Dr. Heitman’s teaching and research focus on the interaction of medicine, culture, religion, and science.   She is principal investigator on the NIH grant “New Graduate Students’ Baseline Knowledge of RCR,” in which she is evaluating students’ core knowledge of the responsible conduct of research and the needs of effective education in research integrity.  She is also an investigator in the NIH funded grant “Building Research Ethics Capacity in Peru and the U.S.” with colleagues from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.  Dr. Heitman is coauthor of the second edition of The Ethical Dimensions of the Biological and Health Sciences, as well as a member of the Public Health Ethics Curriculum Development Project of the Association of Schools of Public Health and the Hastings Center. Dr. Heitman received her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Rice University in 1988, specializing in medical ethics with minors in world religions and medical anthropology.

Selected Publications

Heitman, E.: Ethical values in the education of physician researchers. Hastings Center Report 2000; 30 (Jul-Aug suppl.), S40-S45 (a translated version of this article also appears in Chinese Medical Ethics, 2000; 6).

Heitman, E., Gremillion, V.: Ethics committees under Texas law: Effects of the advance directives act. HEC Forum, 2001: 13:82-104

Heitman, E.: The place of the humanities in an academic health science center: The double-edged sword of a required ethics curriculum. Medical Humanities Review, 2001: 15(2): 37-52.

Heitman, E., Salis, P., Bulger, R.: Teaching ethics in biomedical science: Effects on moral reasoning skills. In  Steneck, N.A.and Sheetz, M.H., eds., Proceedings of “A Research Conference on Research Integrity”, Washington, DC: Office of Research Integrity, 2001:195-206 (http://ori.hhs.gov/html/publications/rcri.html).

Anestidou, L., Heitman, E.: The responsible conduct of animal research.: In Steneck, N.A.  and Sheetz, M.H., eds., Proceedings of “A Research Conference on Research Integrity”, Washington, DC: Office of Research Integrity. 2001:231-235 (http://ori.hhs.gov/html/publications/rcri.html).

Heitman E.: Competency-based ethics education in residency training. LAB Report, 2002, 1(3): 10-12.

Books

Bulger, R.E., Heitman, E., Reiser, S.J., eds. The Ethical Dimensions of the Biological Sciences, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. (Listed as one of the "Best 100 Books" in the Health Sciences in 1993 by Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal).

Bailey, R.N., Heitman, E., eds. An Optometrist's Guide to Clinical Ethics. St. Louis: American Optometric Association, 2000.

Bulger, R.E., Heitman, E., Reiser, S.J., The Ethical Dimensions of the Biological and Health Sciences, 2nd ed., New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.