Donna Chen

Donna Chen is an Associate Professor at the Center for Biomedical Ethics, Department of Public Health Sciences, and Department of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Dr. Chen’s scholarly work addresses questions in clinical and research ethics, largely related to clinical neurosciences; professional and organizational ethics; and ethics education. An award-winning educator, she teaches ethics across the university setting to students in undergraduate, graduate, medical, law, public health and nursing programs, and to research trainees and faculty at all levels aiming always to instill an appreciation for asking good questions and seeking answers that are practical, relevant, and honor important ethical values.

Her ethics research aims to advance knowledge through conceptual analyses and empirical research, which in turn helps guide developments in ethics practices, policies, and normative understandings. Dr. Chen has consulted to researchers and policy-makers at institutions in the US and abroad and served on committees related to clinical and research ethics, including for the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institute for Drug Abuse, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, and the American Psychiatric Association. As a physician-researcher whose work in ethics connects theoretical concepts and empirical research to improve policy and practice, Dr. Chen sees her scholarly contributions as a form of “translational research” in bioethics.