Lori Bruce

Biography

Lori Bruce is an adjunct instructor in the Bioethics Program, and she is the Director of the Summer Institute in Bioethics at the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics at Yale University, and the Associate Director at the Center. She has over 15 years of experience in bioethics especially as it relates to health and medical policy analysis.  Lori is an advocate for the inclusion of policy analysis within bioethics, and she has authored policy recommendations on multiple including COVID-19 resource allocation, pediatric organ donation after cardiac death, palliative sedation, infant safe haven laws, and doctor/patient social media communications.  She consulted for a member of President Obama’s Commission on Bioethics and served on state health department  steering committees for Medical Orders on Life-Sustaining Treatment (“MOLST”) and advisory boards for vulnerable populations.

Lori is Co-Director of Yale-New Haven Hospital’s Adult Ethics Committee, Pediatric Ethics  member Committee, ethics consultant to Yale’s Gender Clinic, and a member of Yale’s Repository IRB . She is Vice President of Community Voices in Medical Ethics (a nonprofit) and directs the Community Bioethics Forum at Yale Medical School’s Program for Biomedical Ethics which accepts consult requests from policy-makers and amplifies the voices and values of community members in health and medical policies by examining the ethics of invasive pediatric procedures by physicians-in-training, end-of-life options for the developmentally disabled, infant safe haven laws, and brain death. 

Education Background

Information & Decision Systems BS - Carnegie Mellon University
Bioimaging MA - Boston U School of Medicine
Bioethics MS - Clarkson University-Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Courses Taught

• BIE612 - Online Practicum in Policy
• BIE570 - Bioethics Policy: Foundations

Research Interests

• Inclusion of policy analysis within Bioethics
• Bioethics education across the globe
• Amplifying the voices of vulnerable populations within health policy
• Medical educations “hidden curriculum”
• Unconsented exams; inclusion of policy analysis within bioethics

Awards

• US Coast Guard Academy award “in recognition of contributions to enriching the training of Coast Guard cadets in good citizenship and ethics.” RADM Thomas Wetmore 30th Annual Ethics Forum
• “Certificate of Appreciation,” Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for curriculum development and excellence in teaching
• “Learning to Care for Those in Harm’s Way,” Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing, Uniformed Services University, Washington, DC
• “AMT Children of Hope Foundation” award for policy analysis of infant abandonment laws
• Crest of the Wave award for “exemplary volunteer service and significant contribution to the community” for crisis intervention/hospital advocacy service at the DC Rape Crisis Center
• Leadership Award for “outstanding dedication and leadership;” DC Rape Crisis Center
• “Extraordinary Compassion” award, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center

Publications

• 2021 Global Solidarity in COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution. BioLaw Journal/Rivista di BioDiritto. 2021(1):  1-5.
• 2021 Promoting racial equity in COVID-19 resource allocation. Journal of Medical Ethics. 27(4):  208-212. Co-author with Ruth Tallman.
• 2021 Racial Justice Requires Ending the War on Drugs. The American Journal of Bioethics. 21(4):  4-19. Co-author with Earp, B. D., Lewis, J., Hart, C. L., & with Bioethicists and Allied Professionals for Drug Policy Reform.
• 2020 Developing a Triage Protocol for the COVID-19 Pandemic: Allocating Scarce Medical Resources in a Public Health Emergency. The Journal of Clinical Ethics. 31(4):  303-317.
• 2020 A Pot Ignored Boils On: Sustained Calls for Explicit Consent of Intimate Medical Exams. HEC Forum. 32(2):  125-145.
• 2016 Unmet Needs, Unwanted Persons: A Call for Expansion of Safe Haven Laws. Hastings Center Report. 46(5): 7-8.

Popular Press