Bioethics Center Staff

Carol Pollard, MA, MSc
Associate Director, Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics

Contact: carol.pollard@yale.edu

   203 432-6188

Joining ISPS, and working on the formation of the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, has made use of many of my past and present interests and then some. I worked in a hospital administration for eleven years, where I became acquainted with ethical issues involving euthanasia, quality of life, abortion, doctor/patient relationships, and end-of-life decision-making. For ten years after that, I founded and directed an international human rights organization that dealt, for the most part, with prisoner rights and acquainted me with international ethical values regarding human rights. The connection between these two areas—health/medical care and human rights—became very clear once I discovered the field of bioethics, and I’ve been happily ensconced in this area of study ever since. It’s where I was heading and didn’t really know it. Looking back at the beginning of the Center for Bioethics ten years ago, I really had no idea how far we’d be able to take our plans for a bioethics component on Yale’s campus. It’s quite a bit of work to build a program from scratch; we owe our existence to the continued support and leadership of Don Green, Margaret Farley, Bob Levine, and now David Smith. The ever-expanding development of the Center for Bioethics’ areas of interests, and of course the yearly additions to membership and staff, remain sure signs that we are on one amazing trip. Personally, I am so very grateful for all who are making the journey with us. I serve in an advisory capacity to the study groups and am a member of the Center for Bioethics Executive Committee.

Mark R. Mercurio, MD, MA

Associate Director, Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
Director, Pediatric Ethics Program, Medical School
Contact: mark.mercurio@yale.edu

I have spent many years practicing and teaching neonatology at Yale and elsewhere. My interest in bioethics began with an undergraduate course taught by Paul Ramsey, and was rekindled during my neonatology training.  I have spent the past 21 years serving on hospital ethics committees, chairing or co-chairing three of them, and thus have broad exposure to ethical dilemmas faced by clinicians, families, and patients of all ages. My main interest, however, has remained ethical issues in pediatrics. Many years ago I began auditing ethics-related classes at Yale, and then spent several years earning a Master’s Degree in philosophy at Brown.   My academic focus for the past several years has been to apply philosophical concepts and reasoning to clinical problems. In that capacity, my work at the Bioethics Center has been to help bridge the main campus (the non-clinical faculty and staff of the Bioethics Center) and the medical campus, bringing the perspective and experience from each to the other. Last year I became an Associate Director of the Center, and I continue to work toward that end.  I currently serve as Director of the Yale Pediatric Ethics Program, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine, and an attending neonatologist at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital.  In addition, I direct education in medical ethics for the pediatrics residents and fellows, and physician associate students, as well as a seminar series in ethics for medical students. I am Chair of the Pediatric Ethics Committee.

Laurie Hurshman
Program Coordinator, Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics

Contact: laurie.hurshman@yale.edu

   203 432-9736

I joined the center staff in June 2008.  My husband is a PhD student in comparative literature here at Yale.  We met at Williams College, where I received my degree in Psychology in 1999.

Tara C. Trapani
Administrator, The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale

Contact: tcmk@aya.yale.edu

I have been working with the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale since the spring of 2007. The Forum, the world’s leading source of information and action on the emergent field of religion and ecology, has developed into a dynamic force for religious environmentalism in an ever-widening community.  Created in 1998 at Harvard following a series of ten landmark conferences covering each of the world’s major religions and its current and historical relation to ecology, the Forum is now headquartered here at Yale University under the guidance of founders Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim.

The Forum recently held a conference at Yale Divinity School on grassroots religious-environmentalism, and our upcoming projects include the release of the new film, Journey of the Universe, by Brian Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker.

I met Mary Evelyn and John while studying at Yale, where I received my Master of Arts in Religion, with a concentration in Ethics. My undergraduate studies focused on comparative religion and interreligious dialogue, but I also received certification in educational administration and community development.  I have a background in educational administration as the former administrator of a private elementary school, and I later ran the offices of a Connecticut-based mental healthcare practice.

My own personal interests lie in the areas of interreligious dialogue, environmental ethics, animal rights, the arts in elementary and secondary school education, and the global ethical implications of climate change.