Zackary Berger, MD, PhD

Dr. Berger is Associate Professor in the Johns Hopkins Division of General Internal Medicine and Core Faculty at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, with joint appointment in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. With an active practice in primary care internal medicine at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Berger focuses his clinical, educational, and research work, as well as his widely read publications for the lay public, on the ways in which shared decision making in the doctor-patient encounter might be in conflict with medical evidence and the political, social, and psychological realities of the patient.

Dr. Berger teaches residents in their internal medicine clinic and medical students on the wards at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and is part of a Berman faculty team which teaches bioethics to residents in a number of Johns Hopkins specialty programs. He is also staff physician at the Esperanza Clinic Health Center, a free clinic serving undocumented Spanish-speaking immigrants.

Dr. Berger is the author of two books for the lay public on doctor-patient communication and on patient preference in the context of medical evidence.

Ethics for Lunch Discusses Care of Transgender Patients

The panel, led by Paula Neir, Clinical Program Director of the John Hopkins Center for Transgender Health, discussed three cases involving transgender patients. The panel discussed the principle of respect for persons when it comes to transgender health care and explored issues of equity when aspects of routine care within the healthcare system can be viewed as harmful to patients in gender and sexual minorities.