Dean Elaine Heath has announced the appointment of Patrick T. Smith as associate research professor of theological ethics and bioethics at Duke Divinity School effective July 1, 2018.

Smith currently serves as associate professor of philosophical theology and ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is a lecturer at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. He serves as core faculty for the Master of Bioethics program offered through Harvard’s Center for Bioethics. His specific academic interests are in the areas of philosophical theology, bioethics, social ethics, religious epistemology, and hospice/palliative care and its interface with philosophical ethics, theology, religion, and spirituality. 

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Smith to the Divinity School,”  said Heath. “His scholarship already contributes wonderfully to our program in Theology, Medicine, and Culture. Dr. Smith will be a senior fellow at the Kenan Institute of Ethics as well as a faculty member in Black Church Studies.” 

Smith is licensed and ordained with the National Baptist Convention, USA. He holds a B.S. from Auburn University, an M.Div. from Trinity International University, and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Wayne State University. His book Valuing Human Life at the End of Life: Theological Ethics and Hospice Palliative Care is currently under consideration by the final editorial review board of Oxford University Press.  His second book, Shalom Ethics and the Struggle for Justice: Toward a Christian Social Ethic, is nearing completion and is currently  under contract with Eerdmans.