Leadership, Faculty, and Staff
Department and Division Leadership and Faculty
Rita Charon, MD, PhD
- Department Chair, Medical Humanities and Ethics; Chief, Division of Narrative Medicine
Rita Charon is a general internist and literary scholar who originated the field of narrative medicine. She is Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics and Professor of Medicine at Columbia University. She completed the MD at Harvard in 1978 and the PhD in English at Columbia in 1999, concentrating on narratology and the works of Henry James. Her research focuses on the consequences of narrative medicine practice, narrative medicine pedagogy, and health care team effectiveness. At Columbia, she directs the Foundations of Clinical Practice faculty seminar, the Virginia Apgar Academy for Medical Educators, the Narrative and Social Medicine Scholarly Projects Concentration Track, the required and elective Narrative Medicine curriculum for the medical school, and Columbia Commons: Collaborating Across Professions, a medical-center-wide partnership devoted to health care team effectiveness. She inaugurated and teaches in the Master of Science in Narrative Medicine graduate program at Columbia. She has lectured and served as Visiting Professor at many medical schools and universities in the US and abroad, teaching narrative medicine theory and practice. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio residency, and research funding from the NIH, the NEH, the American Board of Internal Medicine, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, and several additional private foundations. She was chosen by the National Endowment for the Humanities to deliver the 2018 Jefferson Lecture, “the highest honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.” Dr. Charon has published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, Narrative, Henry James Review, Poetics Today, The Drama Review, Partial Answers, and Literature and Medicine. She is the author of Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness (Oxford University Press, 2006) and co-author of Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine (Oxford University Press, 2017). She is co-editor of Stories Matter: The Role of Narrative in Medical Ethics (Routledge, 2002) and Psychoanalysis and Narrative Medicine (SUNY Press, 2008).
Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, PhD
- Chief, Division of Ethics
Maya Sabatello, LLB, PhD
- Associate Professor of Medical Sciences (in Medicine and in Medical Humanities and Ethics) in the Division of Ethics
Maya Sabatello, LLB, PhD is an Associate Professor of Medical Sciences (in Medicine) at the Center for Precision Medicine and Genomics, Department of Medicine; Associate Professor (in Medical Humanities and Ethics), at the Division of Ethics, Department of Ethics and the Humanities; and Co-Director of the Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture Project at Columbia University. She is a former litigator with trans-disciplinary background and has extensive experience in national and international policy-making relating to human and disability rights. Sabatello studies how biomedical technologies and genomic information impact social structures, marginalized communities, and individual rights and health outcomes. Her scholarship focuses on law, society, medicine, and disability; regulations of reproductive technologies; and the ethical, legal, and social implications of genetics and precision medicine. Her projects include Disability, Diversity and Trust in Precision Medicine Research (R01 HG010868), Evidence-based Policy Recommendations to Address Bioethical Challenges in the Return of Genetic Results in Nephrology (U01 DK100876-07 Supp); the psychosocial impact of genomic data on adolescents and family relations (studies funded by the Children Cardiomyopathy Foundation and Columbia University’s Precision Medicine and Society); and Disability Inclusion in Precision Medicine Research (P50 HG007257-05S1). She recently completed a K01 Award that explored the uses of psychiatric genetics evidence in civil litigation and non-clinical settings, such as child custody disputes and schools (K01 HG008653).
Dr. Sabatello has been a Gray Matters Fellow, a Research Fellow in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School, and a Visiting Research Fellow at Columbia University’s School of Law. She serves as a member at various genomic- and ethics-related committees at Columbia University and elsewhere, including the Tri-Institutional Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee (Tri-SCI ESCRO), the NHGRI’s Community Engagement in Genomics Working Group (CEGWG) and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the All of Us Research Program. She currently Co-Chairs the Ethics Committee of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics.
Alexis Walker, PhD
- Assistant Professor in the Division of Ethics
Alexis Walker, PhD is an interdisciplinary scholar trained in Science and Technology Studies (STS), political anthropology, organizational studies, and bioethics. Her research investigates the social dynamics of financial and private sector organizations in health and medicine. She is currently Principal Investigator on a four-year project (2019-2023) examining perspectives from members of the commercial genomics industry on the social and ethical dynamics of their field. This work is funded by an Early Career Investigator award (K99/R00) from the National Human Genome Research Institute.
Dr. Walker’s previous research has examined the organizational dynamics of international financial institutions making loans for global health projects, the ethics of “precision rationing,” and the politics of patenting biotechnology. Her work employs qualitative methods, including ethnography, in-depth interviews, and document analysis. Her most recent work includes additional survey methods and town hall-style focus groups.
Prior to coming to Columbia, Dr. Walker was a postdoctoral fellow at the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Walker received her doctorate from Cornell University’s Department of Science and Technology Studies, a master’s degree in political sociology and STS from University of Strasbourg (France), and an undergraduate degree in Biology from Brown University.
Lucas J. Matthews, PhD
- Assistant Professor in the Division of Ethics
Lucas J. Matthews, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medical Humanities & Ethics in the Division of Ethics at the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons at Columbia University and a Presidential Scholar at The Hastings Center. His research is informed by an inter-disciplinary background in philosophy of science postdoctoral, human behavior genetics, and bioethics. Dr. Matthews engages a mixed-method and multi-discipline approach to scientific, conceptual, and philosophical questions regarding recent developments in genetics. Dr. Matthews’ most recent research projects examine the social, psychological, ethical, and policy implications of genomic prediction of educational outcomes. His NHGRI-funded K award on “The Geneticization of Education” involves empirical studies of how individuals are impacted by polygenic scores for educational attainment.
Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics Staff
Division of Ethics Research Associates
Caitlin McMahon, PhD, MPH
- Project Director
Caitlin E. McMahon, PhD, MPH received her doctorate in Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. She started her research career working in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU based in historic Bellevue Hospital. Her dissertation research has focused on the historical evolution of the health consumer identity and the ways in which consumer rhetoric, and social, economic, and racial inequalities have informed debates over health insurance in the U.S. throughout the 20th century. More broadly, her research interests extend to the history of activism in health social movements, rights language and justice in health care access, and public health policy.
Elise Zheng, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
Elise received her PhD degree at the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Tech. Her research investigates the intriguing intersection of technology and health, with a particular emphasis on the social and material entanglement of personal technology such as wearables and mobile applications on health practices and perceptions. Her dissertation work investigates self-tracking in China, revealing the intricate connections between data, design, individuals' life-worlds, and the broader socioeconomic landscape, providing valuable insights into the societal implications of these technologies. During her PhD study at Georgia Tech and her prior career as a science writer, Elise Li Zheng demonstrated a strong commitment to public-facing writing, interdisciplinary coordination, research impact activities, and community engagement.
Mika Caruncho, MSW, MPH
- Research Associate
about Mika Caruncho, MSW, MPH
Mika Caruncho, MSW, MPH, is a research associate trained in anthropology, public health policy, and social work. She has extensive experience in qualitative research and has spent the past few years supporting ELSI (Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues) studies in cancer genomics at the University of California, San Francisco Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her academic and professional interests include understanding the lived experiences of various stakeholders to examine health disparities and social policies, and the intersections between racial equity and healthcare access. She has been leading her own NCI funded diversity supplement to support her work on an ELSI project that follows an online, pragmatic RCT testing a risk-stratified approach to breast cancer using genomics. Through this study she hopes to further understand the experiences of breast cancer screening trial participants from underrepresented communities, so to inform medical systems on how to cultivate trust, reduce stigma, and increase participation and representation of diverse populations in medical studies.
Sadie Bergen, PhD(c)
- Research Associate
Sadie Bergen is a research associate with the Division of Ethics working on the JUSTICE study. She is a PhD candidate in Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. Specializing in the history and ethics of public health, she has conducted qualitative research into issues of reproductive health access as well as historical research into reproductive politics, including physician advocacy around abortion rights, gendered occupational health risks, and the institutional politics of perinatal medicine.
Division of Ethics Staff
Rachel Yarmolinsky, MS
- Special Projects Advisor
Rachel Yarmolinsky currently serves the Division as an advisor for special projects, having retired as Program Director. Formerly a communications director at Columbia University Department of Psychiatry and a regulatory specialist at the Columbia University Human Research Protection Office, completed an MS in Bioethics at Columbia University in 2014. Her interests include the challenges of providing healthcare in an unjust society, research on ethical questions in medicine, and how to encourage ethical behavior. Ms. Yarmolinsky is experienced in program planning, event and meeting planning, science writing, graphic design, and media relations. She is a member of the Adult Medical Ethics Committee at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/CUIMC, a member of the Human Services Committee of New York City’s Community Board 2, and a member of the board of Science Writers in New York.
Ashlin M. Amano, MBE
- Administrative Coordinator
Ashlin Amano completed her BS in Biology with a minor in Social Work as an Honors Scholar from Mount Saint Mary’s University in 2022. She researched Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease in a wet lab, and coupled this with research of socioeconomic factors that could minimize the risks of both diseases in marginalized populations. Drawn to the intersection of her major and minor, she then received a Master of Bioethics (MBE) from Harvard Medical School. Ashlin is interested in increasing transparency and diversity within the clinical practice and biomedical research landscapes.
![Ashlin Amano photo]()
Faryn Fairweather, MPH
- Program Coordinator
Faryn Fairweather, a public health professional with experience in the nonprofit sector and city government, holds an MPH in Sociomedical Sciences and Infectious Disease Epidemiology from Columbia University, and a BS in Community Health with a minor in Psychology from George Mason University. As a recent alumna of the Mailman School of Public Health, Faryn actively contributed to equity initiatives, serving as a research assistant for Mentoring of Students and Igniting Community (MOSAIC) and a graduate mentor for the Resilience, Inclusivity, Solidarity, and Empowerment (RISE) Peer Mentor Program. Her interests lie in health disparities, educational equity, and social justice.
Danielle Carmichael, BA
- Administrative Manager
Danielle Carmichael, BA, is the current Administrative Manager for the Division of Ethics at Columbia University. She graduated with a degree in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2019. Before her current role, Carmichael worked at Weill Cornell Medicine, which marked the beginning of her professional involvement in healthcare. Later, she transitioned to Columbia University's Department of Neurology, where she gained exposure to Bioethics.
Interprofessional Education Staff
Jordana Vanderselt, MPH
- Interprofessional Education Manager
Jordana Vanderselt, MPH, is the Project Manager for the Columbia Commons Interprofessional Education (IPE) initiative, working towards collaboration across professional health schools. She received her Master of Public Health from Tulane University with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health and special focus on violence prevention. As a public health professional, she has particular interest in health systems change through program evaluation, training, and technical assistance. Most recently, she managed a teen pregnancy prevention study aimed at male foster youth with the hopes of mandating sexual health programming in foster care agencies across New York City. She is excited to be working with CUIMC to promote effective and equitable health care teams that will better serve patients, families, and communities.
Division of Narrative Medicine Staff
Cindy Smalletz, MS, MA, OTR/L, BCB
- Program Director
Cindy Smalletz, MS, MA, OTR/L, BCB is Program Director for the Division of Narrative Medicine in the Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She joined the Division with and MS in Narrative Medicine and an MA in Instructional Design and Technology, bringing together a career working in learning design in the corporate sector and in education and technology at the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University. She is the creator, designer, and director of the first online Certificate Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, which she envisioned as an accessible way to connect practitioners around the world to deepen their study and application of narrative medicine. She also lectures on narrative medicine and directs programming at the medical center, including the most recent Virtual Group Sessions which were created for connection, stress-reduction, and to remedy isolation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, she completed an MS in Occupational Therapy and plans to further integrate narrative medicine with clinical care, burnout prevention, and education, with the hopes of changing healthcare through improving advocacy, education, communication and action.
Joseph Eveld, MS, MFA
- Program Manager
Joseph Eveld, MS, MFA, joined the Narrative Medicine program with a background in publishing and creative writing. As an adolescent he survived over two years of treatment for an aggressive form of bone cancer. Having turned to writing as a means to cope with this experience, as well as developing a passion for caregiving from both the patient and provider perspective, he felt as if he’d found “home” when he discovered Narrative Medicine practice. While completing his MS in the program, he studied Narrative Therapy and creative writing as applied in counseling for patients coping with trauma and terminal illness, as well as healthcare and social justice inequities represented in the literature and activism of indigenous cultures in the United States. He also has a BA in English from Northeastern University, and completed his MFA in Fiction at the Creative Writing program at Boston University. He was a finalist for Glimmer Train Magazine’s Short Story Award for New Writers, he has poetry published in the Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, and is currently working on his first novel.
Renée Russas, MM, GPD
- Administrative Manager
Renée Russas, MM, GPD is excited to be integrating her performance experience along the Eastern seacoast and her knack for administrative organization into her work here at Columbia Narrative Medicine. Known for enchanting audiences and critics alike with her "gorgeous voice" (Boston Art Review), Renée has sung with a variety of sacred and secular choirs around Boston including The Landmark Symphony Orchestra's One City Choir and in other such regional award winning ensembles. Renee has also had the privilege to travel for operatic debuts with the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival and the Intermezzo Foundation. Administratively, Renee has served as Company Manager to the Key West Symphony Young Artist Program and coordinated distribution for Academy Award nominated documentarian Frederick Wiseman's film La Danse. After her IRNE-nominated portrayal of Lily in The Longwood Players' The Secret Garden (2011) Renée served as their Development Director during Seasons 15 and 16. Prior to joining the Columbia Narrative Medicine team, Renee also served as Sr. Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) at MIT in Cambridge, MA and Office Manager to Reviewed.com, a division of USA Today Tech. Additionally, Renee volunteers as a consultant for several non-profit organizations and a variety of internship and membership committees. Renée holds a BA in Music and a BS in Theater from Murray State University; a Masters of Music Theater from Oklahoma City University and a Graduate Performance Diploma in Opera from the Longy School of Music of Bard College.
Kristen Magnatta
- Project Assistant
Kristen Magnatta is the Project Assistant for the Division of Narrative Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She is a graduate of Columbia University and holds a BA in Psychology. At CU, she worked as an undergraduate Research Assistant in Columbia Couples Lab. She also volunteered as a Peer Mentor, providing support to new students as they acclimated to the Columbia community. Her prior work experience is in the field of early education. For six years, Kristen taught Preschool and directed a Summer Day Camp program in New Jersey. She enjoys serving her local community and has engaged in volunteerism with different populations spanning from kindergarten classrooms to veteran organizations.
