Last updated on: 7/29/2009 | Author: ProCon.org

Dan Brock, PhD Biography

Title:
Director of the University Program in Ethics and Health at the Harvard Medical School
Position:
Pro to the question "Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?"
Reasoning:

“My aim is to increase the light, and perhaps as well as to reduce the heat, on this important subject [euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide] by formulating and evaluating the central ethical arguments for and against voluntary active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. My evaluation of the arguments leads me, with reservations to be noted, to support permitting both practices.”

Life and Death: Philosophical Essays in Biomedical Ethics, 1993
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Director, University Program in Ethics and Health, Harvard Medical School, 2004-present
  • Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Medical Ethics, Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, 2002-present
  • Director, Division of Medical Ethics, Harvard Medical School, 2002-present
  • Fellow and Former Board Member, Hastings Center, 1998-present
  • Former Senior Scientist and Member, Department of Clinical Bioethics, National Institutes of Health
  • Recipient, Eleventh James Wilbur Award for “extraordinary contributions to the appreciation and advancement of human values,” Society for Value Inquiry, 2002
  • Charles C. Tillinghast, Jr. University Professor, Brown University, 1997-2002
  • Director, Center for Biomedical Ethics, Brown University, 1991-2002
  • President, American Association for Bioethics, 1995-1996
  • Recipient, John P. McGovern Award for “distinguished contributions to the health sciences,” Association of Academic Health Centers, 1995
  • Executive Board Member, American Association of Bioethics, 1993-1997
  • Member, Ethics Working Group, White House Task Force on National Health Care Reform, 1993
  • President, Rhode Island Philosophical Society, 1991-1992
  • Founding Board Member, American Society for Bioethics and Humanities
  • Chair, Department of Philosophy, Brown University, 1980-1986
  • Staff Philosopher, President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine, 1981-1982
Education:
  • PhD, Philosophy, Columbia University, 1970
  • BA, Economics, Cornell University, 1960
Other:
  • None found
Quoted in:
  1. Do Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide Ensure a Good Death?
  2. Is There a Moral Difference between Physician-Assisted Suicide and Active Euthanasia?
  3. Is There a Moral Difference between Passive and Active Euthanasia?