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Robert Ranisch

Medical Ethics with a Focus on Digitization

Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg

University of Potsdam

 

LinkedIn • X • Bluesky  • ORCID

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AOS

biomedical ethics •  digital ethics • genetics and ethics • organizational ethics • clinical ethics consultation  • research ethics • neuroethics

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AOC
public health ethics • population ethics • ethics of risk • moral psychology • meta-ethics and moral theory

 
 
 
 
 
about

ABOUT

Hi, I am Robert. I am a Junior Professor of Medical Ethics (tenure track) at the Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg, University of Potsdam, and head of the research unit "Ethics of Genome Editing" at the Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Tübingen. Before joining the Faculty of Health Science Brandenburg I worked as Lecturer at the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tübingen and as the Managing Director of the Clinical Ethics Committee at the University Hospital of Tübingen. My areas of interest include biomedical ethics, digital ethics (with a focus on medicine), genetics and ethics, intergenerational justice, organizational ethics, and moral theory.

 
 
 

LATEST PUBLICATIONS

Recent books

Mall, E., Schlatt, S., Gassner, U. M., Spranger, T. M., Ranisch, R., & Rolfes, V. (2023). Die Generierung von künstlichen Keimzellen: Medizinische, rechtliche und ethische Aspekte. Verlag Karl Alber. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783495993958

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Ranisch, R. (2021). Liberale Eugenik? Kritik der selektiven Reproduktion. Metzler Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-04739-7

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Recent collections / editions

Ehni, H.-J., Marckmann, G., Ranisch, R., & Tümmers, H. (Eds.). (2023). Vita brevis, ars longa. Aktuelle Perspektiven zur Geschichte, Theorie und Ethik der Medizin. Kohlhammer.

 

Ranisch, R., Pichl, A., & Arnason, G. (Eds.). (2023). Neural Organoid Research: Ethics and Governance. Neuroethics (Topical Collection). https://link.springer.com/collections/ihfejjejbh

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Arnason, G., Pichl, A., & Ranisch, R. (Eds.). (2023). Symposium: Human Cerebral Organoids: Quo Vadis? Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 32, 4.

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Recent journal articles (Ethics and digital technologies)

Haltaufderheide, J., & Ranisch, R. (2024). The ethics of ChatGPT in medicine and healthcare: a systematic review on Large Language Models (LLMs). npj Digital Medicine, 7(1), 183. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-024-01157-x 

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Müller, R., Klemmt, M., Koch, R., Ehni, H.-J., Henking, T., Langmann, E., Wiesing, U., & Ranisch, R. (2024). “That’s just Future Medicine”—A qualitative study on users’ experiences of symptom checker apps. BMC Medical Ethics, 25(1), 17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-024-01011-5 

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Bushuven, S., Bentele, M., Bentele, S., Gerber, B., Bansbach, J., Ganter, J., Trifunovic-Koenig, M., & Ranisch, R. (2023). “ChatGPT, Can You Help Me Save My Child’s Life?”—Diagnostic Accuracy and Supportive Capabilities to Lay Rescuers by ChatGPT in Prehospital Basic Life Support and Paediatric Advanced Life Support Cases – An In-silico Analysis. Journal of Medical Systems, 47(1), 123. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-023-02019-x

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Müller, R., Kuhn, E., Ranisch, R., Hunger, J., Primc, N. (2023). Ethics of Sleep Tracking: Techno-Ethical Particularities of Consumer-Led Sleep-Tracking with a Focus on Medicalization, Vulnerability, and Relationality. Ethics and Information Technology 25 (1): 4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-023-09677-y.

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Rolfes, V., Bittner, U., Gerhards, H., Krüssel, J.-S., Fehm, T., Ranisch, R., Fangerau, H. (2022). Artificial Intelligence in Reproductive Medicine – An Ethical Review. Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde, 82. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1866-2792

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Müller, R., Klemmt, M., Ehni, H.-J., Henking, T., Kuhnmünch, A., Preiser, Chr., Koch, R., Ranisch, R. (2022). Ethical, legal, and social aspects of symptom checker applications: A scoping review. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 25, 737–755, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-022-10114-y

 

Ranisch, R., Nijsingh, N., Ballantyne, A., Bergen, A., Buyx, A., Friedrich, O., Hendl, T., Marckmann, G., Munthe, C., Wild, V. (2021). Digital contact tracing and exposure notification: Ethical guidance for trustworthy pandemic management. Ethics and Information Technology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-020-09566-8

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Recent journal articles (Biotechnologies & genetics) 

Pichl, A., Ranisch, R.,  … Árnason, G. (2023). Ethical, legal and social aspects of human cerebral organoids and their governance in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 11. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcell.2023.1194706

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Ranisch, R., Trettenbach, K., Gardar, A. (2023). Initial heritable genome editing: Mapping a responsible pathway from basic research to the clinic. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 26, 21-35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-022-10115-x

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Almeida, M., Ranisch, R. (2022). Beyond safety: Mapping the ethical debate on heritable genome editing interventions. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01147-y

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Dubljević, V., Trettenbach, K., Ranisch, R. (2022). The Socio-Political Roles of Neuroethics and the Case of Klotho. AJOB Neuroscience, 13(1), 10–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2021.1896597

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Recent journal articles (Clinical ethics and ethics consultation)

Bushuven, S., Bentele, M., Hinder, F., Schuchmann, M., Buchal, P., & Ranisch, R. (2023). Konsensuale Entwicklung und Anwendung einer Strategie zur Impfstoffverteilung bei Krankenhauspersonal während der COVID-19 Pandemie: Bericht aus einem südwestdeutschen Klinikverbund. Ethik in der Medizin, 35(4), 507–528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00481-023-00783-5

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Ehni, H.-J., Wiesing, U., Ranisch, R. (2021). Saving the most lives—A comparison of European triage guidelines in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bioethics, 35(2), 125–134. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12836

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Ranisch, R., Riedel, A., Bresch, F., Mayer, H., Pape, K.-D., Weise, G., Renz, P. (2021). Das Tübinger Modell der „Ethikbeauftragten der Station“: Ein Pilotprojekt zum Aufbau dezentraler Strukturen der Ethikberatung an einem Universitätsklinikum. Ethik in der Medizin, 33(2), 257–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00481-021-00635-0

Publications
Projects

CURRENT PROJECTS

  • DiMEN: Digital Medical Ethics Network (Dual-PI with Urban Wiesing / Hans-Jörg Ehni, founded by VolkswagenStiftung)

  • E-cARE: Ethics Guidelines for Socially Assistive Robots in Elderly Care  (Dual-PI with Corinna Klingler, founded by Bundesministerium für Gesundheit)

  • E-Part: Ethik der Partizipation in Gesundheitsforschung und Biopolitik (Dual-PI with Corinna Klingler, founded by VolkswagenStiftung)

  • ELSA-ZORG: Ethical, legal and social aspects of human cerebral organoids and governance; a comparison of Germany with the UK and the USA (PI: Gardar Arnason)

  • EGE: Research Unit "Ethics of Genome Editing" (PI, funded by Dr. Kurt and Irmgard Meister Foundation)

  • Check.App: Symptom-Checker auf Basis künstlicher Intelligenz - eine multiperspektivische Analyse ethischer, rechtlicher und sozialer Implikationen (PI: Stefanie Joos, funded by BMBF)

  • ForGE: Foresight Gene Editing (funded by Hans Gottschalk Stiftung)

  • JMED: "Young Medical Ethics", German Academy for Ethics in Medicine (AEM)

 
 

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

2021 - Present
Junior Professor of Medical Ethics with a Focus on Digitization 
Faculty of Health Sciences, joint Faculty of the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus – Senftenberg, the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane and the University of Potsdam
University of Potsdam

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2020 - 2021
Lecturer / Akademischer Rat
International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities
University of Tübingen

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2017 - 2021
Managing Director
Clinical Ethics Committee
University Hospital of Tübingen

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2017 - 2020
Research Associate
Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine
University of Tübingen

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Positions

EDUCATION

2013 - 2017

University of Düsseldorf

Ph.D. in Philosophy (with distinction)
date of defense: January 2018

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2011 - 2013

University of Tübingen

Postgraduate Training in Bioethics

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2008 - 2010
University of Warwick

M.A. in Continental Philosophy

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2008
University of Oxford

Recognized Student in Philosophy/Practical Ethics

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2003 - 2007
University of Jena

Studies in Philosophy, Applied Ethics, and Political Sciences

 
Education

MEDIA (SELECTION)

Media and Blog Articles​

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Interviews​

 
Media
Awards
contact

CONTACT

Address
University of Potsdam 
Am Mühlenberg 9 (H-Lab)
14476 Potsdam, Golm, Germany

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LinkedIn • Twitter • ORCID

Thank you!

TEACHING

  • AI-Ethics

  • Digital and Data Ethics

  • Introduction to Ethics for Computer Scientists 

  • Ethics of genome editing and selective reproduction

  • Global justice

  • Introduction to Applied Ethics

  • Introduction to Business Ethics

  • Medical Terminology

  • Moral Theory and meta ethics

  • Organization Ethics

  • Population Ethics and the non-identity problem

  • Public Health Ethics / Ethics in Health Service Research

  • Research Ethics

  • Theories of sustainability

Teaching

AWARDS & HONORS

  • 2022: Tertio loco,  Professorship (W3) "Medical Ethics", University of  Bielefeld

  • ​2021: Tübingen Young Scientists Award for Science Communication

  • 2020: Secundo loco, Tenure Track Professorship (W2) "Responsible Research and Innovation", University of  Hannover

  • 2019: Primo loco, Tenure Track Professorship W1 (to W3)  "Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities", University of Tübingen

  • 2019: Dalberg Award

  • 2019: Department of Medicine Teaching Awards

  • 2018: AeV advancement award "Ethics and Medicine"

 
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