Joel Wu, JD, MPH, MA, HEC-C

Clinical Ethics Assistant Professor

Expertise: Public Health Ethics | Health Policy | Public Health Law | Clinical Ethics with an emphasis on Narrative Ethics Practice

Joel Wu, JD, MPH, MA, HEC-C headshot
[email protected]

Joel Wu, JD, MPH, MA, HEC-C, is a Center for Bioethics Clinical Ethics Assistant Professor and a senior lecturer in the Division of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. He is a co-chair of the University of Minnesota Medical Center's Ethics Committee, co-lead for the clinical ethics consultation service for MHealth Fairview system hospitals, and member of the MHealth Fairview Ethics Council. Professor Wu also teaches courses at the intersection of clinical ethics, public health ethics, and public health law.   

Previously, Professor Wu conducted health policy research and development at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine at the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) where he served as a study director on the Board on the Health of Select Populations and the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice. Professor Wu also worked as a research associate for the former Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution and completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Program in Bioethics and Professionalism at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and in Clinical Ethics at Children's Minnesota and Abbott Northwestern Hospitals in Minneapolis, MN. Professor Wu holds a JD and an MA in Bioethics from Case Western Reserve University and an MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota. 

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Selected Publications

  • 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
  • Kaske, E. A., Wu, J. T., Hardeman, R. R., Darrow, D. P., & Satin, D. J. (2022). The language of less-lethal weapons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(17), e2117779119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117779119
  • Kaske, E. A., Cramer, S. W., Pena Pino, I., Do, T. H., Ladd, B. M., Sturtevant, D. T., Ahmadi, A., Taha, B., Freeman, D., Wu, J. T., Cunningham, B. A., Hardeman, R. R., Satin, D. J., & Darrow, D. P. (2021). Injuries from Less-Lethal Weapons during the George Floyd Protests in Minneapolis. The New England journal of medicine, 384(8), 774–775. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2032052
  • Kesler, S. M., Wu, J. T., Kalland, K. R., Peter, L. G., Wothe, J. K., Needle, J. K., Wang, Q., & Weinert, C. R. (2021). Operationalizing Ethical Guidance for Ventilator Allocation in Minnesota: Saving the Most Lives or Exacerbating Health Disparities?. Critical care explorations, 3(6), e0455. https://doi.org/10.1097/CCE.0000000000000455
  • Lim, S., DeBruin, D. A., Leider, J. P., Sederstrom, N., Lynfield, R., Baker, J. V., Kline, S., Kesler, S., Rizza, S., Wu, J. T., Sharp, R. R. & Wolf, S. M. (2020). Developing an ethics framework for allocating remdesivir in the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 95(9), 1946-1954. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2020.06.016
  • Wu, J. T., & McCormick, J. B. (2018). Why health professionals should speak out against false beliefs on the internet. AMA Journal of Ethics, 20(11), 1052-1058. https://doi.org/10.1001/amajethics.2018.1052
  • McCormick, J. B., Wu, J. T., & Doussau, A. (2017). Is It Ethically Acceptable to Screen Patients for Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Not Offer Them Positive Air Pressure Therapy in a Clinical Trial? The American Journal of Bioethics, 17(10), 76–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2017.1365201
  • Boat, T. F., Wu, J. T., Committee to Evaluate the Supplemental Security Income Disability Program for Children with Mental Disorders, Board on the Health of Select Populations, Board on Children, Youth, and Families, Institute of Medicine, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, & The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (Eds.). (2015). Mental Disorders and Disabilities Among Low-Income Children. National Academies Press (US) (pp. 378). https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21780/mental-disorders-and-disabilities-among-low-income-children
  • Wu, J. T. & Stratton, K. R. Scientific standards for studies on modified risk tobacco products. (2012). Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/13294/chapter/1
  • Ottenberg, A. L., Wu, J. T., Poland, G. A., Jacobson, R. M., Koenig, B. A., & Tilburt, J. C. (2011). Vaccinating health care workers against influenza: the ethical and legal rationale for a mandate. American journal of public health, 101(2), 212–216. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.190751
  • McGuire, A. L., Basford, M., Dressler, L. G., Fullerton, S. M., Koenig, B. A., Li, R., McCarty, C. A., Ramos, E., Smith, M. E., Somkin, C. P., Waudby, C., Wolf, W. A., & Clayton, E. W. (2011). Ethical and practical challenges of sharing data from genome-wide association studies: the eMERGE Consortium experience. Genome research, 21(7), 1001–1007. https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.120329.111 (Contributing author mentioned in text as part of the eMERGE consortium)
  • Lemke, A. A., Trinidad S. B., Lam A., Pulley J., Wu, J. T., & Waudby, C.(2010). Community engagement in biobanking: Experiences from the eMERGE Network. Genomics, Society, and Policy, 6(3), 50. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-5354-6-3-50
  • Clayton, E. W., Smith, M., Fullerton, S. M., Burke, W., McCarty, C. A., Koenig, B. A., McGuire, A. L., Beskow, L. M., Dressler, L., Lemke, A. A., Ramos, E. M., Rodriguez, L. L., & Consent and Community Consultation Working Group of the eMERGE Consortium (2010). Confronting real time ethical, legal, and social issues in the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Consortium. Genetics in medicine: Official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics, 12(10), 616–620. https://doi.org/10.1097/GIM.0b013e3181efdbd0 (Contributing author mentioned in text as part of the eMERGE consortium). 
  • Ni J. X., Strand M. A., Wu J. T., Wang X. B., Wang Y. G., & Duan X. Q. (2005). Effect of the Health Belief Model on Health Beliefs and Standardized Medication of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients. (in Chinese) Chinese General Practice 8(23), 1936-1938. 
  • Wu, J. T., Hendrickson, J. A., Yi, Y., George, A. L., Jr., Henthorn, P. S., Hitte, C., Galibert, F., Rutherford, M. S., & Mickelson, J. R. (2004). Radiation hybrid and comparative mapping of 38 canine heart ESTs. Animal Genetics, 35(5), 420–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2052.2004.01181.x
  • Mickelson, J. R., Wu, J. T., Morrison, L. Y., Swinburne, J. E., Binns, M. M., Reed, K. M., & Alexander, L. J. (2003). Eighty-three previously unreported equine microsatellite loci. Animal Genetics, 34(1), 71–74. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2052.2003.00951_4.x

Selected Presentations

  • Wu, J. T. (2024, August 27). A patient's last chapter: Ethical considerations for VSED, euthanasia, and MAID [Webinar presentation]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLl_hatD98o
  • Wu, J. T. (2023, August 19). When can clinicians refuse an AMA discharge request? [Webinar presentation]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18UzUlA2kng
  • Wu, J. T. (2022, September 21). The true role of autonomy in medicine [Webinar presentation]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5isbcfS7XjU
  • Wu, J. T. (2022, October 17). Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Heart of Medicine: An approach to preserving the Moral Center of Medicine while integrating the power of AIs [Conference presentation]. American Society of Bioethics and Humanities Annual Meeting.
  • Wu, J., Chow, A., & Chenault, A. (2017, September 19). The potential ick factor: Ethical considerations for designing in healthcare [Panel presentation]. O’Reilly AI Conference: Put AI to Work, New York, New York, United States.
  • Wu, J., Lee, L. G., Chow, A., Chenault, A. & Smith, C. (2017, March 25). Ethics and AI: Designing for health [Panel presentation]. IA Summit, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
  • Koenig, B., Wuermser, L., Swetz, K. & Wu, J. T. (2010, April 7). Medical ethics: Practice implications for rehab, medical, health care and other helping professions [Panel presentation]. Rehabilitation Counselors Association of Minnesota, Rochester, Minnesota, United States.
  • Koenig, B., Wright Clayton, E., McGuire, A. L., Terry, S., Malin, B., & Wu, J. T. (2010, February 20). DNA identifiability: Ethical Issues and policy challenges [Panel Presentation]. American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting, San Diego, California, United States.
  • Koenig, B. & Wu, J. T. (2009, October 22). Protecting Privacy, Trust, and the Future of Individualized Medicine: An analysis of genomic research practices and policies that fail to account for DNA as a unique identifier, and recommendations on how to fix them [Poster presentation]. American Society of Human Genetics Annual Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.
  • Goldenberg, A., Mongoven, A. M., McGee, M., Tarini, B. & Wu, J.T. (2009, October 17). Use of biological samples collected by public health programs for research purposes: Ethics at the intersection of public health and biobanking [Panel presentation]. American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Annual Meeting.
  • Tilburt, J., Curlin, C., Henriksen Hellyer, J. M. & Wu, J. T. (2009, October 15). Social and ethical implications of supporting or limiting a right of conscientious refusal for healthcare providers [Panel presentation]. American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Annual Meeting, Washington DC, United States.