Rosemarie Tong

Rosemarie Tong is Distinguished Professor of Health Care Ethics in the Department of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics at UNC Charlotte. She is also an Adjunct Professor for the Department of Behavior and Administration, and the Doctoral Program in Public Policy.

Receiving her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Temple University in 1978, she has come to be internationally known for her contributions to feminist thought and bioethics. Dr. Tong has authored and co-edited thirteen books and over one hundred articles on topics related to feminist theory, reproductive and genetic technology, biomedical research, feminist bioethics, and global bioethics. Dr. Tong was previously the Thatcher Professor in Medical Humanities at Davidson College before coming to UNC Charlotte in the fall of 1999.

Dr. Tong is widely recognized as an instructor and scholar, winning the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s National Professor of the Year award in 1986. She has received two honorary doctorates, has taught as a distinguished visiting professor and appears in several major “who’s who” directories. In addition, she frequently serves as a judge for the National Institute of Health, as a consultant for several major hospital ethics committees, and as a reviewer for many major academic presses.

A sought after speaker, Professor Tong regularly delivers addresses for leading institutions and organizations internationally, as well as nationally. Her recent and upcoming speaking engagements include addresses at the Fogarty International Center Bioethics Training Project in Quezon City, Philippines in September, 2005, the International Seminar on Bioethics in Mexico City in November, 2005, the Graduate Institute of Philosophy at National Central University in Taipei, Taiwan in August, 2006, and the Sixth International Congress on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics and Eighth World Congress on Bioethics in Beijing, China, in August, 2006.

Dr. Tong is Chair of the American Philosophical Association’s Committee on the Status of Women, Chair of the Institutional Review Board’s Conflict of Interest Committee at Chesapeake Research, Inc., and Co-chair of the NC Institute of Medicine’s task force on Pandemic Influenza. She is also an executive board member of the International Network for Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, the International Association of Bioethics, the U.S. Women’s Bioethics Project and the Charlotte Bioethics Resource Group.

Dr. Tong teaches her students to change, transform, and deepen, seeking to increase their level of reflection and sensitivity while instilling an appreciation for the moral issues embedded in both everyday and academic discourse.