "Decision-Making in Pediatric Emergency Medicine: Evaluating Ethical Frameworks for a Unique Clinical Environment" (co-authored with Joseph Shapiro) on the main program at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities on October 16
• Presented "Using Care and Narrative Ethics to Guide Research and Clinical Care for Families Receiving a Positive Newborn Screen for a Lysosomal Storage Disease" (co-authored with Courtney Berrios) on the main program at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities on October 16
• Presented "Against 'Following the Science': Reasserting the Primacy of Values in Bioethics and Public Health" on the main program at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities on October 14
• Presented in a workshop entitled "Assessing Assent to Treatment: What is Its Rationale, Scope, and Limits?" (co-presented with John C. Moskop & J. Clint Parker) on the main program at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities on October 13
• Published "Principles over Propositions: or, How to Reject Metaphysical Neutrality in Bioethics" (co-authored w/ Leslie Ann McNolty) in the American Journal of Bioethics [READ]
• ​Ran 4:48.66 at the Masters Men's Mile at the Music City Track Carnival in Nashville, TN on June 6 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Ran 4:49.37 at the Masters Mile at the Trials of Miles KC Qualifier in Kansas City, MO on May 1 [VIEW RESULTS]

       2020

• Presented "Learning to See: A Critical Bioethics Pedagogy for Developing Moral Perception in Health Professional Education" (co-authored with Leslie Ann McNolty) on the main program at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities on October 16
• Presented on a panel entitled "Responding to Secondary Genetic Findings in Adolescents and Newborns: Conceptual Frameworks and Empirical Findings" (co-panelists: Kyle Brothers, Stacey Pereira, and Skye Miner) on the main program at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities on October 16
• Published "More than Warm Fuzzy Feelings: The Imperative of Institutional Morale in Hospital Pandemic Responses" (co-authored w/ Leslie Ann McNolty) in the American Journal of Bioethics [READ]​
• Published "Our Next Pandemic Ethics Challenge? Allocating 'Normal' Healthcare Services" (co-authored w/ Leslie Ann McNolty, Ian D. Wolfe, and John D. Lantos) in the Hastings Center Report [READ]​
• Published "Children's Hospital ICU Resource Allocation in an Adult Pandemic" (co-authored w/ Ian D. Wolfe, Brian S. Carter, and John D. Lantos) in Pediatrics [READ]​
• Published a Target Article entitled "Legal and Ethical Considerations for Requiring Consent for Apnea Testing in Brain Death Determination" and a Response to Commentaries entitled "Rethinking the Ethical, Legal, and Clinical Foundations of Informed Consent and Shared Decision-Making for Brain Death Determination" (both co-authored w/ Ivor Berkowitz) in the American Journal of Bioethics [READ Target Article]​ [READ Response to Commentaries]​
• Interviewed on the topic of "Right to an Open Future" for the Pediatric Ethics Podcast [LISTEN HERE]
• Ran 10:06 for the 3200m Run at the Northwest Youth/Open Indoor Track Meet at Northwest Missouri State University on February 23 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Ran 4:48.8 for the 1 Mile Run at the Mule Relays Indoor Track Meet at the University of Central Missouri on February 8 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Finished 1st Overall at the Groundhog Run 5K in Kansas City, MO with a chip time of 16:50 on January 26 [VIEW RESULTS]

       2019

• Ran 4:44.38 for the 1 Mile Run at the Bob Timmons Challenge Indoor Track Meet at the University of Kansas on December 6 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Finished 6th overall & 1st Master at the Parkville Turkey Trail Trot 5K in Parkville, Missouri with a chip time of 16:50 on November 28 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Finished 3rd overall & 1st Master at the Longview Half-Marathon in Kansas City, Missouri with a chip time of 1:15:31 on November 9 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Presented "Toward a Longitudinal Bioethics" on the main program at the 21st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities on October 26 in Pittsburgh, PA
• Published "Rethinking the 'Open Future' Argument Against Predictive Genetic Testing of Children" (co-authored with John D. Lantos, Leslie G. Biesecker, Janet E. Childerhose, Wendy K. Chung, Ingrid A. Holm, Barbara A. Koenig, Jean E. McEwen, Benjamin S. Wilfond, and Kyle Brothers) in the October 2019 issue of Genetics in Medicine [READ] ​
• Finished 2nd overall & 1st Master at the Prairie Fire 5K in Wichita, Kansas with a chip time of 16:30 on October 13 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Finished 1st overall at the Winged Foot 10K in Topeka, Kansas with a chip time of 34:44 on September 28 [VIEW RESULTS]
• ​​Finished 1st overall at the Dad & Daughter 5K in North Kansas City, Missouri with a chip time of 16:07 on September 14 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Published "Towards a Restorative Just Culture Approach to Medical Error" (co-authored with Leslie Ann McNolty) in F. Allhoff & S.L. Borden (eds.), Ethics and Error in Medicine (pp. 34-54), New York: Routledge [LINK TO BOOK]
• Double Race Weekend - Finished 1st overall at the Helen Gold 5K in Overland Park, Kansas with a chip time of 16:45 on September 7 [VIEW RESULTS] and then 23rd overall & 2nd Master at the Plaza 10K in Kansas City, Missouri with a chip time of 35:05 on September 8 [VIEW RESULTS]
• ​​Finished 4th overall and Top Master in the Brew to Shoe 5K in Manhattan, Kansas in 16:42 on August 3 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Finished 1st in the Men's 40-44 800 meter run (2:12.35) and 1500 meter run (4:28.22, new age group record for meet) at the 35th Annual Show Me State Games Track Meet in Columbia, Missouri on July 27-28 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Finished 4th in the Men's 40-44 1500 meter run at the USATF Masters National Track Meet in 4:29.13 on July 14 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Published "Disclosure of Misattributed Paternity" (co-authored with Moshe Y. Prero, Meghan Strenk, Ann Kessler, Jonathan M. Fanaroff, and John D. Lantos) in Pediatrics [READ]
• Finished 4th in the Men's 40-44 Mile Race at the Kansas City Corporate Challenge Track Meet in 5:05 on June 3 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Finished 2nd in the Masters Mile at the Kansas Relays in 5:19 on April 20 [VIEW RESULTS]
• Published "The Strange Tale of Three Identical Strangers: Cinematic Lessons in Bioethics" (co-authored with Bryanna Moore, Leslie Ann McNolty, and Maria Cristina Murano) in Hastings Center Report [READ]
• Published "It's the Idiom, Stupid: A Plea for Formal Rhetorical Analysis in Bioethics" in the American Journal of Bioethics [READ]​

UPCOMING ​TALKS

October 13, 2023
"Unzipping Ethical Dilemmas regarding Parental Authority in Prenatal Gene Therapy"
(Panel Presentation with
​Ana Maria Dumitru, Rafael Escandon, & Meghan Strenk)
25th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities, Baltimore, MD

​