Fins ’82 Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

(Story contributed by Susannah Betts ’15)

Dr. Joseph Fins ’82 was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in a ceremony on Oct. 6, 2012, along with 180 other influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors, and institutional leaders, according to a press release from Weill Cornell Medical College, where Fins is The E. William Davis Jr., M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics, and professor of medicine, public health and medicine in psychiatry.

Fins, a leading expert on medical ethics and health policy, is the author of more than 200 publications and several books, including the soon to be published Rights Come to Mind: Brain Injury, Ethics and The Struggle for Consciousness, under contract with The Cambridge University Press.

His research explores ethical and policy issues that involve those with brain injuries and disorders of consciousness, as well as palliative care, research ethics in neurology and psychiatry, medical education and methods of ethics case consultation. Fins is co-author of the 2007 Nature paper that describes the first use of deep brain stimulation in a minimally conscious state.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1780, has elected to its society some of the world’s most accomplished leaders and experts in their fields. The Academy’s independent research center conducts studies in science, technology policy, global security, the humanities and culture, social policy and education.
Fins graduated from Wesleyan with a B.A. with Honors from the College of Letters and from Cornell University Medical College with an M.D. in 1986.

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