Bio
I am a philosopher and bioethicist at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (officially known as MCPHS University) in Boston. My title is Professor of Philosophy and Health Care Ethics. I have served as Chair of the University's Institutional Review Board (IRB) since 2006. I am also a member of the MCPHS Center for Health Humanities. I teach philosophy and bioethics to students taking degrees such as doctor of pharmacy (PharmD), BS in dental hygiene, or BA in health humanities. My published work explores the philosophy of medicine and bioethics, including research ethics, as well as early modern philosophy and the philosophy of education. More recently, I have been writing about ethics and autism. For 10 years, I worked with social scientists to examine ethics in the practice of community-based research. As IRB Chair, I have reviewed over 1,200 research proposals, advised hundreds of researchers, and delivered training to scores of students, faculty members, and industry researchers. In addition to the MCPHS IRB, I have served on IRBs at Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and at Bryn Mawr College. My affiliations have included the Boston University Department of Philosophy, the Neuroethics Research Unit of the Institut de Recherche Clinique de Montreal, the Gothenburg Responsibility Project of the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics, and the Interactivity Foundation (a public policy think tank). My work has been funded by institutional, federal, and private foundation grants. As a consultant and speaker for professional and industry groups, I offer analysis of ethics policies, and design and implement professional development workshops on ethical issues in healthcare and research. I have given talks to industry meetings on a variety of topics, including explanation in proteomic science, ethics and product claims in the cosmetics industry, and ethical issues raised by artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in healthcare. Outside of work, I am a serious amateur musician. I enjoy playing clarinet chamber music, bicycling, and baking. |
Recent and upcoming presentations
Comment on "Why Is Health Good for You?" American Philosophical Association (Eastern). New York, January 2024 Do Restricted, Repetitive Patterns of Behavior, Interests, or Activities Reduce Wellbeing? Autistic Wellbeing Project. Dept. of Philosophy and History of Ideas, Aarhus University (Denmark), April 2023 Transforming Disability-Focused Health Professions Education (Panel). Health Humanities Consortium Conference, Cleveland, March 2023 I have chaired several talks for the MCPHS Center for Health Humanities. You can watch them under Past Events here. Recent and Upcoming Publications A Ne'eman, K Richman, A McCarthy and D Wilkenfeld. A Passing Problem: Evaluating Harm and Benefit in Autism Research. Forthcoming in Ethics and Human Research. R Bracken, K Richman, et al. Developing Disability-Focused Pre-Health and Health Professions Curricula. (Forthcoming) Journal of Medical Humanities. A Budson, K Richman, E Kenzinger, Consciousness as a Memory System in Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology. (See press coverage here.) |