Assistant Professor of
Bioethics
Co-
Director, PhD Program in Bioethics
Women's and Gender Studies Program Faculty
Reproductive Ethics
Genetics and Ethics
Feminist Bioethics
Empirical Bioethics
Reproductive Technologies
Genetic and Genomic Testing
Women's Health
Gender in Medicine and Biomedical Research
e-mail: michelle.mcgowan@case.edu
Bio
Michelle L. McGowan is an Assistant Professor of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and a member of the Gender and Women’s Studies Program Faculty. She received her B.A. in Sociology from Boston College in 2000, and her Ph.D. in Women Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Dr. McGowan completed a predoctoral fellowship in ethical, legal, and social aspects of human genetics and biotechnology at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society in Graz, Austria, and postdoctoral training in bioethics at the Center for Genetic Research Ethics and Law at Case Western Reserve University. She currently serves as an associate editor for the journal Human Reproduction.
Dr. McGowan’s research is focused on the social and ethical implications of reproductive and genetic technologies in the United States. She is particularly interested in the motivations of users of reproductive and genetic technologies and how they conceptualize the risks and benefits of their use. She is also interested in how the perspectives of users of novel technologies can contribute to bioethical discourse and the development of social policy. Her recent scholarship has focused specifically on participation in egg donation, embryo donation, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, fertility preservation, and direct-to-consumer and clinical genomic risk susceptibility testing. Within the Department of Bioethics, Dr. McGowan teaches courses on reproductive ethics, international women's health issues and qualitative research methodology and critical readings in Bioethics.
Selected Publications
Juengst, Eric T, Settersten Jr., Richard A., Fishman, Jennifer R., McGowan, Michelle L. (2012). "After the Revolution? Ethical and Social Challenges in 'Personalized Genomic Medicine'." Personalized Medicine, 9(4), 429-439.
McGowan, Michelle L., Redding, Julie. (2012) "Reframing the Justice Implications of Preserving the Right to Future Children." The American Journal of Bioethics, 12(6), 53-55.
McGowan, Michelle. (2011). “Constructions of Good Motherhood in an Online Forum for Users of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis.” In Michelle Moravec (Ed.), Motherhood Online. (pp. 180-199). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Sharp, Richard R., Michelle L. McGowan, Jonathan A. Verma, David C. Landy, Sallie McAdoo, Sandra A. Carson, Joe Leigh Simpson & Laurence B. McCullough. (2010). “Moral Attitudes and Beliefs among Couples Pursuing PGD for Sex Selection.” Reproductive Biomedicine Online, 21, 838-847.
McGowan, Michelle L., Jennifer R. Fishman and Marcie A. Lambrix. (2010). Personal Genomics and Individual Identities: Motivations and Moral Imperatives of Early Users. New Genetics and Society, 29(3), 261-290.
McGowan, Michelle L. (2010). “Participation in investigational fertility preservation research: a feminist research ethics approach.” In T.K. Woodruff, L. Zoloth, L. Campo-Engelstein, & S. Rodriguez (Eds.), Oncofertility: Ethical, Legal, Social and Medical Perspectives. (pp. 209-221). New York: Springer.
Kenney, Nancy J. & Michelle L. McGowan. (2010). Looking Back: Egg Donors’ Retrospective Evaluations of Their Motivations, Expectations and Experiences during Their First Donation Cycle. Fertility and Sterility, 93(2), 455-466.
McGowan, Michelle L., Chris Burant, Rocio Moran, and Ruth Morgan Farrell. (2009). “Patient Education and Informed Consent for Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis: Health Literacy for Genetics and Assisted Reproductive Technology.” Genetics in Medicine, 11(9), 640-645.
McGowan, Michelle L. & Jennifer R. Fishman. (2008). Using Lessons Learned from BRCA Testing and Marketing: What Lies Ahead for Whole Genome Scanning Services. The American Journal of Bioethics, 8(6), 18-20.
Recent Activities
Expanded Carrier Screening: Expanding Technology, Expanding Options?, New Technologies, New Challenges: Women and Prenatal Genetic Testing in the 21st Century, CWRU Law-Medicine Center Symposium , Cleveland, OH, April 2012
Prescribing risk assessment: clinicians and the promise of personalized medicine. Society for Social Studies of Science, Cleveland, OH, November 2011
Egg donor agreements and conflicts of commitment. American Society of Bioethics and Humanities 13th Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, October 2011
Contact Information
Michelle L. McGowan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Bioethics
Case Western Reserve University
10900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland OH 44106-4976
Office: 216-368-0735
Fax: 216-368-8713
email:michelle.mcgowan@case.edu
