ABP AMERICANBIOETHICS PROJECT

Overview

A cross-university faculty interest group developed into a formally established Johns Hopkins bioethics institute in 1995, with Ruth Faden as founder and director. The Berman Institute brought ethical inquiry across the university's schools as questions of public health, research, justice, and clinical care increasingly met.

The Institute supported interdisciplinary research, education, and public engagement across research ethics, population health, justice, and clinical practice. Its cross-school structure gave bioethics a university-wide institutional setting rather than confining it to one professional program.

Historical Role

The Berman Institute belongs to a later phase of American bioethics institution building: the field had moved beyond small founding centers and become a sustained part of major research universities.

Historical Significance

A cross-university center that connected bioethics with public health, policy, clinical care, and research.