Laura Specker

Laura Specker Sullivan is an Assistant Professor of philosophy. She is a specialist in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural ethics who incorporates her experience in clinical ethics consultation and qualitative research into her philosophical work. She received her PhD from the University of Hawaii focusing on informed consent in Japan. She is the former Director of Ethics at the Medical University of South Carolina and a previous Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the College of Charleston. She has held fellowships at the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering at the University of Washington, Neuroethics Canada at the University of British Columbia, and the Kokoro Research Center at Kyoto University. 

Publications:

 Specker Sullivan, L. and Reiner, P. “Digital Wellness and Persuasive Technologies” (2021). Philosophy and Technology 34(3): 413-424.

 Specker Sullivan, L. “More Than Consent for Ethical Open Label Placebo Research" (2020). Journal of Medical Ethics 47(12): Epub ahead of print.

 Specker Sullivan, L. “Insight and the No-Self in Deep Brain Stimulation” (2019). Bioethics 33(4): 487-494.

 Solinsky, R. and Specker Sullivan, L. “Ethical Issues Surrounding a New Generation of Neuroprostheses for Patients with Spinal Cord Injuries” (2018). Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 10(9): S244-S248.    

 Specker Sullivan, L. and Illes, J. “Ethics in Published Brain Computer Interface Research (2018). Journal of Neural Engineering 15(1):013001.

Specker Sullivan, L. Klein E, Brown T, Sample M, Pham M, Tubig P, Folland R, and Goering S (2017). “Keeping Disability in Mind: A Case Study in Implantable Brain-Computer Interface Research” . Science and Engineering Ethics 24(2): 479-504.