- Director of Education Initiatives
Core Faculty
Berman Institute of Bioethics - Professor
Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine - Professor
Departments of Health, Behavior & Society and Health Policy & Management
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health - Professor
Department of Sociology
Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
Gail Geller, ScD, MHS, is the Berman Institute’s Director of Education Initiatives and a Professor in the Department of Medicine, with joint appointments in the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Departments of Health, Behavior & Society and Health Policy & Management, and the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Sociology. Dr. Geller has been an active member of the ELSI (Ethical, Legal & Social Implications of Genetics) research community since its inception. For 30 years she has conducted empirical research – both quantitative and qualitative – on the ethical and social implications of genetic testing in the adult, pediatric and family contexts. Currently, she is Co-Principal Investigator of an NHGRI CEER (Center of Excellence in ELSI Research) designed to address the ELSI issues arising from the application of genomics to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. She has been a member of two NIH Consortia: the Cancer Genetics Studies Consortium and the Informed Consent Consortium, and co-chaired the Task Force on Informed Consent for Cancer Susceptibility Testing.
Research Interests
- Ethical and social implications of genetic testing in the adult, pediatric and family context
- Ethical issues arising from the application of genomics to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases
- Medical socialization/education
- Provider-patient communication under conditions of uncertainty
- Cultural differences in attitudes toward health and disease
- Trust in research
Education
- BS, Cornell University
- ScD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- MHS, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Recent Publications
Geller G. Tolerance for Ambiguity: An ethics-based criterion for medical student selection. Acad Med 2013;88:581-584.
Geller G, Dvoskin R, Thio CL, Duggal P, Lewis MH, Bailey TC, Sutherland A, Salmon DA, Kahn JP. Genomics and infectious disease: a call to identify the ethical, legal and social implications for public health and clinical practice. Genome Medicine2014; 6:106-119.
Geller G, Branyon E, Forbes L, Rushton C, Beach MC, Carrese J, Sugarman J. Health care professionals’ perceptions and experiences of respect and dignity in the intensive care unit. Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics 2015; 5(1A): 27–42.
Geller G, Branyon ED, Forbes LK, Topazian RJ, Weir BW, Carrese JA, Beach MC, Sugarman J. ICU-RESPECT: An Index to Assess Patient and Family Experiences of Respect in the Intensive Care Unit. J Crit Care 2016;36:54-59. doi: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2016.06.018.
Geller G, Watkins PA. Addressing medical student’s negative bias toward patients with obesity through ethics education. AMA J Ethics 2018;20(10):E948-959. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2018.948. [Epub ahead of print].
Geller G. The Tyranny of Hope. Hastings Center Report 2019;49(4):3. doi:10.1002/hast.1026.
Walker A, Boyce A, Duggal P, Thio CL, Geller G. Genomics and Infectious Diseases: Expert Perspectives on Public Health Considerations in Actionability and Privacy. Ethics and Health Research 2020;42(3):30‐40. doi:10.1002/eahr.500051.
Geller G, Steinman C, Caldwell M., Goldberg H, Hanlon C, Wonnell T, Merritt MW. Development and Validation of a Capacity for Wonder Scale for Use in Educational Settings. J Psychoeducational Assessment 2020. doi: 10.1177/0734282920918727. [Epub ahead of print].
Geller G, Grbic D, Andolsek KM, Caulfield M, Roskovensky L. Tolerance for ambiguity among medical students: A national study of patterns of change and their significance for professional development during medical school. [published online ahead of print 2020 Nov 15]. Acad Med 2020. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000003820
Rushton C, Doerries B, Greene J, Geller G. In the tragedy of this pandemic, dramatic interventions can heal moral suffering. Lancet 2020;395:305-306.
Geller G, Duggal P, Thio CL, Mathews D, Kahn JP, Maragakis L, Garibaldi B. Genomics in the Era of COVID-19: Ethical Implications for Clinical Practice and Public Health. Genome Med 2020;12(95). doi: 10.1186/s13073-020-00792-9.
Hunt MF, Clark KT, Geller G, Barnhill A. SARS-CoV-2 Safer Infection Sites: Moral entitlement, pragmatic harm reduction strategy, or ethical outrage? Journal of Medical Ethics Published Online First: 09 December 2020. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2020-106567
Grubbs L, Geller G. Masks in Medicine: Metaphors and Morality. Journal of Medical Humanities 2021;42(1):103-107. doi:10.1007/s10912-020-09676-w
Reis-Dennis S, Gerrity M, Geller G. Tolerance for Uncertainty and Professional Development: A Normative Analysis. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2021 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-06538-y