Associate Professor or Professor and Chair, Bioethics and Humanities

The University of Washington School of Medicine is seeking candidates for Chair of the Department of Bioethics and Humanities. The Chair will guide the mission and vision of the Department, which is dedicated to social justice in health and healthcare, as well as clarifying, studying, and teaching issues of moral importance in health care, population health, and biomedical research. The position is full-time and tenured with appointment at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor commensurate with experience. The anticipated start date is October 1, 2023. This full-time, tenured position has an annual service period of 12 months [July 1-June 30].

The Department of Bioethics and Humanities was originally launched in 1964, as a Department of Biomedical History. The current department’s faculty excel in teaching, research and community service, and represent diverse scholarly fields, including medicine, genetics, philosophy, public health, health services, medical sociology, religious studies, education, and other areas. The Department’s interdisciplinary nature is evidenced by collaborative partnerships with UW Schools of Medicine, Law, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Social Work, as well as the College of Arts and Sciences. Specific areas of interest of the faculty include ethical implications of genomic research, community-based participatory research, social justice and access to healthcare, neuroethics, global perspectives in bioethics, social inequalities and disparities in health, medical errors, and palliative/end of life care. The Department offers a Master’s degree in Bioethics (14 graduate students in 2020-2021) and a Minor in Bioethics (97 undergraduate students declared in 2020-2021), dozens of classes and several online training programs.