Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics has named Dorothée Caminiti as the director of its Bioethics Program. In her new role, Caminiti is responsible for the vision, strategy, and leadership of the program. In addition to conducting the Ethics Center’s unique Health Care Ethics Internship, she will provide consultative services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies to help strengthen ethical practices within their organizations. She will report to the Ethics Center’s executive director, Don Heider.
Caminiti works at the intersection of digital ethics and law and focuses on the ethical challenges associated with personalized medicine and the processing of health-related data. She began her career in Europe, where she was a litigation attorney with leading global law firms for more than a decade. She then applied her legal expertise to the field of bioethics, serving in leadership roles with various organizations in Switzerland. Most recently, she was a Research Fellow in global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“Rapid advancements in health technology, along with big tech’s expansion into the health care space, are reiterating the critical nature of ethical decision making within today’s health care and biotechnology firms,” said Heider. “With her unique combination of legal, data protection, and bioethics experience, Dorothée is well positioned to guide both those entering health-related careers and companies themselves.”
Caminiti received her undergraduate and master’s degrees in law from Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), a LL.M from University of Leicester (UK) and Université de Liege (Belgium), as well as a master’s degree in bioethics from Harvard University. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional in Europe (IAPP CIPP/E).
“I am grateful for the opportunity to pass on my deep passion for bioethics to my students, and help companies address their most pressing bioethical challenges,” said Caminiti. “Human-centered AI and data-driven medicine have tremendous potential to significantly improve people’s health. Yet, they must be guided by a strong moral compass and a foundation of ethics to be sustainable and serve the greater good—a goal I am committed to helping our society achieve.”
About the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
Founded in 1986 with a seed grant and initial endowment from Linda and A.C. “Mike” Markkula Jr., the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics brings the traditions of ethical thinking to bear on real world problems. Beyond a full range of programs for the Santa Clara University community, the Center also serves professionals in fields from business to health care, from government to the social sector, providing innovative approaches to problems from fake news to privacy protection. Through its website and international collaborations, the Center brings ethical decision-making resources to the wider world. For more information, see https://www.scu.edu/ethics.
About Santa Clara University
Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University sits in the heart of Silicon Valley—the world’s most innovative and entrepreneurial region. The University’s stunningly landscaped 106-acre campus is home to the historic Mission Santa Clara de Assis. SCU has among the best four-year graduation rates in the nation and is rated by PayScale in the top 1% of universities with the highest-paid graduates. SCU has produced elite levels of Fulbright Scholars as well as four Rhodes Scholars. With undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, and graduate programs in six disciplines, the curriculum blends high-tech innovation with social consciousness grounded in the tradition of Jesuit, Catholic education. For more information, see https://www.scu.edu.
Media Contact
Joel Dibble | Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University | 408-554-5116 | jdibble@scu.edu | https://www.scu.edu/ethics/