Ruth R. Faden

About

Ruth R. Faden, PhD, MPH, is the founder of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and served as its director from 1995 until 2016. She is the inaugural Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics and was the inaugural Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director from 2014 to 2016. Under her leadership, the Berman Institute transformed from an informal faculty interest group into one of the world’s premier bioethics programs, with over 35 faculty, 30 staff, and more than 100 alumni. She secured a significant endowment, including six endowed professorships and an endowed directorship, and established the Institute as a university-wide unit reporting to the Provost. Her scholarly work focuses on bioethics, with key contributions in social justice, informed consent, structural injustice, and public health policy. Her current research emphasizes structural justice theory, global health challenges, learning health systems, women’s health, and the rights of pregnant women. She has authored and edited numerous books and articles, including her latest book, 'Structural Injustice: Power, Advantage, and Human Rights,' forthcoming in early 2024. Dr. Faden is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, a Fellow of the Hastings Center and the American Psychological Association, and has served on various national advisory committees, including chairing President Clinton’s Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments. She co-launched the Global Food Ethics and Policy…

Research topics

• Medicine
• Political Science
• Law
• Internal medicine
• Marketing
• Biology
• Public relations
• Obstetrics
• Psychology
• Nursing

Selected publications

• Conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID-19 in Nigeria: Implications for vaccine demand generation communications

  Vaccine · 2022 · 121 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is a worldwide phenomenon and a serious threat to pandemic control efforts. Until recently, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was not the cause of low vaccine coverage in Nigeria; vaccine scarcity was the problem. As the global supply of COVID-19 vaccines improves in the second half of 2021 and more doses are deployed in Nigeria, the supply/demand dynamic will switch. Vaccine acceptance will become a key driver of coverage; thus, amplifying the impact of vaccine…

  DOI

• The need for inclusion of pregnant women in COVID-19 vaccine trials

  Vaccine · 2021 · 101 citations

  DOI

• Clinical trials and pregnancy

  Communications Medicine · 2022-10-25 · 20 citations

  articleOpen access

  Traditionally, there has been a reluctance to involve pregnant people in clinical trials due to complex ethical issues surrounding the risk to unborn babies. However it is crucial that new interventions are safe and effective for all patients and ensuring this can be difficult to achieve in the absence of clinical trials.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Making the Ethical Oversight of All Clinical Trials Fit for Purpose

  JAMA · 2024-10-19 · 19 citations

  article

  Importance: With the increase in trials assessing comparative effectiveness of approved products and alternative care strategies, guidance is needed to ensure ethical oversight is fit for purpose for the risks, burdens, and constraints on choice this research presents. Observations: US regulations governing human research emerged in response to horrific research abuses, reinforcing the view that research holds greater risks, uncertainties, and potential for abuse than clinical care, and thus pro…

  PublisherDOI

• Advancing maternal and perinatal health through clinical trials: key insights from a WHO global consultation

  The Lancet Global Health · 2025-03-28 · 15 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Pregnant and lactating women have long been excluded from participation in clinical research. This exclusion has resulted in the absence of high-quality evidence on the effectiveness and safety of medical products (medicines, vaccines, and other biological or biomedical products) during pregnancy and lactation, and fragmented health policies and practice recommendations. Based on the discussions at the inaugural WHO Global Clinical Trials Forum in November, 2023, a rapid review of key global, re…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01HD024816

  NIH · $902k · 1993

• NIH Grant R01HG001086

  NIH · $986k · 2000

Frequent coauthors

• Jeremy Sugarman

  156 shared

• Christine Grady

  National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

  102 shared

• Dale E. Hammerschmidt

  University of Minnesota Medical Center

  102 shared

• Lisa Eckenwiler

  102 shared

• Carol Levine

  United Hospital Fund

  102 shared

• Nancy E. Kass

  Johns Hopkins University

  101 shared

• Carleigh Krubiner

  Wellcome Trust

  69 shared

• Anna C. Mastroianni

  Johns Hopkins University

  66 shared

Awards & honors

• Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Society for Bi…

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