FSP Alum Amy McGuire to Chair Faculty Scholars Program Committee

As we mark the twentieth year of the Foundation’s Faculty Scholars Program (FSP), we are excited to announce that FSP Alum and Board Member, Amy Lynn McGuire, JD, PhD, will serve as the next Chair of the Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program Committee. Prof. McGuire will become the Committee’s fifth Chair, replacing accomplished Alzheimer’s disease researcher and author Jason Karlawish, MD, who is stepping down. Kenneth Shine, MD, Christine K. Cassel, MD, and James A. Tulsky, MD, were previous Committee Chairs.

Prof. McGuire, Leon Jaworski Professor of Biomedical Ethics and Director of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine, focuses her research on ethical and policy issues related to the use of emerging technologies and innovative therapeutics, with a particular focus genetics and genomics, big data, neuropsychology, and the clinical integration of novel neurological devices.

Prof. McGuire joined the FSP community as a Faculty Scholar in the Class of 2009, with a project centered on balancing privacy and utility in the public release of human genomic sequencing data. As a Scholar in one of the first five FSP classes, she benefitted from the unique emphasis placed on people in the FSP, cultivating relationships with mentors and peers. She describes the FSP as the “single most important influence in [her] academic career,” pointing to the mentorship she received, the friendships and collaborations she developed, and the growth that she experienced as a bioethicist.

As an Alum, Prof. McGuire has collaborated with Scholars across disciplines to publish fresh ideas and help more junior researchers find their sweet spot. “The collaboration facilitated by the FSP invites new ways of thinking about the issues we study and inspires us to examine the intersection of our topics with others we would not have otherwise engaged with,” she said. She first joined the FSP Committee in 2015 and was appointed to the Foundation’s Board in 2021.

“The Faculty Scholars Program is home to many full circle moments. We are thrilled Prof. McGuire, a former Scholar and committed Alum, will chair the Program Committee in its twentieth year and beyond,” said President & CEO Michelle Groman, JD. “Her deep knowledge of the Program and the community it has built is invaluable, and her leadership will thoughtfully guide the Program as it continues to expand, evolve, and shape the field of bioethics.”