Joseph Fins

Joseph J. Fins (born 1959) is an American physician and medical ethicist. He holds significant positions at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College, including Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and The E. William Davis Jr., M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics. He also serves as Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Medicine in Psychiatry, alongside being Director of Medical Ethics and an attending physician. Fins has affiliations with Rockefeller University and The Hastings Center and is a Visiting Professor of Law at Yale Law School. His academic career includes appointments as a visiting professor in Medical Ethics at universities in Spain and Germany. He was appointed to *The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy* by President Bill Clinton and currently serves on *The New York State Task Force on Life and the Law*. Fins' scholarly contributions focus on medical ethics and health policy, particularly palliative care, ethical dilemmas, and the development of "clinical pragmatism." His recent research delves into neuroethics and disorders of consciousness. He was a co-author of a notable *Nature* paper on deep brain stimulation for the minimally conscious state. Fins' educational background includes a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He completed his residency and fellowship training in internal medicine at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. He is the author of "A Palliative Ethic of Care: Clinical Wisdom at Life's End" (2006) and "Rights Come to Mind: Brain Injury, Ethics, and the Struggle for Consciousness" (2015). As a board-certified internist, Fins has held leadership roles within the American College of Physicians. He has served on the boards of various organizations, including the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities, Fund for Modern Courts, and Wesleyan University. He is also a member of the Governing Board of the International Neuroethics Society and has served on New York's Attorney General's Commission on Quality Care at the End of Life. Fins was president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities from 2011 to 2013 and is the current president of the International Neuroethics Society. He is a Fellow and Chair of the Board of Trustees at The Hastings Center and has been awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from Wesleyan University. His numerous accolades include election to the Institute of Medicine (2010), fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012), and being named an Academico de Honor of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Spain (2013).