Fostering Humanism in Surgery

Dr. Fabrice Jotterand, PhD, MA, is Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities and serves as Director of the Graduate Program in Bioethics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He holds a second appointment as Senior Researcher at the Institute for Biomedical Ethics - Faculty of Medicine at the University of Basel, Switzerland. His scholarship and research interests focus on issues including neuroethics, Artificial Intelligence in health care, the use of neurotechnologies in psychiatry, the philosophy of medicine, medical professionalism, as well as neurotechnologies and human identity. He is the PI of a project funded by the Kern National Network (2024-2026) to conceptualize and inform the ways in which the concepts of character, caring, practical wisdom, and flourishing interdigitate in transforming health professions education. He has published more than 90 articles and book chapters as well as reviews in leading academic journals and has published 8 books, including his latest monograph entitled The Unfit Brain and the Limits of Moral Bioenhancement (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022). He is currently working on another monograph tentatively titled Medicine and the Human Project in a Technological Age (under contract, Anthem). It examines the current anthropological frameworks that shape our understandings of what it means to be human in a technocratic society and their implications for identity formation of physicians as human beings and professionals. He is the founding co-editor of the book series Advances in Neuroethics (Springer).

Clara Bosco, MD, is a general surgery resident at the University of Arizona and a postdoctoral ethics scholar at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago. She earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Creighton University, where she conducted research in medieval ethics alongside her pre-medical studies. Since beginning her medical training in 2018, Dr. Bosco has continued her philosophical scholarship, conducting research in bioethics and the philosophy of medicine under the mentorship of Fabrice Jotterand, Ph.D. Their collaborative work examines the impact of artificial intelligence on the doctor-patient relationship and the role of practical wisdom in clinical medicine.

Dr. Bosco’s current research centers on surgical ethics and the ethical challenges surrounding patient communication through digital platforms, such as patient portals. At the MacLean Center, she is committed to advancing ethical practices in clinical medicine, focusing on improving patient engagement and fostering informed decision-making. Through her work, Dr. Bosco aims to bridge the gap between ethical theory and clinical application, enhancing both patient care and physician-patient relationships.