Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH

Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director; Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy
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1809 Ashland Avenue
Room 104
Baltimore, MD 21205
  • Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director
    Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy
    Berman Institute of Bioethics
  • Professor
    Dept. of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH, is the Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, a position he assumed in July 2016. From 2011, he has been the inaugural Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy.  He is also Professor in the Dept. of Health Policy and Management of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  He works in a variety of areas of bioethics, exploring the intersection of ethics and health/science policy, including human and animal research ethics, public health, and ethical issues in emerging biomedical technologies.

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Prof. Kahn has served on numerous state and federal advisory panels. He is currently chair of National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Health Sciences Policy, and has previously chaired its committee on the Use of Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research (2011); the committee on Ethics Principles and Guidelines for Health Standards for Long Duration and Exploration Spaceflights (2014); and a committee on the Ethical, Social, and Policy Considerations of Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques (2016).  He also formerly served as a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee.

In addition to committee leadership and membership, Prof. Kahn is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and an elected Fellow of The Hastings Center.  He was also the founding president of the Association of Bioethics Program Directors, an office he held from 2006-2010.

Prof. Kahn is a co-principal investigator with Berman Institute faculty member Gail Geller, ScD, MHS, on GUIDE: Genomic Uses in Infectious Disease and Epidemics, an NIH-funded project to study the largely unexplored ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) of genomics as applied to infectious disease.

Prof. Kahn’s publications include Contemporary Issues in BioethicsBeyond Consent: Seeking Justice in Research; and Ethics of Research With Human Subjects: Selected Policies and Resources, as well as over 125 scholarly and research articles.  He also speaks widely across the U.S. and around the world on a range of bioethics topics, in addition to frequent media outreach.  From 1998-2002 he wrote the bi-weekly column Ethics Matters on CNN.com. Prior to joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins, Prof. Kahn was Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota.

Research Interests

  • The intersection of ethics and health/science policy
  • Human and animal research ethics
  • Public health
  • Ethical issues in emerging biomedical technologies.

Education

  • PhD, Georgetown University
  • MPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • BA, University of California, Los Angeles

Recent Publications

 

1. Kahn, JP, Masstroianni, AC. “Sunset on the RAC: When is it Time to End Special Oversight of an Emerging Biotechnology?,” American Journal of Bioethics 18(12):1-2; 2018. DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2018.1540650.

 2. Collins, ME, Rum, S, Wheeler, J, et al incl. Kahn J. “Ethical Issues and Recommendations in Grateful Patient Fundraising and Philanthropy,” Academic Medicine 93(11):1631-1637; July 17, 2018; DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002365. 

 3. Walker, A, Boyce, A, Geller, G, Thio, CL, Kahn, JP. “Direct-Acting Antivirals and Hepatitis C: The Ethics of Price and Rationing by Genotype (Letter to the Editor),”Clinical Infectious Diseases, 67(6): 983–984; August 31, 2018; https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciy239, March 29, 2018.

 4. Van Pilsum Rasmussen, SE, Henderson ML, Kahn J, Segev D. “Considering Tangible Benefit for Interdependent Donors: Extending a Risk-Benefit Framework in Donor Selection,” American Journal of Transplantation, e-pub ahead of print DOI: 10.1111/ajt.14319, April 20, 2017.

5. Mathews, DJH, Hester, MD, Kahn JP, et al. “A Conceptual Model for the Translation of Bioethics Research and Scholarship,” Hastings Center Report 46 (2016): 34-39; September-October 2016.

 6. Falk, MJ, Decherney A, Kahn JP. “Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques—Implications for the Clinical Community,” New England Journal of Medicine 374:1103-1106; March 24, 2016.