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Bioethics in the MarginsAuthor: Kirk Johnson and Amelia Barwise
Who we are: We are a collaborative of bioethics scholars interested in creating a more inclusive space to explore topics relevant to bioethics and the medical humanities while advancing equity and social change/restitution. Although we found our shared interests through our membership in the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Race Affinity Group, we are independent of ASBH and any other organization. The views expressed in this podcast are our own and the speakers and do not represent our employers, institutions, or professional societies. Mission: Bioethics in the Margins aims to include topics, guests and audiences who are not always highlighted in mainstream bioethics discourse. We will focus on structural inequity and the role bioethics can play in social change. We aim to move beyond traditional bioethics frameworks and intentionally draw on intersectionality, social justice, racial justice, disability ethics, women, LGBTQ ethics, and topics specific to Black, immigrant/refugee, Native American, Latinx populations. Hosts: Kirk Johnson, Amelia Barwise Team Members: Gargi Pandey, Creative Director; Madeline Mahoney, Sound Editor; Wendy Jiang, Social Media Manager; Nicolle Strand, Advisor; Liz Chuang, Producer Language: en Genres: Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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One Health Policy with Dr. Karen Meagher
Episode 3
Monday, 24 November, 2025
This month we are joined by Dr. Karen Meagher, Assistant Professor of Health Justice and Bioethics at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. Recently, Dr. Meagher was the Associate Director of public engagement in the Biomedical Ethics Research Program at the Mayo Clinic. Her research focuses on public health ethics and social implications of advances in microbial and human genetics. She has a PhD in philosophy from Michigan State University. From 2012-2016 she worked as a senior policy and research analyst on the staff of president Barak Obama’s Presidential Commission for the study of bioethical issues.Listen in as Dr. Meagher shares her career journey starting with her undergraduate interest in the philosophy of science and social influences of how science gets done. She describes how she was drawn to the growing field of public health ethics, which blossomed in the early 2000s with increasing publications and dedicated journals. Dr. Meagher describes her Virtue Ethics orientation to public health ethics and shares the inside scoop on what it is like to serve on a Presidential Commission.Later in her career, embedded with Mayo clinic biobank, Dr. Meagher describes her experiences with public engagement with community and how bioethicists can be a bridge between basic scientists and the community when grappling with difficult ethical dilemmas like those dealing with broad consent for future research with banked specimens.Finally, we delve into a discussion of how Dr. Meagher’s work on antimicrobial resistance led her to engage in concepts of One Health Policy, which recognizes the interdependence of people, animals and the environment. She highlights the importance of breaking down silos between researchers in different sectors and how bioethics can bridge disciplines and create shared moral language, while also centering engagement of communities to help define these problems from different perspectives. Selected publications of Dr. Meagher’s which were referenced in the podcast can be found here:Meagher KM. Can One Health Policy Help Us Expand an Ethics of Interconnection and Interdependence? AMA J Ethics. 2024 Feb 1;26(2):E162-170. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2024.162. PMID: 38306206.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38306206/Meagher KM, Curtis SH, Gamm KO, Sutton EJ, McCormick JB, Sharp RR. At a Moment's Notice: Community Advisory Board Perspectives on Biobank Communication to Supplement Broad Consent. Public Health Genomics. 2020;23(3-4):77-89. doi: 10.1159/000507057. Epub 2020 May 12. PMID: 32396907.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32396907/Meagher KM. Considering virtue: public health and clinical ethics. J Eval Clin Pract. 2011 Oct;17(5):888-93. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2011.01721.x. Epub 2011 Aug 11. PMID: 21834841.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21834841/Meagher KM, Lee LM. Integrating Public Health and Deliberative Public Bioethics: Lessons from the Human Genome Project Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Program. Public Health Rep. 2016 Jan-Feb;131(1):44-51. doi: 10.1177/003335491613100110. PMID: 26843669; PMCID: PMC4716471.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26843669/
