Speakers

Dr. Magill holds the Vernon F. Gallagher Chair for the Integration of Science, Theology, Philosophy, and Law at Duquesne University (appointed in 2007) where he is a tenured Professor in the Center for Healthcare Ethics. 

In 1987 he graduated with his Ph.D. degree from Edinburgh University in Scotland. From 1987 he developed his scholarly career at Saint Louis University where in 1996 he was appointed as the Department Chair of the Center for Healthcare Ethics. As Executive Director of that Center from 1999, he held multiple appointments including being a member of the Council of Deans for the University’s health sciences campus, a Division Director in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University Hospital, a member of the University’s Institutional Review Board, a member of the Hospital Ethics Committee, a Professor in the School of Medicine (secondary appointment), and a Professor in the School of Public Health (secondary appointment).

He has authored, co-authored, or edited 16 books including a recently co-authored book on Governance Ethics in Healthcare Organizations (Routledge 2020). He has published over 85 scholarly and professional articles and he has given over 250 scholarly presentations at conferences. He is a member of 17 Professional Associations. He has extensive experience on Institutional Review Boards, Hospital Ethics Committees and Ethics Consultation Services.

In the Center for Healthcare Ethics at Duquesne University, Dr. Magill teaches courses on ethics in the doctoral program and leads clinical ethics rotations for senior students in several hospitals. His current research includes: Governance Ethics, Organizational Ethics, Professional Ethics, and Clinical Ethics in Healthcare; Hospital Ethics Committees & Ethics Consultations; Research Ethics, Human Subjects Protection, and Institutional Review Boards; Data Ethics & Digital Technology; Human Genomics; Medical Error and Patient Safety; and Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (e.g., face & limb transplants, organizing the first week-long international bioethics conference in this area with leading surgeons in the field in Geneva, Switzerland in 2017).

In 2015, he was appointed by Duquesne University’s President to be Chair of the Committee for the annual endowed conference series on the Integrity of Creation. Each conference results in a co-edited book – 6 books have been published so far. In 2020 and 2021 he was the chair of search committees to hire the inaugural personnel of a newly endowed ethics center on data ethics & digital technology, the Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology and Law. He holds the position of Senior Research Fellow in this new Grefenstette Center.

Aliza Narva, JD, MSN, RN, HEC-C, is the Director of Ethics at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where she chairs the HUP Ethics Committee and the HUP Ethics Consult Service. Aliza holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School as well as a BSN and an MSN from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. She is a certified Health Care Ethics Consultant and a former AONL Nurse Manager fellow. She focuses on providing high-quality ethics consultation and increasing ethics competency in frontline staff through educational content and ethics infrastructure.

Mark G. Kuczewski, PhD, is the Fr. Michael I. English, S.J., Professor of Medical Ethics.  He is also the director of the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy. Mark is a past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) and a Fellow of the Hastings Center.  

Mark is best-known for his work on bioethical issues related to the recent wave of immigration to the United States. He created the Sanctuary Doctoring program with Dr. Johana Mejias-Beck and Amy Blair to provide resources to physicians in supporting their immigrant patients. He was the catalyst for Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine becoming the first medical school in the nation to welcome applications from DACA recipients. 

For this work, Mark has received numerous awards including Loyola’s 2017 Faculty Member of the Year and the recent International Association for Bioethics Award (IAB) for Bioethics Service in the Face of Challenges (2023).

It is worth noting that Mark has deep Pittsburgh roots. He received his PhD in philosophy from Duquesne University and served on the staff and faculty of Pitt’s Center for Bioethics and Health Law from 1990-1997. He was the associate director of the Center’s regional ethics network, the Consortium Ethics Program. Mark deeply regrets that he is doing this conference in Florida instead of Pittsburgh where we could all engage over his all-time favorite treat, a Prantl’s burnt almond torte.

Dr. Friend has advanced certification in oncology nursing, is board-certified in advanced genetics nursing, and is licensed as an APRN-CNS (Clinical Nurse Specialist). Her areas of expertise are in oncology and genomics, educational preparation of advanced practice nurses, online education, and interprofessional education and practice. Her doctoral dissertation work was supported by the American Cancer Society (doctoral scholarship) and a pre-doctoral fellowship (F31) from the National Cancer Institute. Her doctoral research, examining the interactions between stress and immune responses in women undergoing diagnostic breast biopsy, was funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Oncology Nursing Foundation, and the Chicago Chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society. She has experience with educational training grants as well, and currently leads a team of faculty supported by the NCI-sponsored Interprofessional Education Exchange (iPEX) Project, that is developing interprofessional education in palliative care.

Dr. Friend’s main area of clinical scholarship and research interest is in the area of genetics/genomics. The implications of genomic discoveries for individuals and families will continue to expand rapidly. Health care providers and scientists/practitioners in all relevant fields will need to become proficient and expert not only in the scientific knowledge base in order to translate and apply genomic discoveries to improve health, but also in the skill of communicating and discussing genetic/genomic results as well as the impact of such result on families and familial relationships. She serves on the Genomics Advisory Board for the Oncology Nursing Society and on the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) Advisory Committee for cancer biomarker testing. She is interested in improving genomic literacy of health care educators, students and clinicians. She has taught a Cancer Genomics course for graduate nursing students for many years.

Mary Broderick Donnelly recently retired from her positions as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and a healthcare ethics consultant and Loyola University Medical Center.  Besides degrees in Nursing and Law, she earned a Doctorate of Bioethics and Healthcare Policy at the Neiswanger Institute of Loyola University of Chicago.  She has worked in the areas of health care equity, accreditation, nursing ethics education and conflict of interest.     

Dr. Teodor Grantcharov completed his surgical training at the University of Copenhagen, and a doctoral degree in Medical Sciences at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. Dr. Grantcharov is a Professor of Surgery at Stanford University and Associate Chief Quality Officer for Innovation and Safety at Stanford Healthcare.

Prior to joining Stanford, Dr. Grantcharov was a Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and Keenan Chair in Surgery at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. He was the Founder of the International Centre for Surgical Safety – a multidisciplinary group of visionary scientists with expertise in design, human factors, computer and data science, and healthcare research. He previously held Canada Research Chair in Simulation and Surgical Safety and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II diamond jubilee medal for his contributions to clinical research and patient safety in Canada. Dr. Grantcharov was awarded the honorary fellowship of the Imperial College in London, the honorary fellowships of the Bulgarian, Danish and Brazilian surgical societies, the Spinoza Chair in Surgery from the University of Amsterdam and multiple national and international awards for his contributions to surgical education and surgical safety.

Dr. Grantcharov’s clinical interest is the area of minimally invasive surgery, while his academic focus is in the field of surgical innovation and patient safety. He has become internationally recognized as a leader in this area with his work on curriculum design, assessment of competence and impact of surgical performance on clinical outcomes. Dr. Grantcharov developed the surgical Black Box concept, which aims to transform the safety culture in medicine and introduce modern safety management systems in the high-risk operating room environment.

Dr. Grantcharov has more than 220 peer-reviewed publications and more than 200 invited presentations in Europe, South- and North America. He holds several patents and is the Founder of Surgical Safety Technologies Inc – an academic startup that commercializes the OR Black Box platform. He sits on numerous committees with Surgical Professional Societies in North America and Europe.

Angela Frederick Amar, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN, is dean of New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing and Erline Perkins McGriff Professor of Nursing.

Prior to her appointment as dean in August 2023, Dr. Amar was a tenured faculty member at Emory University and Boston College. Most recently, she was the dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. While at UNLV, Dr. Amar’s innovative approach and focus on advancing strategic priorities have led to growth in student enrollment across academic programs, recruitment of quality and diverse faculty and staff, greater financial stability through revenue-generating activities, and increased ranking and stature of the school, faculty, and students.

Dr. Amar was named a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2010 and is a fellow in the Academy of Nursing Education (2016), and a distinguished fellow in the International Association of Forensic Nursing (2010). She was in the inaugural cohort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar program (2008-2010) and the AACN Wharton Executive Leadership program.

As a leading scholar in gender-based violence, Dr. Amar’s research has influenced the direction of campus policy nationally. Dr. Amar is also a leader in nursing education regarding violence and forensic nursing. Dr. Amar is also recognized for her efforts to advance diversity in nursing leadership across organizations and institutions and is a highly sought-after speaker and media guest.

Dr. Amar’s work has been widely recognized for the many contributions she has made. This includes the Nursing Leader Award from the Asian American group and the Las Vegas Indian Chamber of Commerce (2022) and the People’s Choice Outstanding Dean and Leader from the Nevada Nurses Association (2021). Her 2016 book on forensic nursing received gold and bronze awards from AJN. The Nursing Network on Violence Against Women International awarded her the Excellence in Practice and Policy award (2015).

Dr. Amar currently serves on the board of directors of the American Academy of Nursing, chairs the government affairs committee for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and is a member of the finance committee of the National League for Nursing.

Dr. Amar holds a Ph.D. from the University at Pennsylvania School of Nursing and a master’s and bachelor’s degrees in nursing from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.

Theresa Brown, RN, is author of Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient and the New York Times bestseller, The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives. Both The Shift, which portrays one real shift worked by a hospital nurse, and Brown’s first book, Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between, are used as textbooks at nursing schools around the country. Theresa’s latest book, Healing is a powerful and intensely personal story about her own breast cancer diagnosis and treatment as well as a searing look at patient care.

Brown is a frequent contributor to the New York Times. One of her columns earned her an invitation to the White House, where President Obama quoted her in defense of the Affordable Care Act. Brown’s work has also appeared in, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Medscape, Slate.com, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and on CNN.com. She has been a guest on MSNBC Live, Hardball, 20/20, and NPR’s Fresh Air. A native of Missouri, Brown has a PhD in English from the University of Chicago and taught English at Tufts University. She stayed home with her three children after teaching and was inspired by them to return to school and become a nurse.

Travis N. Rieder, PhD, is associate research professor at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, where he directs the Master of Bioethics degree program. He also has secondary appointments in the Departments of Philosophy and Health Policy & Management, as well as in the Center for Public Health Advocacy. The majority of his scholarship, speaking, and writing for the public falls into one of two research programs. The first involves the ethical and policy issues raised by pain, pain medicine, drugs, addiction, and North America’s drug overdose crisis. On this subject, he has published in the bioethics, medical, and public health literature, as well as for the popular press, including a TED Talk and his first book, In Pain (HarperCollins). The second research program involves the overarching theme of “catastrophe.” In particular, Travis is concerned with how to engage in ethical reasoning about our own, individual lives in a time dominated by massive, structural threats that are too big and too complex for any one of us to meaningfully address on our own. This has led to publications on climate change, pandemics, food ethics, and overpopulation—and is the subject of his second book, Catastrophe Ethics (Dutton, March 2024).

Laura Guidry-Grimes is an Associate Staff Ethicist at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Bioethics. She has academic appointments in the Department of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and in the Department of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She serves as a clinical ethics consultant for main campus as well as regional hospitals in northeast Ohio. Her research focuses on the nature of vulnerability in clinical settings, disability bioethics, and psychiatric ethics. She is a member of the DEI Council at her institution and ClinicPride, and she contributes to the ASBH DEI Webinar Series Task Force. She and her colleagues recently received a grant to support educational initiatives around LGBTQ+ inclusive communication and advance care planning.