Erik Parens

Erik Parens, Ph.D.

Dr. Erik Parens is a Senior Research Scholar at The Hastings Center, a nonpartisan research institution dedicated to bioethics and the public interest. He is also a visiting professor in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at Sarah Lawrence College. He current research projects include “Interpreting Neuroimages: Interdisciplinary Engagement with the Complexities,” funded by The Dana Foundation and “Pharmacological Treatment of Behavioral Disturbances in Children: Engaging the Controversies,” funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. These studies investigate the use of new technologies to shape our selves and how emerging science shapes our self-understanding.

Dr. Parens received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought in 1988 and has lectured and published widely. He is the first or sole editor of four books: Enhancing Human Traits: Ethical and Social Implications (Georgetown University Press, 1998); Prenatal Testing and Disability Rights (Georgetown, 2000); Wrestling with Behavioral Genetics: Science, Ethics, and Public Conversation (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006); and Surgically Shaping Children: Essays on Technology, Ethics, and the Pursuit of Normality (Johns Hopkins, 2007).