Albert “Al” Rupert Jonsen, Ph.D.

Dr. Albert “Al” Rupert Jonsen, Ph.D. led Bioethics and Humanities (then the Department of Medical History and Ethics) from 1987 to 1999. In that time he transformed its focus from history to bioethics training, research, and service.

A pioneer in the field of bioethics, Dr. Jonsen served from 1974 to 1978 as a member of the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. He co-authored the Belmont Report, published in 1979, which articulated ethical principles of beneficence, justice, and respect to govern human-subjects research. In 1980, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.

Dr. Jonsen also was one of three authors of the classic teaching text, “Clinical Ethics: A Practical Approach to Ethical Decisions in Clinical Medicine,” published in 1982. The "four-box method" was the foundation of the department’s Summer Seminar in Healthcare Ethics, which Dr. Jonsen founded in the 1990’s and continues annually.