Georgina D Campelia

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioethics & Humanities at the University of Washington School of Medicine and an Ethics Consultant for UW Medicine's Ethics Consultation Service. 

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I completed my PhD in Philosophy at the Graduate Center, CUNY, under the supervision of Virginia Held.  My dissertation investigates an intersection between empathy, virtue ethics, and care ethics, ultimately arguing that empathic attunement is a virtue, one that demands a relational interpretation of character.

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My work in bioethics extends this theoretical work to clinical contexts, where much of my research employs feminist theory and relational ethics to guide healthcare professionals, patients and families through ethical conflicts and uncertainties. My scholarship and practice centers relationality, social power and counter-narratives, as well as the practice of empathy and other virtues. My collaborations have included work on empathic practice, injustices in care labor in VAD therapy, relational potential and children with profound cognitive disability, microaggressions in clinical practice, shared risk in male contraception, and teaching feminist theory in medical school.

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I strive to make my classrooms inclusive and collaborative. Because I teach practicing HCPs and HCPs in training, I depend on the knowledge they bring into the classroom to make sure any philosophical theory is grounded in clinical practice and personal experience. One of my cherished collaborations is with Dr. Tracy Brazg on the Bodemer Interprofessional Ethics Lab, which draws together students from all health science disciplines to discuss ethical challenges. Each session focuses on small interprfoessional groups to practice humility, critical thinking, cultural and structural competency, and collaboration across disciplinary silos. 

 

All of my research and practice is grounded in recognition of systems of oppression and injustice, as well as cognizance of the limitations of my understanding as a White, socioeconomically privileged, nonbinary individual. I strive to insure that my work counteracts injustice in bioethics and healthcare and honors the knowledges of the marginalized communities in which I am enmeshed. 

 

See published manuscripts, papers in progress, and upcoming presentations for more...