Faculty
Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, PhD
- Chief, Division of Ethics
- Professor of Medical Humanities and Ethics
Maya Sabatello, LLB, PhD
- Associate Professor of Medical Sciences (in Medicine and in Medical Humanities and 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
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
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.
Alejandra N. Aguirre, DrPH, MPH
- Assistant Professor
Dr. Aguirre is a public health scholar and practitioner with expertise in participatory research, qualitative methodology, and community engagement. Dr. Aguirre’s research interests include expanding access to clinical studies and the science of community engagement. Her current community-partnered work focuses on workforce training programs in community health and clinical research. As Assistant Vice Dean for Community Health, she advances CUIMC’s strategic priorities to center our local communities across our clinical care, service-learning, education, and research missions. She has taught graduate level courses on community engagement methods and mentored undergraduate and graduate students in a range of health disciplines. Dr. Aguirre holds public health degrees from Columbia University and the University of California Los Angeles. Dr. Aguirre looks forward to collaborating with MHE colleagues to foster community engagement in the interdisciplinary work of the Department.
