Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics - General Information

General Information

The goals of the Institute are declared in its mission statement: conducting cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research; training the next generation of leaders in bioethics; helping to prepare students and trainees for the ethical challenges of professional and civic life; informing the public about bioethical issues; and contributing to more ethical public policies and practices.

The Institute is named after Phoebe Rhea Berman, who established an endowment for the Institute, saying, "The work that is being done there has great meaning for me and can make a real difference in society." She and her husband, pioneering surgeon and best-selling author Edgar Berman, most notably went to French Equatorial Africa to work with Albert Schweitzer as extended volunteers. His work inspired her, and her commitment to the need for ethical considerations in medical and scientific decision-making was reaffirmed and strengthened.

The Executive Director of the Institute is Ruth Faden, Ph.D., M.P.H. Dr. Faden is the author and editor of numerous books and articles on biomedical ethics and health policy including Social Justice, the Moral Foundations of Public Health and Health Policy; A History and Theory of Informed Consent; AIDS, Women and the Next Generation; and HIV, AIDS and Childbearing: Public Policy, Private Lives. She has served on several national advisory committees and commissions, including the President’s Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, which she chaired.

Johns Hopkins University president William R. Brody had the following to say about the Berman Institute of Bioethics: “The Berman Institute of Bioethics is the intellectual crossroads of the University and a wonderful resource for the nation. It is at the Institute that our diverse and specialized paths of inquiry intersect. No collective undertaking is more vital to the future of Johns Hopkins.”