Michaela Johns

Michaela Johns completed her Honors Bachelor of Science degree in Health Studies at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, Michaela was awarded the Highest Academic Achievement Award in the School of Public Health and Health Systems. In 2020, Michaela was privileged to be accepted into the Sherwin B. Nuland Summer Institute in Bioethics at Yale University.

Michaela’s passion for bioethics has drawn her toward questions about suffering, personal integrity in light of chronic illness, and the meaning of autonomy when chronic illness invariably leads to such a dependence on others. To date, Michaela’s academic work focuses on the challenges and opportunities connected with delivering palliative and end-of-life care. Her work also has roots in the domain of chronic pain care. Michaela is driven to improve the assessment and management of chronic pain-related disability and she seeks to explore the ethical implications of reframing the management of chronic non-cancer pain in relation to the opioid crisis.

Michaela’s education at Johns Hopkins is made possible in part through the generous support of the Ruth R. Faden Endowment for Education in Bioethics.