NEUROETHICS | Penn Neuroethics Program Faculty

		Arthur L. Caplan Emanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics caplan[at]mail.med.upenn.edu Dr. Caplan pursues a variety of interests within bioethics, including the ethical dimensions of brain enhancement. Representative Publication: Caplan, A. & Elliott, C. (2004). “Is it ethical to use enhancement technologies to make us better than well?” PLoS Med 1(3), e52: pp. 173-175.

		Anjan Chatterjee Associate Professor of Neurology anjan[at]mail.med.upenn.edu Dr. Chatterjee is a cognitive neurologist whose work encompasses the societal and ethical implications of brain enhancement. A related interest is the role of physicians as healers versus lifestyle enhancers. Representative Publication: Chatterjee, A. 2004. Cosmetic neurology: the controversy over enhancing movement, mentation, and mood. Neurology 63 (6), 968-974.

		Martha J. Farah Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences mfarah[at]psych.upenn.edu Dr. Farah is interested in a variety of social, legal and ethical issues in neuroscience, including practical issues arising from brain enhancement and brain imaging, and philosophical issues related to personhood and the mind-body problem. Represntative Publication: Farah, M.J. (2005). Neuroethics: The practical and the philosophical. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 34-40.

		Kenneth R. Foster Professor of Bioengineering and Associate Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering kfoster[at]seas.upenn.edu Dr. Foster is a professor of bioengineering whose varied interests include the social and ethical impact of neurotechnologies, including neural prostheses and brain imaging. He also teaches the "Ethics for Engineers" course at Penn. Representative Publication: Foster, K.R. (2006). "Engineering the brain." In Illes, J (Ed.) Neuroethics: defining the issues in theory, practice and policy. Oxford University Press.

		Jason H.T. Karlawish Associate Professor of Medicine jason.karlawish[at]uphs.upenn.edu Dr. Karlawish's research concerns patients with dementia. How does one evaluate patients’ quality of life or competence to make decisions about treatment or research participation when the disease in question affects thinking ability? A related project concerns the ethical, legal and social implications of voting by persons with dementia. Representative Publication: Karlawish JH. Bonnie RJ. Appelbaum PS. Lyketsos C. James B. Knopman D. Patusky C. Kane RA. Karlan PS. Addressing the ethical, legal, and social issues raised by voting by persons with dementia. JAMA. 292(11):1345-50, 2004 Sep 15.

		Daniel Langleben Assistant Professor of Psychiatry langlebe[at]mail.med.upenn.edu Dr. Langleben studies the neural correlates of deception, drug craving, and the effects of advertizing, as well as the social and ethical issues raised by our growing ability to image these processes. Representative publication: Langleben DD, Loughead JW, Bilker WB, Ruparel K, Childress AR, Busch SI, Gur RC. Telling truth from lie in individual subjects with fast event-related fMRI (PDF file). Hum Brain Mapp. 2005 Dec;26(4):262-72.

		Jonathan D. Moreno David and Lyn Silfen University Professor and Professor of Biomedical Ethics and History and Sociology of Science morenojd[at]mail.med.upenn.edu Dr. Moreno’s current interests include the role of neuroscience in the military and ethical issues concerning human-animal neural stem cell chimera. Representative publication: Moreno, J.D. (2006) Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense. Dana Press.

		Stephen J. Morse Ferdinand Wakeman Hubbell Professor of Law; Professor of Psychology and Law in Psychiatry smorse[at]law.upenn.edu Dr. Morse works on problems of legal and moral responsibility and their compatibility with the materialist worldview of neuroscience. He is interested in the roles of neuroscience and behavioral science in explaining and excusing antisocial and criminal behavior. Representative Publication: Morse, S.J. Brain Overclaim Syndrome and Criminal Responsibility: A Diagnostic Note, 3 OHIO ST. J. CRIM. L. 397 (2006).

		Andrew Newberg Associate Professor of Radiology Andrew.Newberg[at]uphs.upenn.edu The goal of Dr. Newberg's research is to understand the neurobiology of spirituality and religious belief. He has pursued this goal using functional neuroimaging of individuals engaged in prayer, meditation and other states of religious transcendence and as director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind. Representative Publication: Newberg, A.B. & Lee, B.Y. (2005). The neuroscientific study of religious and spiritual phenomena: or why God doesn't use biostatistics." Zygon 40(2): 469-490.

		Adrian Raine Professor of Criminology and Psychiatry email[at]upenn.edu Dr. Raine studies the biological bases of antisocial and violent behavior, including the neural bases of violent aggression and the role of neuroscience in understanding and treating such behavior in criminal offenders. Representative Publication: Raine, A. and Yang, Y. (2006). Neural foundations to moral reasoning and antisocial behavior. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience 1 203-213.

		Susan L. Schneider Assistant Professor of Philosophy sls[at]sas.upenn.edu Dr. Schneider is a philosopher whose background includes philosophy of mind and cognitive science. Her current work involves the computational theory of mind and she approaches issues in neuroethics, particularly enhancement and transhumanism, from the vantage point of philosophy of mind and metaphysics. Representative publication: Schneider, Susan (Ed.). Science Fiction and Philosophy. Blackwell Publishing, 2008.

		John Tresch Assistant Professor of History and Sociology of Science jtresch[at]sas.upenn.edu Dr. Tresch is an historian of science and technology interested in the relationships between the human mind and technological world. He is currently working on an ethnographic study of the Mind and Life Institute, which applies the methods of western neuroscience to the understanding of Buddhist meditation. Representative publication: Tresch, J. “In a Solitary Place: Raymond Roussel’s Brain and the French Cult of Unreason.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Special Issue on “The Brain in the Vat,” 35 (2), June 2004, pp. 307-332.

		Amy Wax Robert Mundheim Professor of Law awax[at]law.upenn.edu Dr. Wax is a neurologist and lawyer, interested in biological and psychological constraints on socialization, development, social stratification, and gender-related behaviors at work and in families. Representative publication: Wax, A (2004). Evolution and the Bounds of Human Nature, 23 (6) Law and Philosophy, 23(6): 527-591.

		Paul Root Wolpe Senior Fellow, Center for Bioethics wolpep[at]mail.med.upenn.edu Dr. Wolpe is currently working on issues of privacy in brain imaging, and the nature of the relation between biotechnology and the body. He is also looking at the way in which people conceptualize selfhood and the brain, and how psychpharmaceuticals, and other neurotechnologies, might challenge that conception. Representative Publication: Wolpe, P. R., Foster, K. R., & Langleben, D. D. (2005). Emerging neurotechnologies for lie-detection: Promises and perils. The American Journal of Bioethics, 5(2): 39