Caroline A. Buchanan, PhD, HEC-C

Dr. Buchanan earned a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Kentucky and completed a Bioethics Internship at UK prior to joining the Program for Bioethics as a Post-Doctoral Scholar. She is a nationally certified Healthcare Ethics Consultant.

Dr. Buchanan wrote her dissertation on concepts of autonomous decision-making in 19th century German philosophy. She has taught a wide variety of upper level university courses including healthcare ethics, business ethics, feminist theory, political and social philosophy, issues in death and dying, and the history of modern philosophy. In the hospital setting, Dr. Buchanan has given presentations on ethical issues covering a wide range of topics including outpatient cancer care, hospital care for refugee patients, professionalism and social media use, and gene-editing.

Dr. Buchanan is an active member of the Clinical Ethics Consultation Service; she rounds throughout the hospital, serves on the hospital ethics committee, and she leads ethics education conferences for multiple units.

Dr. Buchanan’s research interests include reproductive ethics, definitions of personhood and capacity, and pediatric ethics.