Moral Psychology Expert Hanna Pickard joins Berman Institute

July 10, 2019

Hanna Pickard, a leading applied philosopher in the fields of philosophy of psychiatry and moral psychology, joins Johns Hopkins as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics. She will hold joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and in the Berman Institute of Bioethics.

“Through her work, Dr. Pickard shares profound insights into individual and collective human behavior,” says Johns Hopkins University Provost Sunil Kumar. “We are thrilled to welcome her to our faculty, where her unique brand of applied philosophy will help us grapple with the pressing questions of our time and break new ground in a variety of interdisciplinary fields.”

As the university’s 45th Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Pickard will join an interdisciplinary cohort of scholars at Johns Hopkins working to address major world problems and teach the next generation. The program is backed by a $350 million gift from Michael R. Bloomberg, a Johns Hopkins alumnus, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, World Health Organization Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action, and former New York City mayor.

Pickard comes to Johns Hopkins from the University of Birmingham in the U.K., where she is Chair in Philosophy of Psychology, and from Princeton University, where she has served as a visiting research scholar in cognitive science for the past two years. Previously, she’s been a research fellow at the University of Oxford and served for 10 years as an assistant team therapist at the Oxfordshire Complex Needs Service, where she worked clinically in an outpatient therapeutic community for patients with personality disorders and other complex mental health needs.

Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Berman Institute of Bioethics, says Pickard’s joint appointment will strengthen the institute’s “vitally important connection” with the Department of Philosophy.

“We are thrilled about Hanna Pickard’s appointment as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor,” he says. “Dr. Pickard’s innovative work with Responsibility Without Blame provides a promising framework for addressing opioid addiction and other substance use disorders. Her research embodies the Berman Institute’s emphasis on utilizing interdisciplinary approaches to explore contemporary ethical issues that take place in real-world circumstances.”

“Dr. Pickard’s approach to research is applied philosophy at its finest,” says Beverly Wendland, dean of the Krieger School. “Her expertise in philosophical analysis, psychiatry, and ethics has already laid the groundwork for important and pioneering work in the field of addiction, and we look forward to facilitating further collaborations between Dr. Pickard and members of the Krieger School and the Berman Institute of Bioethics.”

Read more about Hanna Pickard here.