Updated as of March 9th, 2023

Joanna Smolenski
jsmolenski@mednet.ucla.edu | jms2170@caa.columbia.edu | joannasmolenski.com

EMPLOYMENT

Health Ethics Center, The University of California, Los Angeles August 2021 -
Senior Clinical Ethics Fellow (2022 - Present)
Clinical Ethics Fellow (2021 – 2022)

EDUCATION

Ph.D. The Graduate Center, City University of New York September 2021
Philosophy (M.Phil., 2017; M.A., 2016)
Dissertation: Informed Consent: Foundations and Applications
Committee: David Papineau (supervisor), Miranda Fricker,
Jesse Prinz

B.A. Columbia College, Columbia University May 2009

Philosophy (major), with departmental honors; Political Science (concentration)
John Jay Scholar, Dean’s List (Fall 2005 – Fall 2008), magna cum laude

RESEARCH INTERESTS

AOS Clinical Ethics, Bioethics, Ethics

AOC Feminist Epistemology (esp. Epistemic Injustice), Philosophy of Psychiatry, Moral Psychology

FELLOWSHIPS, HONORS, AND AWARDS

Seattle Children's Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics Conference July 2022
Scholarship, 17th Annual Pediatric Bioethics Conference, Seattle, WA
Ethics Fellow, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ($5,000 pa) 2019 - 2021
Associate Fellow, GE2P2 Global Foundation – Governance, Evidence, 2020 - 2021
Ethics, Policy, Practice
CUNY BA Fellow, Baccalaureate for Unique and Individualized Spring 2019 - Summer 2020
Studies, CUNY ($27,128 pa)
Bioethics in Biopharma Fellow, GE2P2 Global Foundation ($7,500) 2019 - 2020
Doctoral Student Research Grant, Office of Research and Sponsored 2019 - 2020
Programs, The Graduate Center, CUNY ($1,000)
Visiting Fellow, Project Biouncertainty, Interdisciplinary Centre for Ethics, January 2020
Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland (~$1,300)
Conference Presentation Support, Office of the Vice President for Spring 2016, 2017
Student Affairs, The Graduate Center, CUNY Fall 2018, 2019
Univie Summer School Stipend, USS Scientific World Conceptions Program Summer 2019
on Philosophy and Psychiatry, Vienna Circle Society, Universität Wien
Travel Award Grant for Adjunct Faculty, CUNY Academy and the Central Spring 2018, 2019
Office of Research
CEU Summer University Full Tuition Scholarship, Program on Moral Summer 2018
Epistemology, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
Writing Across the Curriculum Fellow, Writing Center, Medgar Evers 2017 - 2018
College, CUNY
 Doctoral Student Research Grant, Office of Research and Sponsored 2017 - 2018
Programs, The Graduate Center, CUNY ($1,450)
Graduate Center Fellow, The Graduate Center, CUNY ($25,000 pa) 2013 - 2018
Provost’s Pre-Dissertation Summer Research Award, Provost’s Office, Summer 2015
The Graduate Center, CUNY ($4,000)
Humboldt-GC Summer School Funded Participant, Humboldt University, Summer 2015
The Graduate Center, CUNY, Berlin, Germany (~$2,000)
Departmental Fellow, Center for Bioethics, NYU (~$19,000) 2012
Critical Writing Fellow, Recess Art, New York, NY 2012
John Jay Scholar, John Jay National Scholars Program (~2% of students per 2005 - 2009
graduating class), Columbia Undergraduate Scholars Program (~$85,500)
IBM Thomas J. Watson Scholarship (~$29,200) 2005 - 2009
FUBiS Language Stipend, Freie Universität Berlin internationale Sommerschule, Summer 2008
Germanic Society of America and Max Kade Foundation ($2,500)
Luce Fellow and Archivist, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, 2007 - 2008
Columbia University
Herbert A. Deane Scholarship, Columbia College, Columbia University 2006 - 2007

CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

UCLA HEALTH AND DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE:

CLINICAL ETHICS CONSULTATIONS

Consults with Lead or Active Role: >350

Tasks: 24/7 Pager coverage, Formal chart notes, Verbal advice, Patient/family meetings, Ethics
committee review, Interdisciplinary team meetings, Informal written recommendations, Intakes, Clinical
summaries, Chart review, Team follow-up, Outside referrals.
Issues Addressed: Futility, Unilateral treatment limitations, Incapable and unrepresented patient care,
Surrogate decision-making, Capacity, Consent, Involuntary treatment, Emergency treatment,
Confidentiality and information disclosure, Complex goals of care, Inappropriate surrogate behavior,
Discharge planning, Moral distress, Advance care planning, End of life care, Brain death, Decision-
maker uncertainty, Challenging patients or surrogates, Medical holds, Organ donation.
Teams Advised: Medicine, Intensive Care, Geriatrics, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Neuro Critical Care,
Coronary Care, Cardiothoracic Surgery and Intensive Care, Transplant Intensivists, Neonatal and
Pediatric Intensive Care, Surgical Intensive Care, Neurosurgery, Neurology, Neuro-Stroke, Liver
Transplant, Advance Lung Disease, Trauma Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Head and
Neck Surgery, Hematology Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Emergency Medicine, Obstetrics and
Gynecology, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Anesthesiology, Palliative Care, Social Work, Risk Management,
Outpatient Teams, Primary Care Providers.

ACADEMIC LECTURES
“Capacity and Decision-Making”
Doctorate of Nursing Practice Student Lecture October 2022
“Consent and Capacity”
MS 1 Skills Workshop - Scientific Foundations of Medicine (2x) August 2022
“Introducing the Foundations of Capacity”
MS 1 Capacity Seminar - Scientific Foundations of Medicine July 2022
“Reproductive Medicine & the Physician’s Conscience”
MS 2 Block 8 Lecture - Ethical Foundations of Medicine December 2021

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CLINICAL LECTURES
“Capacity in Geriatric Medicine”
Ethics Lecture February 2023
Geriatric Fellowship Program, UCLA Division of Geriatrics
“Pediatric Ethics: Challenges in End-of-Life Decision-Making”
Pediatric Resident Noon Conference January 2023
Pediatric Residency Program, UCLA Health
“Ethical Issues in Pediatric Neurology” (with Joseph Raho)
Pediatric Neurology Noon Conference December 2022
Pediatric Neurology Fellowship Program, UCLA Health
“Professional Ethics”
Ethics Didactics (3x) October 2022
Nursing Residency Program, UCLA Center for Nursing Excellence
“Professional Ethics” (with Joseph Raho)
Psychology Internship Seminar October 2022
Psychology Internship Program, UCLA Health
“Decision-Making Capacity”
Ethics Didactics (monthly, biweekly starting July 2022) February 2022 -
Residency Program, UCLA Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics
“Surrogate Decision Making for Unrepresented Patients”
“Intersectionality in Clinical Medicine”
“The Abusive Patient: Where Do You Draw the Line?”
“Rethinking Disability: The Social Model of Disability and Chronic Disease”
“Bodily Integrity and the Care of Persons Experiencing Homelessness”
“A Clinician’s Approach to Clinical Ethical Reasoning”
“How Should Clinicians Address Parental False Beliefs Generated by Denial or Grief?”
Ethics Center Journal Club (~bimonthly) January 2022 -

COMMITTEE SERVICE
Ronald Reagan Medical Center Ethics Committee August 2021 -
Santa Monica Hospital Ethics Committee August 2021 -
Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital Ethics Committee August 2021 -
Cardiothoracic Transplant Program – Pediatric Selection Committee* February 2022 -
*observational basis

COMMITTEE EDUCATION
Led the development of a comprehensive ethics training program for existing and incoming Resnick
Neuropsychiatric Hospital Ethics Committee members. This effort included performing an assessment
of educational needs, producing pedagogical materials on relevant ethical issues, and the establishment
of a Psychiatric Ethics Journal Club.

POLICY WORK
REPORTS PREPARED
AMA Discharge Policy
Prepared a memorandum analyzing the proposed revisions to the Health System’s “Leaving the
Hospital Against Medical Advice (AMA)” Policy, also referred to as the AMA discharge policy.

TOPICS OF POLICIES REVIEWED

Withdrawing or withholding medically inappropriate life-sustaining treatment, End of Life Options
Act (EOLOA), Obtaining and documenting informed consent, Identifying surrogate decision-
makers, Decision-making for incapable, unrepresented patients, Emergency treatment exception,

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 Ethics consultation services and Ethics Committee protocols, Discontinuing mechanical ventilation
when death is expected, Organ donation after circulatory death and tissue donation.

ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI:

GRANT-FUNDED RESEARCH
“Establishing a Masters Program in Research Ethics at the University of 2020-2021
Belgrade School of Medicine”
PI: Rosamond Rhodes, Ivanka Markovic
Fogarty International Center, NIH
“Establishing a Masters Program in Research Ethics and Methodology in 2020-2021
Cluj-Napoca, Romania”
PI: Rosamond Rhodes, Horatiu Alexandru Colosi
Fogarty International Center, NIH

TEACHING ASSISTANCE
Surgery-Anesthesiology
Psychiatry
Ambulatory Care-Geriatrics
Emergency Medicine
InFocus 7
The Art and Science of Medicine (ASM) Years 1 and 2
Clerkship Didactics – Ethics Sessions August 2019 – May 2021
Practicum and Capstone Assessment
BIE Intensive Courses June 2020, May 2021

TRAINING
Clinical Ethics Practicum June 2019

RESEARCH

ARTICLES IN PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

[8] “Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Normative Function of Indirect Consent,” forthcoming in Narrative
Inquiry in Bioethics (2023)
[7] “Gene Drives and Genome Modification in Non-Human Animals: A Concern for Informed
Consent?” Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics (2019) 28(1), 93-99. doi:
10.1017/S0963180118000427 (invited contribution)
[6] “CRISPR/Cas9 and Germline Modification: New Difficulties in Obtaining Informed Consent”
The American Journal of Bioethics (2015) 15:12, 35-37. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2015.1103816 (invited
contribution)
[5] “Don’t Edit the Human Germ Line” Nature (2015) 519: 410-411. Co-authors: Edward Lanphier,
Fyodor Urnov, Sarah Ehlen Haecker, and Michael Werner.

BOOK CHAPTERS AND RESOURCES

[4] Wrote ancillary resources and test bank questions for An Introduction to Moral Philosophy, written by
Jonathan Wolff (2017).
[3] Assisted The Routledge Companion to Bioethics editors John D. Arras, Elizabeth Fenton, and Quill Kukla
(writing as Rebecca Kukla) in composing introductions that provided readers with a roadmap of
the issues and papers in each major section (2015).

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WEB-BASED PUBLICATIONS
[2] “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?: Erzsébet Báthory and the curative power
of blood in medieval Europe” Hektoen International: A Journal of Medical Humanities 5:3 (Summer
2013).
[1] “Handicapped Spaces: Disability, Identity Politics, and Embodiment in Collaborative Artwork”
Recess Sessions (December 2012). Written in Parallel with Artists Yve Laris Cohen and Park
McArthur.

IN PROGRESS
ARTICLES
“Germline Gene Editing and the Limits of Informed Consent”
“Informed Consent and Bodily Self-Sovereignty”
“Psychiatric Care and Epistemic Injustice”
“ECMO and Medical Futility”
“Invincible Indecision and Decisional Capacity”
“Assessing Capacity in Locked-In Syndrome” (with Daniel Karlin, Daniel E. Callies, and Joseph A. Raho)

INVITED PRESENTATIONS
“Clinical Ethics Consultation in the US: Putting Theory into Practice”
Research Ethics in Medicine Study Group (REMEDY) Working Seminar March 2023
Department of Philosophy and Bioethics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian
University Medical College, Kraków, Poland
“The Comparative Effectiveness of Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Bioethics Lecture
Delivery on Student Learning in Discussion Board Posts”
(with Jenny Schiff, Michael Greer, Ryan Felder, Julia Kolak, Kyle Ferguson, Paul Cummins &
Rosamond Rhodes)
Fogarty Reunion Retreat July 2022
University of Belgrade, Serbia
“The Abusive Patient”
Translational Endocrinology Conference June 2022
Division of Endocrinology, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
“Future Perfect? CRISPR and its Discontents”
The Future of Humanity Panel, World Philosophy Day (Zoom) November 2021
Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY
Bioethics Club and Philosophy Colloquium Talk April 2019
William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ
“The Conceptual Underpinnings of Informed Consent”
Talk cancelled, due to COVID-19 March 2020
Center for Biomedical Ethics and Law, University of Tokyo
“Germline Gene Editing and the Limits of Informed Consent”
Ethics Research Seminar January 2020
Interdisciplinary Centre for Ethics, Jagiellonian University
“Informed Consent and Psychiatric Disorder”
Medical Practice and Epistemic Injustice Workshop October 2019
The Graduate Center, CUNY
“Problem Statement – Access/Equity/Affordability”
Gene Therapies – Bioethics Challenges and Solutions Closed Workshop October 2019
The New York Academy of Sciences, New York, NY
“CRISPR/Cas9 – Novel Ethical Issues in Germline Modification”
Philosophy Club Lecture April 2017
Nassau Community College, Garden City, NY

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 Molecular Coevolution: Lessons from Pathogen-Immune System April 2016
Interactions Workshop
Princeton Center for Theoretical Sciences, Princeton University
“Panel V: Editing the Human Germline – The Promise and the Peril” Panelist
Advancing Ethical Research (AER) Annual Conference November 2015
Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) and Boston
University School of Medicine
“Dimensions of Moral Identity and Social Inequality: An International and Interdisciplinary
Perspective”
Early Research and Scholarship Conference September 2015
The Graduate Center, CUNY
“From Descartes to Derrida: The Changing Ontological Status of the Animal, from Bête-Machine to
Animot”
Human Worlds/Animal Worlds Graduate Student Conference December 2008
Center for Archaeology, Columbia University

REFEREED PRESENTATIONS
“Epistemic Injustice and Informed Consent in Psychiatry”
Diversity and Bioethics - 34th Conference of the European Society for August 2022
Philosophy of Medicine and Health Care (ESPMH)
Warsaw, Poland
International Association of Bioethics World Congress of Bioethics (WCB) June 2020
Virtual presentation, due to COVID-19
Oxford-Mount Sinai Consortium on Bioethics 29th Annual Meeting April 2020
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
Conference cancelled, due to COVID-19
Experts in Mental Health – 21st Annual Conference of the International October 2019
Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry (INPP)
Warsaw, Poland
“The Comparative Effectiveness of Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Bioethics Lecture Delivery
on Student Learning in Discussion Board Posts”
(with Jenny Schiff, Michael Greer, Ryan Felder, Julia Kolak, Kyle Ferguson, Paul Cummins &
Rosamond Rhodes)
37th Annual Conference of the European Association of Centres of September 2021
Medical Ethics (EACME) (Zoom)
Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
“Development of an Innovative Rubric to Evaluate Student Learning in Discussion Board
Posts within a Study Comparing Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Bioethics Lecture
Delivery”
(with Jenny Schiff, Michael Greer, Ryan Felder, Julia Kolak, Kyle Ferguson, Paul Cummins &
Rosamond Rhodes)
Asian Pacific Bioethics Education Network (APBEN) (Zoom) May 2021
Deakin University, Australia
“Gene Drives and Genome Modification in Non-Human Animals: A Concern for Informed Consent?”
Irish Philosophical Society Annual Conference November 2018
Centre for Ethics in Public Life, University College Dublin
International Bioethics Retreat June 2018
Columbia University Global Centers-Europe, Paris, France
Bioethics & Applied Philosophy: York University Graduate Student Philosophy April 2018
Conference
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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 Genome Editing: Biomedical and Ethical Perspectives International Conference August 2017
The Center for the Study of Bioethics, The Division of Medical Ethics in NYU
School of Medicine’s Department of Population Health, The Hastings Center,
Belgrade, Serbia
“The Moralizing Effect: Self-Directed Emotions and Responsibility Attributions”
“Are Guilt and Shame Moral or Moralizing Emotions?”
(with Elisabetta Sirgiovanni, Ben Abelson, and Taylor Webb)
25th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Philosophy and Psychology (ESPP) August 2017
Hertfordshire, UK
Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology (SSPP) Annual Meeting March 2017
Savannah, GA
Hawaii University International Conferences on Arts, Humanities, Social January 2017
Sciences and Education
Honolulu, HI
“The Blame Game: Multiple Perspectives on Moral Judgment” Symposium Panelist
(with Elisabetta Sirgiovanni, Ben Abelson, and Taylor Webb)
29th Association for Psychological Science (APS) Annual Convention May 2017
Boston, MA
“Are Contaminated Intuitions Bad Intuitions?”
Hawaii University International Conferences on Arts, Humanities, Social January 2017
Sciences and Education
Honolulu, HI
“The Non-Identity Problem and Historical Injustice: A Non-Problem for Reparations”
Social and Political Philosophy (SPP) Workshop October 2016
The Graduate Center, CUNY

CHAIRED SESSIONS
“Session 3.2: Sex and Gender” (invited)
Diversity and Bioethics - 34th Conference of the European Society for August 2022
Philosophy of Medicine and Health Care (ESPMH)
Warsaw, Poland

COMMENTARIES
On Eleonore Neufeld and Junhyo Lee’s “Pornography, Discourse, and Desires” January 2021
American Philosophical Association (APA) Eastern Division meeting
Virtual presentation, due to COVID-19
On Sara Kolmes’s “Ego Depletion and Organ Donation” April 2015
Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology (SSPP) Annual Meeting
New Orleans, LA

POSTER PRESENTATIONS
“Are Contaminated Intuitions Bad Intuitions?”
25th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Philosophy and Psychology (ESPP) August 2017
Hertfordshire, UK

AS RESEARCHER / RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Be Better, Together – Japanese Studies Curriculum Development September 2020 - February 2021
and Building Bridges Across CUNY Project
Research Foundation CUNY
Professor William Ruddick Summer 2013; July 2014 - July 2016
Philosophy Department, Center for Bioethics, NYU

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 Sarah A. Haecker, Chief Scientific Officer January 2015 - March 2015
Adjuvant Partners, Towson, MD
Professor Iakovos Vasiliou, Executive Officer August 2013 - June 2014
Philosophy Department, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Dr. Lee M. Silver, Founder and Chief Science Advisor, and Anne January 2013 - May 2013
Morriss, Founder and CEO
GenePeeks, Inc., New York, NY
Professor Arthur L. Caplan, Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly August 2012 - December 2012
Mitty Professor of Bioethics, Department of Population Health
Division of Medical Ethics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

AS LEAD INSTRUCTOR
JOHN JAY COLLEGE, CUNY
Ethics and Law Spring 2021
Ethics and Information Technology Fall 2016 - Spring 2017

BROOKLYN COLLEGE, CUNY

Business and Moral Issues Fall 2014 - Spring 2016; Spring 2017
Ethics and Society Fall 2016

AS TEACHING ASSISTANT
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE, NYU
Environment and Society (David Kanter) Spring 2021
Texts and Ideas (Sharon Street) Fall 2019
Central Problems in Philosophy (Ian Grubb) Spring 2019
Ethics and the Environment (Dale Jamieson) Fall 2018

HUNTER COLLEGE, CUNY

Introduction to Philosophy (Justin Garson) Fall 2017, 2018, 2020
Introduction to Philosophy (Frank Kirkland) Spring 2018

SOPHIE DAVIS BIOMEDICAL SCHOOL, SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, CUNY

Introduction to Biomedical Ethics (Katherine Mendis) Summer 2020; Fall 2020

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCE, NYU

Moral Indeterminacy (S. Matthew Liao) Fall 2015
Topics in Ethics: Memory, Commemoration, and Justice (William Ruddick and Spring 2015
and Jeffrey Blustein, The Graduate Center, CUNY)
Advanced Introduction to Environmental Ethics (David Frank) Spring 2015
Neuroethics (S. Matthew Liao) Fall 2014

PUBLIC PHILOSOPHY

“Future Perfect? CRISPR and its Discontents”

“The Dilemma Series – Duty to Report”
A Night of Philosophy and Ideas February 2019
Brooklyn Public Library and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy

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 “Editing the Genome – How CRISPR/Cas9 is Changing the Game”
Philosophy in the Library: The Ethics of Emerging Technologies April 2018
Brooklyn Public Library
“The Dilemma Series – Drawing the Line”
A Night of Philosophy and Ideas January 2018
Brooklyn Public Library and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy

MEDIA APPEARANCES

“AI and the Future of Mental Health Care” January 2023

Interview with Skimm Well, theSkimm’s Health and Wellness Newsletter

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING
Effective Practices for Hybrid Education Workshop June 2021
Department of Online Education and Support, John Jay College, CUNY
Microcredential in Promoting Active Learning Online April 2021
Association of College and University Educators (ACUE)
ePortfolio Faculty Development Program Fall 2016
Teaching & Learning Center, John Jay College, CUNY

SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION

EDITORIAL WORK
Managing Editor: Journal of Critical Care February 2018 - June 2019
Feedback and Editing Services: How God Became Good: The Spirituality of the February - March 2018
English and American Deists (Joseph Waligore)
Journal Referee: Episteme

DEPARTMENTAL AND UNIVERSITY SERVICE

Student and Alumni Affairs Committee Member, Philosophy Program, 2017 - 2018; 2019 - 2021
The Graduate Center, CUNY
Normativity and the Human Sciences – 18th Annual CUNY Graduate Student April 2015
Philosophy Conference (co-organizer)

LANGUAGES

Polish (Fluent); German (conversational, 2 years study); French (conversational, 8 years study)

REFERENCES
James A. Hynds, LL.B., M.Th., Ph.D. (fellowship director)
Associate Director
Senior Clinical Ethicist
UCLA Health Ethics Center
jhynds@mednet.ucla.edu

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David Papineau, Ph.D. (dissertation supervisor)
Professor of Philosophy of Science
King’s College London
Visiting Presidential Professor of Philosophy
The Graduate Center, CUNY
david.papineau@kcl.ac.uk

Miranda Fricker, Ph.D., FBA, FAAAS

Professor of Philosophy
New York University
Co-Director
New York Institute for Philosophy
miranda.fricker@nyu.edu

Joseph A. Raho, Ph.D.

Clinical Ethicist, Ethics Center
Vice Chair, Santa Monica Ethics Committee
UCLA Health
Clinical Instructor, Department of Pediatrics
David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
jraho@mednet.ucla.edu

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