Education

  • Ph.D. University of Virginia
  • M.A. Princeton University
  • B.A. University of San Francisco

Background

I was the inaugural holder of the Holmes Rolston III Chair in Religion and Science at Davidson College and taught courses in religion and science, theological ethics, and applied ethics, especially bioethics. I was also adjunct professor of ethics at the Center for Bioethics, Health, and Society at Wake Forest University. Before coming to Davidson, I served as director of Rice University's Biotechnology, Religion, and Ethics Program; academic director at the Institute of Religion at the Texas Medical Center; member of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine; and staff ethicist for Governor Mario Cuomo's New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. My earlier teaching appointments included positions at the University of Texas School of Public Health, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Women's University, and the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

I have been the principal or co-principal investigator on nine grants, including a five-year Ford-funded study of religious perspectives on biotechnology. I was a founding co-editor of Christian Bioethics and a columnist for Commonweal magazine. I also served on the board of directors of the National Biomedical Research Foundation, the editorial board of The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, and the editorial advisory board of Christian Bioethics.

In my scholarship and work in public policy, I have co-authored four books and edited/co-edited eight other volumes and nine thematic journal issues.  I have published numerous book chapters, including contributions to several award-winning titles. I have also contributed to various journals, including Academic Medicine, American Journal of Medical Genetics, ASBH Exchange, Bioethics Bulletin, Bioethics Forum, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, Christian Bioethics, Christian Reflection, Commonweal, Ethics, Ethik in der Medizin, First Things, Harvard Theological Review, Hastings Center Report, HEC Forum, Human Gene Therapy, Human Life Review, Interpretation, IRB, Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Journal of Religion, Journal of Religious Ethics, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Medical Humanities Review, Religions, Religious Studies Review, Second Opinion, Soundings, Theological Studies, Theology, and Theoretical and Applied Ethics.