Featured Projects

These are just a sample of the research being done at the CWRU Department of Bioethics.

Peers in Mental Health: Role Boundaries and Ethics

Julia Knopes is the Principal Investigator for this grant funded in 2021 by the Greenwall Foundation.  Other investigators include Aaron Goldenberg and Cynthia Kabu from the Cleveland Clinic.  This project explores how “peers” (people with mental illness who provide services to fellow individuals in recovery) make sense of their complex role as both a care provider and a person with their own health needs. 

Cleveland African American Prostate Cancer Project (CAAPP)

Aaron Goldenberg and Marsha Michie are co-investigators on this project, led by Erika Trapl.  

The goal is to increase the number of Black men who are screened for prostate cancer, which is the best way to catch prostate cancer early. Screening tests look for elevated or continuously rising levels of PSA — proteins produced by the prostate gland — that can signal the cancer’s possible presence.

Learning to Care for Dying Patients: A Multi-Outcome Study of Humanities Interventions

Erin Lamb is the Principal Investigator, and Ryan Jenkins, a UH Resident in Pediatrics, is a co-investigator, for this study funded by the AAMC.  

Re-engineering Decision-making Capacity

In this set of projects, Ben Schwan and Daniel Fogal from the NYU Center for Bioethics criticize the standard conception of decision-making capacity and propose a reconception of decision-making capacity that better captures the relevant ethical considerations.  

Framework for Advances in Reprogenomics Ethics & Regulation (FAIRER)

Marsha Michie and Ruth Farrell are the Principal Investigators for this project funded by NIH in 2021.  FAIRER aims to build a framework to ethically and socially guide research in reproductive genomic interventions, with particular concern for the interests of women participants with their potential children.  Staff include Roselle Ponsaran, Sabina Rubeck, and Harlie Custer.  

Prenatal Preparation: Actions and Results (PREPARE)

Marsha Michie is the Principal Investigator for this project, funded by NIH in 2020, which examines how prenatal preparation is understood after a genetic result and build a conceptual model of preparation to guide future research, practice and policy development.  Staff include Sabina Rubeck, Kaitlynn Craig, and Vincent Perez

Diversity and Cultural Humility

Sana Loue is studying diversity and cultural humility in the helping professions.

Neighborhood Family Practice

Laura Morello, Aaron Goldenberg, Kaitlynn Craig, Marsha Michie, and Roselle Ponsaran have worked with Neighborhood Family Practice, a local federally qualified non-profit community health center, over the years on a variety of research studies which have included areas such as genetic research and social determinants of health.

Eugenics in Imperial Russia/Early Soviet Eras

Sana Loue is conducting research related to the eugenics movement during late imperial period in Russia and early Soviet period and its implications for current genetic technologies.

Utility of Genomic Sequencing in Community Care Contexts

Aaron Goldenberg is a co-investigator on this study led by Kyle Brothers at the University of Louisville, which was funded by NIH in 2021.

Medical Decision Making in the Burn Unit

Monica Gerrek, Marcie Lambrix, and Anna Goff, along with Charles Yowler at MetroHealth and Anjay Khandelwal at Akron Children's Hospital, lead a collaborative qualitative research project that aims to understand patient's decision making capacity after a severe burn injury via in-depth interviews with burn survivors.

Their work was presented at the  2022 American Burn Association conference.

Burn Database

Monica Gerrek, Marcie Lambrix, and Anna Goff have developed an ongoing systematic review of the literature on ethical issues in burn care.