Lauris C. Kaldjian, MD, PhD is Director of the Program in Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, where he holds the Richard M. Caplan Chair in Biomedical Ethics and Medical Humanities and is a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. He received his MD from the University of Michigan, an MDiv and PhD in religious ethics from Yale University, and he completed his residency and fellowship training at Yale in internal medicine and infectious diseases. He has been at the University of Iowa since 2000.
His research interests have been directed toward end of life decision making, goals of care, disclosure of medical errors, ethics education, the role of philosophical and religious beliefs in clinical decision making, and the integration of personal beliefs and professional ethics in clinical practice. His published work includes articles in a variety of journals and a book, Practicing Medicine and Ethics: Integrating Wisdom, Conscience, and Goals of Care (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
At the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Dr. Kaldjian practices outpatient General Internal Medicine and chairs the Ethics Committee. In 2014 he directed the implementation of the hospital’s Ethics Consult Service and continues to serve as one of its consultants. In the College of Medicine, he directs the Biomedical Ethics Thread in the College’s four-year curriculum and co-directs the Humanities Distinction Track and the Personal-Professional Compass program.
Dr. Kaldjian has served on the Ethics Committee of the United Network for Organ Sharing, chaired the Ethics Committee of the Society of General Internal Medicine, and served as a Deputy Editor for the Journal of General Internal Medicine. He currently chairs the Committee on Law and Ethics of the Iowa Medical Society. He is a member of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities, a fellow in the American College of Physicians, and a former Fellow in the Academy of Fellows at the Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity (2015-2021).