Photograph by Cami Mesa

Coming Out from Fiction to Reality: A Faculty Spotlight with Dr. Lisa Parker

By Natalie Convertino

While Dr. Lisa Parker, Ph.D., has made exceptional strides in the fields of bioethics, genetics, and public health as a researcher, educator, and administrator, she is a philosopher at heart. A graduate of Pitt’s Department of Philosophy and now Director of the University’s Center for Bioethics & Health Law, Dr. Parker offers her perspective on the ever-evolving field of bioethics and new avenues for communicating these outlooks to an apprehensive society. 

“Bioethics has moved from a one-on-one, didactic focus to a much more structural one,” she shared. What once was a lens restricted to individual relationships, say between healthcare professional and patient or doctor and nurse, has expanded into an interdisciplinary field designed to address biomedical injustices on the systemic level. Evidence of this growth is the University’s Research, Ethics, and Society Initiative, which Dr. Parker played a key role in developing. Faced with a growing need for a space where research faculty could seek ethical advice from their peers, she and Rob A. Rutenbar, senior vice chancellor for research, were eager to facilitate these important conversations on campus. The result? A multifaceted solution composed of a research ethics consultation service, advisory board, research forum, and increased educational programming. 

Dr. Parker now leads this initiative, applying her professional perspective to a range of topics and settings. “My research isn’t as much about ‘findings’ as it is about developing arguments in support of a justifiable conclusion,” she explained. “It takes into account empirical facts, people’s preferences and perspectives, and uses those to inform an argument about what people or institutions should do or provide.” Such work is invaluable in resolving ethical issues, advising policy development, and informing the deep discussions that characterize our modern societal landscape. “And we need to have these cultural conversations,” Dr. Parker urged. “But right now, society is very divided and people are … becoming more entrenched in their own echo chambers. So talking to people outside of these echo chambers to reach compromise and consensus is necessary.” And she has a fascinating solution.

“I actually think that one of the best ways to inform scientists and the public is through the humanities — not just through arguments — but through literature, film … The reason I think the health humanities are so important for bioethics is that they give people an opportunity to consider the ethical importance or response to situations they don’t actually come from. What are the risks? The potential benefits?” Dr. Parker continues, “If we can all agree something is a gripping story and discuss what ought to happen with characters, we may find more common ground, more ways to compromise, and so we may come out from fiction to reality.” A similar logic informs Pitt’s academic concentrations in biomedical humanities that allow medical and undergraduate students to “explore issues in health and healthcare from the perspective of the social sciences, literature, and arts” through developing their own thematic cluster of study. “It keeps the human and the idea of ‘What’s a good and high quality of life? What’s the importance of life itself?’ at the forefront and helps make sense of all the other things that students are learning.” For more information, check out the Area of Concentration in Medical Humanities and Ethics or Certificate in Health Humanities in Pitt’s Medical and Undergraduate programs!