Bioethics Program Highlights

The Department of Epidemiology & Population Health's Division of Biomedical & Bioethics Research Training is excited to announce this year's Annual Dr. Shoshanah Trachtenberg Frackman Lecture is being cosponsored by Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Data Science Institute and the Office of Faculty Development. Our keynote speaker, Charles E. Binkley, MD, FACS, HEC-C, Director of AI Ethics and Quality for Hackensack Meridian Health will be speaking on “Transparency, Conflict and Impact in the Human- AI Collaboration.” Please join us on Tuesday, November 18th at 12:00pm!.Registration is required: https://einsteinmed.edu/administration/faculty-development/register?id=2885

Associate Director of the Center, and Director of our Fellowship Program, Adira Hulkower, wrote three open peer commentaries in the American Journal of Bioethics in recent months. With two of these commentaries, she joins in the critical ongoing national conversations about the role of modern bioethics committees in hospital systems (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39992819/) and how we should conceptualize what it means to be “fellowship trained” in bioethics as the field is working towards fellowship accreditation (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40965498/). She also joined the Center’s former fellow, Ryan Felder, in advocating for a multidisciplinary approach grounded in the best interest standard for treatment decisions for unrepresented patients (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40825282/).

Director of Bioethics Graduate Education, Paola Nicolas, recently published an article with colleague Dr. Michael Grosso revisiting the issue of “sham” or “slow” codes and the circumstances under which they may or may not be ethically impermissible. They discuss aspects of care delivery systems that give rise to intractable conflicts around CPR. Read more here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40171898/

The faculty and staff of the Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics (MECB) extend a warm welcome to Nathalie Freeman, who will be joining MECB as our Bioethics Fellow for the 2025-2026 academic year! Ms. Freeman first became interested in bioethics during her time as a Science, Technology and Society (“STS”) major at Vassar College. She completed her undergraduate senior capstone project on the ethics and potential of uterine transplantation in the spring of 2017. With the goal of further pursuing bioethics, Nathalie went on to receive a joint JD/MA in Bioethics from Wake Forest University, where she wrote her bioethics thesis on the history, accuracy and educational value of medical television dramas. As a law student, Nathalie served as a summer intern with the Office of General Counsel for the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Medicine and, most recently, Nathalie worked as a litigation associate attorney in the Philadelphia office of a national law firm, where many of her clients were large healthcare institutions. We are thrilled to have Nathalie joining our team and look forward to the contributions she will make over the course of her fellowship.

Please join us in congratulating our faculty on their recent promotions! Adira Hulkower, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health and Director of our Bioethics Consultation Service, was promoted to Associate Director for the Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics (MECB). Dr. Paola Nicolas, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, was promoted to Director of MECB's Master of Science in Bioethics and the Certificate in Bioethics and Medical Humanities programs. Dr. Patrick D. Herron, Associate Professor of Family and Social Medicine, was promoted to Assistant Director of MECB's Graduate Bioethics Education programs.

The Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics would like to extend its deepest gratitude to Lauren S. Flicker, who will be stepping down as MECB's Associate Director and as Director of our Graduate Education programs effective July 1st. Professor Flicker will be continuing to teach in our Master of Science in Bioethics and our Certificate in Bioethics and Medical Humanities curriculum. We are incredibly grateful for all her contributions to the Center for Bioethics and the profound impact she has had on our students and alumni.

Associate Director Lauren Flicker discussed the implications of the February 16th Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be considered children

Associate Director Lauren Flicker Published a Paper with Colleagues in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care

Dr. Danielle Fernandes presented a session at the Spring AAMC Northeastern Regional Conference at Rutgers focused on “Integrating Ethics Education Into Clinical Clerkships” that summarized work done with Prof. Adira Hulkower and Dr. Patrick Herron, as well as collaborators from Hackensack Meridian Health.

Dr. Danielle Fernandes presented an education workshop titled, “Brave Spaces 2.0: Moving Forward with Clarity & Purpose” at the Association of Pediatric Program Directors meeting in Atlanta, Georgia with collaborators from Dartmouth, University of Vermont, Brown, Maimonides Medical Center, University of Washington and Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. The workshop focused on integrating a Brave Spaces framework when teaching concepts to learners that may be seen as polarizing or charged.

We are delighted to share that our Bioethics Fellow, Julia Kolak, PhD, was just nominated by her alma mater, William Paterson University, as one of their 50 Alumni Under 50. This nomination acknowledges Dr. Kolak as a remarkable alumna making a meaningful impact in her career and community. Of course, we at the Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics know just how deserving Dr. Kolak is of this award. We are fortunate to witness her extraordinary contributions to clinical ethics and bioethics scholarship and teaching every day. Congratulations Dr. Kolak! Read more here: 50 Under 50 | Alumni Relations | William Paterson University.

We are thrilled to announce that Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics director Dr. Elizabeth Chuang was recently elected as a Fellow of The Hastings Center, a foundational bioethics organization which addresses social and ethical issues in health care, science and technology

Director Elizabeth Chuang published a paper in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care.

Dr. Patrick Herron, Clinical Ethicist with the Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics and Associate Professor of Family & Social Medicine, was a guest speaker on the Healthcare Professionalism podcast, discussing the difference between influence and expertise, the evolution of influencers and their financial relationship with advertisers, the ethics of social media, its benefits, potential harms, and medical schools' policies with Barbara Lewis, MBA.

Outstanding panel (Dr. Elizabeth Chuang, Dr. Mark Shlomovich, Dr. Susan Duberstein, and Dr. Sarah Evans Norris) with moderator, Dr. Alan Fleischman, exploring clinical and ethical issues surrounding Pediatric Brain Death/Death by Neurological Criteria at the annual Hunter Lecture at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Health System.

Assistant professor Adira Hulkower was featured in a recent episode of the podcast Bioethics in the Margins discussing the Dignity of Risk,

We are thrilled to welcome Keonna Hyacinth to our team.

We are thrilled to announce that our colleague Paola Nicolas, Ph.D, M.B.E., HEC-C, will be joining us as a full-time faculty member of the Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics this March.

Paola Nicolas will present a talk at the upcoming International Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation on Friday, May 31 in Montreal: What Exactly Is The Medical Ethicist’s Role When Family Members Refuse Organ Donation after Brain Death Determination?

We recently participated in Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s annual MLK week of service. We enjoyed making sandwiches and learning about a terrific organization dedicated to helping children in the Bronx; Niño de la Caridad