We are an interdisciplinary community of clinicians, researchers, and educators addressing ethical questions in health and biomedical research.

UCSF Bioethics connects faculty, staff, students, and trainees from across UCSF, creating a protected space for moral reflection that spans the university’s professional schools and health system. Faculty members conduct original research and policy analysis on a wide range of topics. They consult on moral and ethical concerns while embedded within bioscience or clinical projects. They devise strategies to effectively incorporate patient and citizen input into ongoing governance of science, clinical practice, and public health practice. And they provide a Research Ethics Consultation Service and direct educational programs for UCSF’s four professional schools.

In all of these settings, our faculty members seek to answer this question: How can we ensure the ethical use of our ever-expanding technological prowess?

Faculty Spotlight: Julia Brown, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

I am an anthropologist and bioethicist who studies high-stakes medical treatments across Australia, the UK and US. Through interdisciplinary collaborations, and by investigating lived experiences of decision-making, I evaluate diverse stakeholder values, caregiving and barriers to social inclusion regarding health information, interventions and long-term uncertainties associated with controversial treatments. I aim to understand different viewpoints, particularly underrepresented perspectives. My ethnographic research highlights psychosocial, emotional and temporal elements to healthcare decision-making. My book, “The Clozapine Clinic: Health Agency in High-Risk Conditions”, describes the experiences of people taking and overseeing clozapine treatment for chronic psychosis. I illustrate the incidental psychosocial benefits of this biomedical monitoring regime that deemphasizes psychiatric illness and subtly promotes social connection and agency over health. In various healthcare contexts, I continue to observe how actions towards health are embedded in hope and social support, which can supersede concern for clinical risks and uncertainty.

Since joining UCSF in 2020, I have focused on prenatal and pediatric genetic technologies. My current project, supported by a K99/R00 Award from the National Human Genome Research Institute, has supported my “embedded ethics” role at the UCSF Center for Maternal-Fetal Precision Medicine. Through qualitative research and ethical analysis, I work closely with leaders and families in the prenatal medicine space who are paving the way towards innovative prenatal interventions, including in utero gene editing. As a faculty affiliate at the UC Berkeley Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public, I am developing novel community engagement methods to promote societal dialogue, such as through a podcast/poll project (https://kavlicenter.berkeley.edu/utero-podcast-prenatal-genetic-technologies). I am passionate about public engagement in ethics and science to help break down assumptions and value tensions, and to better support prospective families by centering lived experiences. 

Past Faculty Spotlights:
Bani Tamraz, PharmD, PhD
Pramita Kuruvilla, MD, FAAFP, HEC-C
Becky Deboer, MD, MA
Jarmin Yeh, PhD, MPH, MSW