Ruth R. Faden, PhD, MPH

Berman Institute Founder; Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics

Contact

1809 Ashland Ave.
Room 207
Baltimore, MD 21205
  • Berman Institute Founder and inaugural Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director (2014-2016)
    Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics
    Core Faculty
    Berman Institute of Bioethics

Ruth R. Faden, PhD, MPH, is the founder of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and its director from 1995 until 2016. She was the inaugural Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director (2014-2016) and has been since 1995 the inaugural Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics. Dr. Faden’s current research focuses on structural justice theory and on national and global challenges in public health policies and pandemic preparedness, learning health systems, women’s health, the rights and interests of pregnant women, and advances in science and technology. She is currently working part time at the FDA in the Office of the Commissioner. Her latest book, with Madison Powers, Structural Injustice: Power, Advantage, and Human Rights, will be released in paperback in early 2024. (earlier edition, September, 2019; Oxford University Press). 

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Ruth R. Faden, PhD, MPH, is the founder of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. She was the Berman Institute’s Director from 1995 until 2016, and the inaugural Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director (2014-­2016). Dr. Faden was, and is currently, the inaugural Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics. In the twenty years in which Dr. Faden led the Berman Institute, she transformed what was an informal interest group of faculty across Johns Hopkins into a one of the world’s premier bioethics programs with over 35 faculty, 30 staff and over 100 alumni. Under her direction, the Berman Institute became a university­wide unit of Johns Hopkins with its own building, reporting to the Provost. Dr. Faden also secured a significant endowment for the Berman Institute, including six endowed professorships and an endowed directorship.

Dr. Faden is a leading scholar in the field of bioethics. She is the author and editor of numerous books and many articles on biomedical ethics and public policy, including most significantly Social Justice: The Moral Foundations of Public Health and Health Policy (with Madison Powers), A History and Theory of Informed Consent (with Tom L. Beauchamp), Structural Injustice: Power, Advantage, and Human Rights (with Madison Powers; forthcoming, Oxford University Press).

Dr. Faden’s current research focuses on structural justice theory, and on national and global challenges in food and agriculture, learning health care systems, health systems design and priority setting, and access to the benefits of global investments in biomedical research. Dr. Faden also works on ethical challenges in biomedical science, with a particular focus on women’s health and the rights and interests of pregnant women.

Dr. Faden is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and a Fellow of the Hastings Center and the American Psychological Association. She has served on numerous national advisory committees and commissions, including President William Clinton’s Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, which she chaired. Dr. Faden co­launched the Global Food Ethics and Policy Program, sponsor of the 7 by 5 Agenda for Ethics and Global Food Security. She is also a co­founder of the Hinxton Group, a global community committed to advancing ethical and policy challenges in stem cell science, and the Second Wave initiative, an effort to ensure that the health interests of pregnant women are fairly represented in biomedical research and drug and device policies.

In 2011, Dr. Faden was the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) and Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIMR).

Research Interests

  • Structural justice theory
  • Ethical challenges in food and agriculture
  • Learning health care systems
  • Vaccine policy
  • Health systems design and priority setting
  • Advances in the biological sciences
  • Women’s health, with a particular focus on the rights and interests of pregnant women

Education

  • PhD, Program in Attitudes and Behaviors; University of California, Berkeley
  • MPH; University of California, Berkeley
  • MA, General Studies in Humanities; University of Chicago
  • BA, American Civilization; University of Pennsylvania

Activities

  • Scholars Council, John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress
  • Journal of Medical Ethics, International Advisory Board
  • International Advisory Board, Oxford Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics