Ryan Antiel, MD, MSME

Ryan M. Antiel, MD, MSME is Assistant Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Duke University School of Medicine and a core faculty member at the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities and the History of Medicine where he directs the Clinical Ethics Fellowship. He is focused on improving the lives of children and families confronted with difficult decisions such as surgical decision-making in the face of uncertainty and end-of-life issues. His research combines empirical approaches from the fields of epidemiology, decision-making sciences, and child outcomes with conceptual work. He applies these approaches to address ethical challenges surrounding the care of seriously ill fetuses and neonates. He is also interested in how surgical residency shapes the character of surgeons-in-training and how best to form the virtues of character necessary for good surgical practice. He has published over 70 peer reviewed articles in major journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Pediatrics.

For more information, visit https://scholars.duke.edu/person/Ryan.Antiel

The Ethics of the Artificial Womb: Clinical Innovations at the Margins of Viability

Grant Cycle: 2023 - 2024

Surgical progress depends on innovation, yet until vetted through a clinical trial, it is unknown if said intervention adds or decreases risk. Thus, the ethics of clinical research has appropriately focused on protection of research subjects and obtaining meaningful consent. Although neonatal innovations have greatly decreased the mortality rate for extremely premature infants, those who survive still suffer significant disabilities. An emerging intervention, so-called artificial womb technology, offers hope for reducing death and disability. This innovation raises important ethical questions, and it remains to be known the risk tolerance of parents for such innovation.