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James L. Bernat, MD

Contact Information

Professional Interests

Brain death and the definition of death.
Coma, vegetative states, and other disorder of consciousness.
Ethical and philosophical issues in neurology.

Grant Information

SYNERGY: Dartmouth Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Director: Research Ethics

Biography

James L. Bernat, M.D., formerly the Louis and Ruth Frank Professor of Neuroscience at Dartmouth Medical School, earned a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts (1965-69) and an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College (1969-73). He trained in internal medicine and neurology at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (1973-77). Dr. Bernat has been a Dartmouth Medical School faculty member since 1976 and has held the rank of Professor of Medicine and Neurology since 1989. Dr. Bernat was the Director of the Program in Clinical Ethics at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Previously he served as Assistant Dean of Clinical Education at Dartmouth Medical School. He served for 28 years on the American Academy of Neurology Ethics, Law & and Humanities Committee, with 10 years as chairman. Dr. Bernat has been elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha, and fellowships in the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, and The Hastings Center. In 2011, he received the Presidential Award from the American Academy of Neurology for lifetime service to American neurology. In 2022, he received the Steven E. Hyman Award for Distinguished Service to the Field of Neuroethics from the International Neuroethics Society.

Dr. Bernat's scholarly interests are in ethical and philosophical issues in neurology. He has authored over 300 articles and chapters on topics in neurology and clinical ethics. He is the author of Ethical Issues in Neurology, 3rd ed. (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2008), coeditor of Palliative Care in Neurology (Oxford University Press, 2004), coeditor of Ethical and Legal Issues in Neurology (Elsevier, 2013), and coeditor of Death Determination by Neurologic Criteria: Areas of Controversy and Consensus (Springer, 2022). He testified on the vegetative state before the United States Senate Health Committee and was a consultant on brain death to the Institute of Medicine, the Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the Pontifical Academy for Life. He chaired the US DHHS HRSA Division of Transplantation panel on determining death in organ donors, served on the World Health Organization international committee on standards for death determination, and cochaired the 2023 NIH Conference on Circulatory Death Determination.