Deborah R. Barnbaum

Deborah Barnbaum is Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Coordinator of the Minor in Bioethics and Health Humanities. She received her BA in Philosophy and English from UCLA in 1990 and her MA and PhD in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1993 and 1996, respectively. She is a bioethicist specializing in the ethics of clinical research and the ethics of autism.

Her books include:

1. Data Safety Monitoring Boards: A Bioethical Perspective (MIT Press, 2025)
2. Sellars and Contemporary Philosophy (co-edited with David Pereplyotchik, Routledge, 2017)
3. The Ethics of Autism (Indiana University Press, 2009)
4. Research Ethics, Text and Readings (with Michael Byron, Prentice Hall 2001)

Recent Articles Include:

1. Deborah R. Barnbaum, “Use of AI as a Research Recruitment Tool: A DSMB Perspective,” American Journal of Bioethics,  vol 26(8) (2026): 65-67 https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2026.2690925
2. Deborah R. Barnbaum, “Data Safety Monitoring and Collateral Benefits in Decentralized Trials,” American Journal of Bioethics, vol 25(5) (2025): 101-103 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2025.2488265
3. Deborah R. Barnbaum, “Ophthalmic Research’s Unique Challenges: Not All First-in-Human Surgeries Are the Same,” American Journal of Bioethics vol 24(5) (2024): 90-92 https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2024.2328279 .

She serves on numerous data safety monitoring boards for clinical trials, including The Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network; the Repeat Eyelid Surgery for Trichiasis: Optimizing Results in East Africa (RESTORE) Trial, National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); the Metformin to Attenuate ProgressiVe RespIratory Decline in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (MAVRIC-IPF) Trial, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDRMP), Department of Defense; and several additional trials sponsored by the NIH as well as industry.  At Kent State she most often teaches Health Care Ethics (PHIL 4/50005) and Medicine and Morality (PHIL 30015). Her current research is on ethical monitoring of clinical trials.