Kenneth A. Richman

I hold the title Professor of Philosophy and Healthcare Ethics at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (officially known as MCPHS University) in Boston. I am also affiliated with the Boston University Department of Philosophy, where I have been a Visiting Researcher, advised an MA thesis, and where I teach summer courses. In Spring 2016 I was a Visiting Scholar at the Neuroethics Research Unit of the Institut de Recherche Clinique de Montreal, pursuing work on the ethical, legal, and social implications of theories of autism. For the Spring 2017, I continued this work at the Gothenburg Responsibility Project of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. My work in Sweden was made possible by a sabbatical award from MCPHS and generous support from the Miriam Foundation of Montreal.

As a consultant and speaker for the cosmetics and personal products industry, I focus on identifying ethical liability in research practices, especially involving human research participants. I have also given talks to industry meetings on a variety of other topics, including explanation in proteomic science, and ethics and product claims.

My published work explores the philosophy of medicine and bioethics, including research ethics, as well as early modern philosophy and the philosophy of education. I am developing new papers on ethics and autism. For the last 10 years I have been working with social scientists to examine ethics in the practice of community-based research. I chair the Institutional Review Board at MCPHS and have served on IRBs at Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and at Bryn Mawr College.

I have held faculty appointments at Kalamazoo College and Bryn Mawr College, and have been affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics and the Interactivity Foundation, a public policy think tank. I have provided expert bioethics commentary for Channel 6 Boston (ABC), for Comcast Cablevision and for regional newspapers.

At MCPHS I teach philosophy and bioethics to students taking degrees such as a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD), a master’s degree in physician assistant studies, or a BS in health psychology.