Menu Close
Professor of Bioethics and Humanities, School of Medicine, University of Washington

Nancy S. Jecker, PhD is a Professor of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for South Africa (2021-2022). Dr. Jecker holds Adjunct Professorships at the University of Washington School of Law, Department of Global Health, and Department of Philosophy. Dr. Jecker is a Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg Department of Philosophy and Honorary Visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Centre for Bioethics. She was awarded the PhD in Philosophy from the University of Washington, after first earning masters' degrees in Philosophy from both Stanford University and the University of Washington, and a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Stanford University.

Dr. Jecker’s research focuses on individual and societal aging, justice, human dignity, medical futility and global perspectives in philosophy and bioethics. Dr. Jecker has published over 200 articles and 4 books. Her most recent book is Ending Midlife Bias: New Values for Old Age (Oxford University Press, 2020). Dr. Jecker's other books include Wrong Medicine: Doctors, Patients and Futile Treatment, 2nd Edition, with Lawrence Schneiderman (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, E-Book by Amazon Digital Services, Inc., Japanese translation by Keiso Shobo Publishing Company, Chinese translation by Ho-Chi Book Publishing Company); Bioethics: An Introduction to the History, Methods, and Practice, 3rd edition, with Albert Jonsen and Robert Pearlman (Jones and Bartlett, 2011); and Aging and Ethics: Philosophical Problems in Gerontology (Humana Press, distributed internationally by J. Wiley and Sons and by Chapman and Hall, E-Book by Springer Publishers.

Experience

  • 2021–2022
    Fulbright U.S. Scholar, Fulbright Program
  • 1988–2021
    Professor, University of Washington School of Medicine
  • 2017–2021
    Visiting Professor, University of Johannesburg
  • 2020–2021
    Visiting Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Honours

Fulbright U.S. Scholar (2021-2022); Rockefeller Fellow, Bellagio Center (2020); Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science International Fellow (2020 and 2018)