Loyola Medicine

MAYWOOD, Ill. - Mark Kuczewski, director of the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics & Health Policy, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, has been named president-elect of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH). "Obviously, it's quite an honor to be trusted with a leadership position by your colleagues around the country," said Kuczewski, who will begin serving a two-year term as president in October 2009. "The task of bioethics is to help keep breathing life into the soul of medicine. That's a big challenge and it humbles me to be asked to lead an organization that's trying to contribute to that task." The ASHB is a nationwide organization of about 1,600 members. The organization promotes the exchange of ideas and fosters scholarship, research, teaching, policy development, professional development and collegiality among those engaged in clinical and academic bioethics and the medical humanities. Kuczewski focus as president will be to refine the profession of the field of bioethics, expand ways in which bioethicists can better serve the public and position the organization to increase its contribution to the debate about health-care reform. "I've been involved in this organization in a number of capacities for a while. I think the organization is in its adolescence and in need of continued leadership in several very important directions," said Kuczewski, who is also the Fr. Michael I. English, SJ, Professor of Medical Ethics at the Stritch School of Medicine. Kuczewski became director of Neiswanger in 2000. He has been an adjunct professor in the Loyola University Chicago School of Law and adjunct professor in Loyola's department of philosophy, both since 2003. Before joining Loyola, Kuczewski was the director of the master of arts program in the Center for the Study of Bioethics program of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Prior to that, Kuczewski was the associate director of the Consortium Ethics Program at the University of Pittsburgh where he designed educational program for hospital ethics committees and other clinical professionals. Kuczewski has researched and written extensively on bioethics. His books include: "Bioethics: Ancient Themes in Contemporary Issues," co-authored with Rosa Lynn Parks, (Cambridge University Press: MIT Press, 2000); "An Ethics Casebook for Hospitals: Practical Approaches to Everyday Cases, co-authored with Rosa Lynn Parks, (Georgetown University Press, 1999) and "Fragmentation and Consensus: Communitarian and Casuist Bioethics," (Georgetown University Press, 1997). Kuczewski is also editor of the new "Practicing Bioethics" book series (Rowman & Littlefield). His current research interests include health disparities, disability ethics, the process of informed consent, research ethics and teaching teamwork across health-care professions.