 | Nancy Jecker Professor - University of Washington, School of Medicine |
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04.08.2026-30.09.2026
Bioethics 2.0 Next Generation Principles for Bioethics & Global Health
The central objective and expected outcome of the Brocher project is to complete drafting several chapters of a forthcoming book, Bioethics 2.0: Next Generation Principles for Bioethics & Global Health, coauthored with Caesar Atuire and Vardit Ravitsky, and under contract with Oxford University Press.
To facilitate the project's primary objective, the following additional goals will be key.
First, I will meet with Dr. Andreas Reis at the World Health Organization (WHO) to obtain feedback about the book's approach and principles and their application to global health issues. Dr. Reis is uniquely situated to offer insight and perspective on next generation principles for global bioethics given his role at the WHO addressing global bioethics challenges firsthand.
Second, Prof. Nikola Biller-Adorno, Director of the Institute for Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine (IBME) at the University of Zurich has agreed to meet with me to exchange ideas about the project. As past President of the International Association of Bioethics and in her role as Director of IBME, Prof. Biller-Adorno has been on the frontlines of global bioethics for many years and will contribute important insights. I also plan to present a portion of the book as a work-in-progress to colleagues at IBME.
Third, the international bioethics group of Brocher Resident Fellows create an ideal environment for mutually learning and for feedback on the book. The international diversity of the Fellows will be enormously helpful to this project.
Throughout the residency, these collaborations will facilitate my research and completion of drafts of the book’s chapters.
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28.06.2019-21.07.2019
Nancy Jecker
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24.06.2019-28.06.2019
Ending Midlife Bias: New Values for Old Age, Oxford University Press
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03.07.2017-31.08.2017
Caring for the Elderly: An Ethical Framework for Health Care Decisions & Policies
My objectives are to (1) develop an ethics framework based on the capabilities approach to justice; (2) utilize this framework to guide the ethical analysis of resource allocation in aging societies with a particular focus on responding to rising health care costs and to the shifting nature of health care needs; (3) formulate specific ethics recommendations regarding age-based limits on publicly funded life-extending care; (4) formulate specific ethics recommendations regarding the relative priority of long term care for elderly persons with chronic disabling conditions.
My goal throughout this research project is to make full use of scholarly opportunities at the Brocher Foundation and surrounding environs. To this end I will exchange ideas and work collaboratively with faculty at the Universities of Geneva and the University of Zurich. I have communicated in advance with Dr. Samia Hurst, who serves as Director of the Institute of Ethics, History, and the Humanities at the University of Geneva and with Dr. Bara Ricou, a Professor at the Department of Anaesthetics, Pharmacology, and Intensive Care at the University of Geneva. They have both agreed to collaborate with me on this project, and Dr. Hurst will arrange for me to give a talk at the Institute for Ethics, History, and the Humanities. I have also communicated in advance with Peter Schaber, Professor of Applied Ethics at the University of Zurich, Centre for Ethics, who has agreed to collaborate with me on this project and to arrange for me to give a presentation at the Centre for Ethics. I will visit the World Health Organization to make use of global health and aging resources and to explore the resources available from the 2015 Programme on Ageing and the Life-Course. I welcome any other collaborative opportunities the Brocher Foundation might recommend that would enable me to take full advantage of research opportunities during the residency period.
Nancy S. Jecker, PHD is Professor, University of Washington School of Medicine, Department of Bioethics and Humanities. She holds visiting professorships at the University of Johannesburg and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Jecker’s research addresses global perspectives in bioethics, African ethics, East Asian ethics, justice in health and healthcare, intergenerational ethics, individual and societal aging, ethics and AI, and medical futility. She has published over 200 articles and 5 books. Her most recent book (with Caesar Atuire) is What is a Person? Untapped Insights from Africa (Oxford 2025). She is currently writing a book (with Caesar Atuire and Vardit Ravitsky) entitled, Bioethics 2.0: Next Generation Principles for Bioethics and Global Health (under contract with Oxford).
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