Debra DeBruin, PhD

Director, Director of Graduate Studies, and Associate Professor

Expertise: Public Health Ethics | Ethics of Health Policy | Health Equity | Public Health Preparedness and Crisis Response

Debra DeBruin
[email protected]

United States

Dr. Debra DeBruin primarily works on issues in public health ethics and the ethics of health policy, with a focus on concerns about social justice and health equity. Much of this work addresses issues of gender, race, and socioeconomic disadvantage. She also has done substantial work on public health emergency planning, with an emphasis on the importance of equity in this perilous context. She co-directed the Minnesota Pandemic Ethics Project and led the project to develop ethics guidance for Crisis Standards of Care in Minnesota; both of these projects were conducted under contract with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). During the COVID-19 pandemic, she co-led the Minnesota COVID Ethics Collaborative, a statewide advisory group that provided input to MDH on ethical issues in pandemic response.

In addition to teaching philosophy and bioethics, Dr. DeBruin has served as a health policy fellow for Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) in the Democratic office of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee of the United States Senate. She has also worked as a consultant to the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine and the National Bioethics Advisory Commission on issues relating to the ethics of research.

In addition to her scholarly work in bioethics, Dr. DeBruin has a strong record of administrative leadership for the Center for Bioethics. Over the years, she has served as Director of Graduate Studies, Director of Education, Associate Director, and Director/Interim Director. 

Dr. DeBruin received her BA from Carleton College magna cum laude with distinction in philosophy and her PhD in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. She completed a Greenwall Postdoctoral Fellowship in Bioethics and Health Policy at Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health and Georgetown University.

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Selected Publications

State and National Advisory Reports

Journal Articles and Book Chapters 

  • DeBruin, D. A. (2024). Fetal Personhood and the Boundless Responsibilities of Pregnant Persons. The American Journal of Bioethics, 24(2), 33–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2024.2296778
  • Dichter JR, Brown D, Zamorano C, Cohen J, Miller EA, Niccum DE, LeClaire M, De Jong
    CB, Deanna Diebold D, Lyons J, Reilkoff R, Erickson HL, Martinelli J, Fischer JA, Mairose K, Kallestad J, Chell C, Shadiow A, Stoen S, Hick JL, Petersen-Kroeber C, Seaberg J,
    McLachlan E, Waterman AT, James WY, MacDonell S, Risser J, Klemond T, DeMartino ES, Wu J, DeBruin, D., Wolf SM, Sederstrom NO, Baum KD, Greenlee K, Strike H, Kettler PA, Boehland A, Goodman KA, Maslonka KK, Wolf JM, Schoenecker J, Kesler S. The Minnesota Critical Care Working Group 1: Monitoring and coordinating statewide critical care surge response in the COVID-19 pandemic, March 2020 through July 1, 2021. CHEST. Available online November 30, 2024.     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2024.10.057
  • Kesler SM, De Jong CB, Chell C, DeBruin D, Erickson HL, Goodman KA, James W,
    Kallestad J, Klemond T, McLachlan E, Petersen-Kroeber C, Risser J, DeMartino ES,
    Waterman AT, Wolf SM, Wu J, Zamorano C, Baum K, Brown D, Cohen J, Diebold D,
    Fischer JA, Greenlee J, Hick J, Kettler P, LeClaire M, Lyons J, MacDonell S, Mairose K,
    Boehland A, Martinelli J, Miller EA, Niccum DE, Reilkoff R, Seaberg J, Sederstrom NO,
    Shadiow A, Stoen S, Strike H, Maslonka KK, Wolf JM, Schoenecker J, Dichter JR. The
    Minnesota Critical Care Working Group 2: Crisis conditions during the COVID-19 Pandemic, July 2021 through March 2022. CHEST. Available online November 28, 2024.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2024.11.017
  • Leider, J., DeBruin, D., & Lim, S. (2024, September). Ethical and Operational Strategies for Scarce Resource Allocation. In JAMA Health Forum (Vol. 5, No. 9, pp. e242940-e242940). American Medical Association. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2823387
  • Riggan, K. A., Kesler, S., DeBruin, D., Wolf, S. M., Leider, J. P., Sederstrom, N., ... DeMartino, E. S. (2024). Minnesota Hospitals’ Plans for Implementing Statewide Guidance on Allocation of Scarce Critical Care Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes, 8(6), 537-547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2024.09.003
  • Riggan, K. A., Nguyen, N. V., Ennis, J. S., DeBruin, D. A., Sharp, R. R., Tilburt, J. C., Wolf, S. M., & DeMartino, E. S. (2024). Behind the Scenes: Facilitators and Barriers to Developing State Scarce Resource Allocation Plans for the COVID-19 Pandemic. CHEST, 166(3), 561-571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2024.04.006
  • Eyal, N., Wynia, M. K., Harter, T. D., DeBruin, D., & Eberl, J. T. (2023). Why Dropping Most COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates is Now Ethical. Health Affairs Forefront. https://doi.org/10.1377/forefront.20231206.51079
  • Leider, J. P., Lim, S., DeBruin, D., Waterman, A. T., Smith, B., Ghimire, U., Huhtala, H., Zirnhelt, Z., Lynfield, R., & Hick, J. L. (2023). Using a web platform for equitable distribution of COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies: A case study in resource allocation. Frontiers in Public Health, 11, 1226935.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1226935
  • DeBruin, D.A. (2022). Addressing Pandemic Disparities: Equity and Neutral Conceptions of Justice. In: Boylan, M. (Eds.) Ethical Public Health Policy Within Pandemics. The International Library of Bioethics, Vol. 95. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99692-5_10
  • Laar A., DeBruin, D., Ofori-Asenso R., Laar M.E., Redman B., & Caplan A. (2021). Rationing health and social goods during pandemics: Guidance for Ghanaian decision makers. Clinical Ethics, 16(3), 165-170:165-170. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477750920977095
  • Leider, J., Wrigley-Field, E., DeBruin, D., Sederstrom, N. Now is the Time to Explicitly
    Emphasize Equity in Vaccine Access. JPHMP Journal of Public Health Management and
    Practice Direct. 2021 March. Available from:     https://jphmpdirect.com/2021/03/19/now-is-the-time-to-explicitly-emphasize-equity-in-vaccine-access/
  • Wu, J. T., DeBruin, D. A., Wolf, S. M., Klemond, T., & DeMartino, E. S. (2021). Addressing a Missing Link in Emergency Preparedness: New Insights on the Ethics of Care in Contingency Conditions from the Minnesota COVID Ethics Collaborative. The American Journal of Bioethics, 21(8), 17–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2021.1939809
  • DeBruin, D., & Leider, J. P. (2020). COVID-19: The Shift From Clinical to Public Health Ethics. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 26(4), 306-309. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000001204
  • Lim, S., DeBruin, D. A., Leider, J. P., Sederstrom, N., Lynfield, R., Baker, J. V., ... Wolf, S. M. (2020). Developing an Ethics Framework for Allocating Remdesivir in the COVID-19 Pandemic. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 95, No. 9, pp. 1946-1954). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2020.06.016
  • Marshall, M. F., Taylor, J., & DeBruin, D. (2020). Ferguson v. City of Charleston Redux: Motivated Reasoning and Coercive Interventions in Pregnancy. Pediatrics, 146(Suppl 1), S86–S92. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-0818Q https://doi.org/10.1177/1477750920977095