Contact

T +49 89 4140 4041

E office.ethics@mh.tum.de

Mon-Thu: 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Fri: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (core hours)

IHEM

The Institute of History and Ethics in Medicine

Events

News
May 12, 2025 INS Annual Meeting "Neuroethics 2025" From April 23-25, the IHEM team hosted the 2025 Annual Meeting of the International Society for Neuroethics in the historic premises of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The interdisciplinary conference addressed pressing issues at the intersection of the brain and AI, including those related to brain-computer interfaces and other related technologies, mental health and wellness, and beyond.
May 6, 2025 May 22nd: Lunch Talk Ezekiel Emanuel "The Future of the US Health Care System: Goals, Performance, and Reforms" We are proud to host Dr. Emanuel for a special Lunch Talk! He is an oncologist and world leader in health policy and bioethics. He is a Special Advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, and member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Abstract: The US health care system is not working well-it is not realizing any of its 5 major goals. The Trump administration is trying to dismantle the health care system. It needs not just reform but transformation. Part of that transformation requires focusing on more standardization at every level of health care-from insurance and payment to clinical care for common diseases, focusing on chronic conditions with team based care, and focusing on those who live a short time.
April 30, 2025 Epistemic humility meets virtual reality: teaching an old ideal with novel tools The pace of scientific advancements in medicine, driven by artificial intelligence as much as by novel biotechnologies, demands an ever-faster update of professional knowledge from physicians and collaboration in interdisciplinary teams. This requires a professional virtue that can be summarized as epistemic humility-a teaching process which can be supported by novel technologies. The paper contributes to the emerging field of digital bioethics, calls for more work in the area of experimental bioethics and informs ongoing debates on how medical ethics teaching can prepare future physicians for the challenges of tomorrow's practice of medicine.
April 16, 2025 Ethical Design of Data-Driven Decision Support Tools for Improving Cancer Care: Embedded Ethics Review of the 4D PICTURE Project The 4D PICTURE (Producing Improved Cancer Outcomes Through User-Centered Research) project aims to support patients, their families, and clinicians with these complex decisions by developing data-driven decision support tools (DSTs) for patients with breast cancer, prostate cancer, and melanoma as part of care path redesign using a methodology called MetroMapping. This paper aims to review the key ethical challenges related to the design and development of DSTs in oncology.
April 8, 2025 Graphic novel Toxic is published in German The graphic novel Toxic by Amelia Fiske and Jonas Fischer has now been published in German for the first time by Berlin-based JaJa Verlag - a captivating book that takes the reader on a visual journey through the oil-polluted landscapes of the Ecuadorian Amazon region. The book invites readers to learn more about the people who live in the shadow of industrial pollution and struggle for justice amidst the environmental destruction caused by decades of oil extraction in the Amazon. Toxic is a collaborative project between anthropologist Amelia Fiske and graphic designer Jonas Fischer, who have been working together since 2020.
April 7, 2025 New paper out: What feminist turn? In this commentary, we would like to ask: what is meant by the feminist turn in German-speaking bioethics? We take this opportunity to reflect on how non-dominant histories in feminist thought and bioethics might offer important starting points for considering the feminist turn in German-speaking bioethics. Any feminist turn in bioethics needs to strengthen an analysis of power, intersectionality, relationality and contextuality, social responsibility, with a specific stake in the socio-political positionalities and commitments of the German-speaking context.
See more News

The Institute of History and Ethics in Medicine

Innovative research and teaching

The Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine is divided into three main research areas: Medical and Neuroethics, History of Medicine. In addition, clinical ethics offers case consultations in everyday clinical practice. The heart of the Institute is the team of international scientists who offer innovative teaching at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich (LMU).

More about the institute
Embedded Ethics
  • For us, embedded ethics means the integration of ethical thinking strategies where technology is developed.
  • Together with our colleagues in externally funded projects, we collaboratively research and develop best practices for the embedded ethics approach
  • To consolidate and further develop this approach, we have established the Munich Embedded Ethics Lab (MEEL).
More
AI Ethics
  • Machine learning becomes an integral part of research and development in medicine
  • We work with AI ethics frameworks to anticipate the opportunities and risks of these technologies and to further develop knowledge about them
Research Ethics
  • Research ethics plays a key role in the generation of new knowledge, especially in medicine.
  • In our consortia, we therefore develop new approaches to research ethics issues and incorporate these into ongoing projects
Public Health Ethics
  • Public health issues are moving more and more into the public focus
  • As a group, we are engaged in developing strategies to deal with current public health issues and are available for consultation in times of crisis
KEK
  • The Clinical Ethics Committee (CEC) aims to promote and support a competent approach to ethical challenges in patient care and clinical work
  • The CEC stands as a forum for the discussion of ethical issues at the hospital and for ethics case consultation
More
Ethics Consultation
  • Ethical issues in everyday clinical practice are manifold
  • The joint development of new services, such as consults and visit support, is a priority in order to make well-founded consultation possible.
More
Neuroethics
  • Since 2023 a new professorship belongs to the Institute for History and Ethics of Medicine
  • Dr. Marcello Ienca's team addresses ethical issues in the field of neuroscience and technologies
History of Medicine
  • History of medicine deals with the developments, lines of continuity and ruptures in medicine from a historical perspective
  • One of the Institute's research focuses is on the subject of medicine under National Socialism
  • In addition to researching the work of medical professionals, the focus is equally on the patient perspective
Medical Ethics
  • Medical ethics research and teaching at IGEM encompasses the entire field of biomedical and public health ethics
  • A particular focus is on issues related to the responsible development and adoption of new biomedical technologies in the healthcare sector
Medical Ethics
Clinical Ethics
  • Currently, the Clinical Ethics service is represented by the Clinical Ethics Committee (CEC), the Mobile Ethics Team, and the Senior Clinical Ethics Physician
  • The further development of ethics structures and services at the hospital is carried out in close cooperation with the employees in order to use existing processes and to implement suitable structures in the hospital's daily routine in the long term.
Research
  • Research at IGEM is carried out in numerous projects, funded by third-party donors such as the EU, BMBF, DFG, NIH, Max Planck Society and bidt.
  • Since 2018, the institute has raised over 3.5 million euros in funding.
  • IGEM maintains cooperations with other departments within TUM as well as with other universities and institutes from Germany and abroad.
Teaching
  • The IGEM teaches mainly in the course of study of human medicine at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
  • With two electives, a lecture, various seminars and workshops, ethics will be more integrated into medical education.
Team
  • The employees of the institute are internationally positioned.
  • They are concerned with the ethical, theoretical and historical dimensions of medicine in research and teaching.

Research

Although the Institute of History and Ethics in Medicine (IHEM) has been undergoing a realignment since 2018, it has already been able to establish a place among the most research-intensive institutes in this subject area in the German-speaking world.

Teaching

The IHEM teaches predominantly in the study program of human medicine at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). With lectures, seminars, workshops and other events, the IHEM would like to contribute to an even stronger integration of medical ethics into medical education.

Clinical Ethics

Within the framework of clinical ethics, the Institute offers applied ethics in everyday clinical practice. Here, the Clinical Ethics Committee (KEK) aims to promote and support a competent approach to ethical challenges in patient care and clinical work.

Contact

The Institute of the History and Ethics in Medicine welcomes your contact.

T  +49 89 4140 4041
M  office.ethics@mh.tum.de

Mon-Thu: 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Fri: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (core hours)
Ismaninger street 22
81675 Munich
en_USEN
de_DEDE en_USEN