Andrew Flescher, Ph.D.

Dr. Flescher is Professor of Public Health and a Professor of English at Stony Brook University. He specializes in medical ethics, medical humanities, public health, transplantation ethics, health care policy, and comparative religious ethics. He chairs the ethics committee for the Organ Procurement Transplant Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS) and serves as the medical ethicist on the New York State’s Transplant Council. In addition to writing several articles and book chapters, Dr. Flescher is the author of five books: Heroes, Saints, and Ordinary Morality (2003, Georgetown University Press), The Altruistic Species (2007, Templeton Press, winner of the Choice Award), Moral Evil (2013, Georgetown University Press, winner of the Prose Award),  The Organ Shortage Crisis in America (2018, Georgetown University Press), and an edited volume of essays, Religion and Public Health During the Time of COVID-19 (2022, MDPI).

Education:

Ph.D. Religious Studies (Contemporary Religious Thought), Brown University (2000) 
M.A. Religious Studies (Contemporary Religious Thought), Brown University (1995)
B.A. Medieval and Renaissance Studies; History, Duke University (1991)

Academic Interests:

Biomedical ethics; Ethics and Health Care Policy; Ethics of Organ Donation; Medical Humanities; Compassion and Altruism; Health Care Justice; Normative Ethics; Moral Theory; Comparative Religious Ethics; Applied Ethics; Methods and Theory of Religion; Philosophy of Religion; Religion and Culture; Arts, Religion and Literature; Religion and Film; Hermeneutics

Professional Memberships:

• Chair, Organ, Procurement and Transplant Ethics Committee (OPTN); July 2023-present
• Vice Chair, Organ, Procurement and Transplant (OPTN) Ethics Committee; July 2020-July 2023
• Committee Member, Organ, Procurement and Transplant (OPTN) Ethics Committee; July 2017-July 2020
• Chair, UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) National Ethics Committee; appointed July 1st, 2017
• Bioethicist & Ethics Committee Chair, NY State Transplant Council; appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul
• Board of Directors, Gingold Theatrical Group

Throughout his tenure in the Organ, Procurement and Transplant Ethics Committee, Dr. Flescher has published the following:  

January 2024: "Ethical Evaluation of Normothermic Regional Perfusion," OPTN Ethics Committee.

December 2022: "Transparency in Program Selection," OPTN Ethics Committee. 

January 2022: "Ethical Considerations of Continuous Distribution in Organ Allocation," OPTN Ethics Committee. 

July 2021: "General Assessment for Transplant Candidacy," OPTN Ethics Committee.

June 2021: "An Ethical Analysis Examining the Continuation of Living Donor Transplantation During the Covid-19 Pandemic," UNOS Ethics Committee.

June 2019: "Ethical Implications of Multi-Organ Transplants," OPTN Ethics Committee.

June 2018: "Manipulation of the Organ Allocation System Waitlist Priority through the Escalation of Medical Therapies," OPTN Ethics Committee.

December 2017: "Living Organ Donation by Persons with Certain Life-Limiting Illness," OPTN Ethics Committee.

Published Books

• Religion and Public Health During the Time of COVID-19, Multidisciplinary Publishing Institute, click here for more details (2022)
• The Organ Shortage Crisis in America, Georgetown University Press, click here for more details (2018)
• Moral Evil, click here for more details (2013)
• The Altruistic Species, click here for more details (2007) - Earned the Choice award for outstanding academic title, 2009
• Heroes, Saints and Ordinary Morality, click here for more details (2003)

Select Publications:

June 2024: "NRP Possibly Violates "Do No Harm" and is not Worth Risking the Perception that it Does," Andrew Flescher, Keren Ladin, Sanjay Kukarni, The American Journal of Bioethics. Volume 24, no. 6. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2024.2336803.

Fall 2023: “Organ Procurement Using Normothermic Regional Perfusion—Reply.” Robert Truog, Andrew Flescher, and Keren Ladin, Journal for the American Medical Association. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.16890.

June 2023: "Looking at The Impact of COVID-19 on Religious Practice and the Impact of Religious Practice on COVID-19," Joel Zimbelman and Andrew Flescher, Religions Volume 14.

June 2023:  “Normothermic Regional Perfusion: The Nest Frontier in Organ Transplantation?.” Robert D. Truog, Andrew Flescher, and Keren Ladin, Journal for the American Medical Association doi: 0.1001/jama.2023.9294. 

April 2023: How Well Do Religious Exemptions Apply to Mandates for COVID-19 Vaccines?,” Religions Volume 14, no. 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050569.

December 2022: “The Virtue of Mortality,” The Journal of Religious Ethics. Volume 50, no. 3, pp. 361-385.

March 2022: “Vaccine Mandates for Transplant Patients: Caring for Patients versus Turning Them Away,” Keren Ladin, Andrew M. Flescher and Peter P. Reese, American Journal of Kidney Diseases See:   https://www.ajkd.org/article/S0272-6386(22)00517-0/fulltext.          

January 2022:  “An Ethical Analysis Examining the Prioritization of Living Donor Transplantation in Times of Healthcare Rationing.” Kulkarni, S., Flescher, A., Ahmad, M., Bayliss, G., Bearl, D.W., Biondi, L., Davis, E., George, R.P., Gordon, E., Lyons, T., Wightman, A. and Ladin, K. Journal of Medical Ethics, Published Online First: 04 January 2022. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2021-107574.

Fall 2020: “Seeking Forgiveness Rooted in Truth, Reconciliation and Forgiveness,” Medicine, Conflict and Survival. Co-authored with Geraldine Gorman Oxford, England Routledge (Taylor and Francis Group), see: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13623699.2020.1793480

January 2020:  “Access to transplantation for persons with intellectual disability: Strategies for non-discrimination,” American Journal of Transplantation. Co-authored with Ashton Chen, et. al., (2020; 20:8), 2009-2016. See: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajt.15755.

January 2020: “Is There, If Not Virtue, Any Moral Value to Be Found in Payback?,” Religions, vol. 11, no. 28, Basel, Switzerland: MDPI

July 2018: “Priorities in Recovering from a Lost Generation of Firearms Research,” co-authored with 9 public health scholars), American Journal of Public Health vo. 108, no. 7 (July 2018)
 
Fall 2017: Book Review, Christian Understandings of Evil: The Historical Trajectory by Charlene P. E. Burns (Theological Studies)
 
Fall 2017: Book Chapter, “The Ethics of War and Peace in the Contemporary Era,” Preventing War and Promoting Peace: A Guide for Health Professionals, Cambridge University Press
 
Spring 2016: “Academic Public Health and the Firearm Crisis: An Agenda for Action,” (co-authored with 7 public health scholars), American Journal of Public Health, vo. 107, no. 3 (March, 2017)
 
Winter 2016: “Altruism,” Encyclopedia Entry for VSR (Vocabulary for the Study of Religion), eds., Kocku von Stuckrad and Robert Segal (Brill)

Fall 2015: “Updating the Argument for Permitting and Federally Funding Stem Cell Research,” Current Stem Cell Reports

Fall 2015: “Chosenness and the Imperative of Nonviolence: A Response to Aryeh Cohen on Tamares and Levinas,” Journal for the Society of Jewish Ethics

Fall 2014: Book Review, Doctors Without Borders: Humanitarian Quests, Impossible Dreams of Médecins Sans Frontières by Renée Fox (The Pharos, Autumn, 2014, pp. 46-49)

Fall 2014: “Health and Health Care Policy: An Ethical Perspective (1970s- present), Chapter 18 of The Guide to U.S. Health and Health Care Policy, DWJ Books LLC, ed. Thomas Oliver

Fall 2014: “Altruism,” Encyclopedia Entry for VSR (Vocabulary for the Study of Religion), eds., Kocku von Stuckrad and Robert Segal (Brill)

Spring 2014: "Freedom and Free Will," Bioethics, 4th Edition. Edited by Bruce Jennings. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2014

Fall 2013: (under contract): “Health and Health Care Policy: An Ethical Perspective (1970s- present), Chapter 18 of The Guide to U.S. Health and Health Care Policy, DWJ Books LLC, ed. Thomas Oliver

Summer 2013: (under review) Book:The Organ Crisis in America: Markets, Civic Duty, and How to Close the Gap (Georgetown University Press)

Summer 2013: “Freedom and Free Will,” The Encyclopedia of Bioethics, ed. Alja Kooistra (Macmillan)

Spring, 2012: “Jamesian Overbelief and the Therapy of Hope,” Susanne Rohr and Miriam Strube (eds.). Revisioning Pragmatism: William James in the New Millennium, (Heidelberg: Winter Verlag, 2012)

Spring, 2012: “Altruism,” Encyclopedia Entry for VSR (Vocabulary for the Study of Religion), eds., Kocku von Stuckrad and Robert Segal (Brill)

Spring, 2012: “Religious Saints,” International Encyclopedia of Ethics, ed. Hugh LaFollette (Wiley-Blackwell)

Fall 2010: “Representations of Belief in a Cinematic Medium,” The Encyclopedia of Religion and Film

August 2004: Two Discussion Analyses (case studies), Case Studies in Community Health Care Ethics, eds. Joel Zimbelman and Becky White (Longman Publishing)

Scholarly Papers:

June 2024: “Examining Some Current Debates in Transplantation Ethics: What Constitute the Legitimate Incentives and the Ethical Limits of Procurement? Where do the Principles of Equity and Utility Stand in Tension in Allocation Policy?,” Grand Rounds for the Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension at Rhode Island Hospital, Providence Rhode Island.

February 2022: “Peace Through Health in Israel and Palestine: An Argument Against Vaccine Nationalism,” Health Crisis of War: Making War a Priority Health Agenda: A Global Health Symposium Presented by Medical University of South Carolina, The Department of Public Health Sciences.

October 2021:“Can Peace Through Health Be a Tool for Restorative Justice?: A Counterintuitive Proposal for Israel and Palestine,” American Public Health Association (APHA), Denver, CO.

November 2019: “The Virtue of Mortality: A Hitherto Under-Considered Caution with Regard to CRISPR Technology,” Comparative Religious Ethics Group, The American Academy of Religion, San Diego, CA.

September 2019: “Ethics and George Bernard Shaw,” Gingold Theatrical Group panel at Symphony Space, NY. 

Scholarly Conference Talks Delivered:

January 2019: New York Society for Ethical Culture, “Would Offering a Price Tag on Bodily Organs Help to Alleviate the Organ Shortage Crisis?,” January 20th, 2019, New York, NY
 
January 2019: Long Island TRIO (Transplants Recipients Internationals Organization), Invited Speaker: “What is the Best Way to Address the Nation’s Organ Shortage Problem?,” January 9th, 2019, Great Neck, New York
 
November 2018: Shelter Island Library, Invited Speaker Series: “What is the best way to address our nation’s organ shortage problem?” November 30th, 2018
 
October 2018: Players Club in New York City, Sponsored by the Gingold Theatrical Group, “Art as Activism”
 
November 2017: Conference Presentation, “Ethics, War, and Militarism,” American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta
 
November 2017: Conference Presentation, “Evolving, Unwinnable, and Endless Nature of War,” American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta
 
September 2017: Conference Presentation on Religion and Public Life at California State University, Chico, September 15th-17th, 2017: “Isolation without Isolationism: On not Recruiting for ISIS and Comparable Groups”

September 2017: Conference Roundtable Participation on Religion and Public Life, California State University, Chico, September 15th-17th, 2017: Religious Thought and Public Health
 
August 2017: Shelter Island Library, Invited Speaker Series: “Health Care Legislation Today: A Dialogue,” August 10th,, 2017
 
August 2017: Plenary Address, “Ethical Issues with Regard to Expanding Criteria for Organ Procurement,” 2017 Annual Conference for the Organization of Transplant Professionals (NATCO), St. Louis MO (August 4th, 2017)
 
August 2017: Conference presentation, “Ethical Issues in Living Donor Advocacy,” 2017 Annual Conference for the Organization of Transplant Professionals (NATCO), St. Louis Missouri (August 3rd, 2017)
 
March 2017: Invited Speaker to Princeton, University Center for Human Values, DeCamp Series in Bioethics, “Would Legalizing the Sale of Organs Reduce the Organ Shortage Problem?” (March 8th)
 
July 2016: Conference Presentation, “Ethical Issues Involved in Organ Donation during Pregnancy, and Other Border Line Cases,” 2016 Annual Conference for the Organization of Transplant Professionals (NATCO), Orlando, FL (July 29th)
 
July 2016: Conference Presentation, “Living Donor Advocacy: Responsibly Recruiting Informed, Willing Donors,” 2016 Annual Conference for the Organization of Transplant Professionals (NATCO), Orlando, FL (July 29th)
 
March 2016: Invited Speaker, Annual George Bernard Shaw Symposium for the Gingold Theatrical Group, “Shaw and the Creation of Modern English Drama,” New York Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, NY, NY
 
January 2016: Invited Speaker, Society of Christian and Jewish Ethics, “Augustinian Accounts of Evil: Rejections and Retrievals,” Annual Meeting for the Society of Christian and Jewish Ethics, Toronto Canada
 
August 2015: Plenary Address, “Addressing the Organ Shortage Crisis Short of Legalizing the Sale of Organs,” 2015 Annual Conference for the Organization of Transplant Professionals (NATCO), Louisville, KY (August 6th)
 
August 2015: Conference Presentation: “Ethical Issues in Organ Allocation and Patient Selection,” 2015 Annual Conference for the Organization of Transplant Professionals (NATCO), Louisville, KY (August 5th)
 
December 2014: Invited Speaker, Annual George Bernard Shaw Symposium for the Gingold Theatrical Group, “Themes in Shaw’s Major Barbara,” The Players Club, NY, NY
 
April 2014: “What I Wish I’d Known,” Conference Presentation Sponsored by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning, Brown University
 
January 2014: “The Consequences of Human Inaction,” Breakfast with an Author Session, Society of Christian and Jewish Ethics, Seattle, WA (hour long session on Dr. Flescher's recent book)
 
January 2014: “Chosen-ness and the Imperative of Nonviolence: A Response to Aryeh Cohen on Tamares and Levinas,” Society of Jewish Ethics, Seattle WA
 
April 2013: “What Motivates Living Donors?,” The Seventh International Conference on Ethical Issues in Biomedical Engineering, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY

October 2012: “Should Health Care be Considered a “Right” in the United States?: Re-examining the Economics, Ethics, and Constitutionality of the Affordable Health Care Act,” California State University, Chico

May 2012: “Seven Ethical Issues of Organ Donation,” Conference: Live and Cadaveric Organ Transplantation: Truths and Myths, Barbados, West Indies

May 2012: “Brain Stem Death and Organ Donation,” Conference: Live and Cadaveric Organ Transplantation: Truths and Myths, Barbados, West Indies

May 2012: “Seven Ethical Issues Surrounding Organ Donation,” Conference: Live and Cadaveric Organ Transplantation: Truths and Myths, Barbados, West Indies

April 2012: “The Case Against Selling Organs,” Stony Brook Hospital (Debate with Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Amy Friedman), Conference: Should Society Allow for the Sale of Organs

November 2011: “Psychopathy and the new Manichean Challenge to Moral Agency,” Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT

April 2011: “Is Health Care A Right?,” Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

October 2010:  “Is There Any Chance in Hell?: Psychopathology and the new Manichean Challenge to Moral Agency” California State University, Chico

July 2010:  “Does Hope Constitute Sound Medical Therapy,?” CRIA-Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologi, a ISCTE-IUL Iunstituto Universitário de Lisboa

June 2010:  “William James and the Pragmatist Conception of Truth,” Paderborn University

June 2010:  “Jamesian Overbelief and the Therapy of Hope,” Hamburg University, Reivisioning Pragmatism Conference

Committee Service at Stony Brook:

Stony Brook Organ Donor Council

Stony Brook Hospital Ethics Committee

Stony Brook Humanities Institute

Stony Brook Academic Judiciary Committee

Plays Piano in the Hospital Lobby at Stony Brook on Thursday Afternoons for Patients, the Families, and Staff