Faculty and Staff Directory
Leadership Team
Sean A. Valles
- Director and Professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice
- Pronouns: he/him/his
Expertise: health equity, philosophy, population health, public health, race, social determinants of health
Karen Kelly-Blake
- Associate Director of Academic Programming, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice
- Associate Professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice, Department of Medicine
- Pronouns: she/her/hers
Expertise: health services research, shared decision-making, decision aid development and implementation, clinical communication skills and training, mHealth, men’s health, medical workforce policy, health equity, medical education curriculum development, medical education faculty development
Unit Administrator
- Pronouns: she/her/hers
- bauerka@msu.edu
517-353-5197
Karla Bauer is the Center Administrator/Fiscal Officer. She supports the Center’s Director by managing financial reporting, budget planning and administration, human resources, contract and grant management as well as strategic planning.

Mar Dunstone
- Center Assistant
Mar Dunstone is the Center Administrative Assistant. Mar supports the center by assisting wtih unit administration as well as supporting event logistics for the Center.
Faculty
Ariel Cascio
- Assistant Professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice, Department of Medicine
- Pronouns: they/she
Expertise: Disability studies, neuroethics, medical humanities, empirical research on human research ethics, qualitative research, ethnography, cross-cultural studies, autism, neurodiversity, Italy
Leonard Fleck
- University Distinguished Professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice, Department of Philosophy
- Pronouns: he/him/his
Expertise: medical ethics, health care policy, social and political philosophy, genome technology, precision medicine, health care rationing, democratic deliberation on bioethical issues, public health preparedness, death and dying
Larissa E. Westcomb
- Assistant Professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice
- Learning Society Fellow, CHM West
- Pronouns: she/her/hers
Expertise: medical education, medical ethics, shared decision-making, social context of clinical decisions, social determinants of health, health policy
- Assistant Professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice
- Pronouns: she/her/hers
Expertise: animal welfare, environmental philosophy, feminist philosophy, food and farming systems, philosophy of science, veterinary medicine
- Assistant Professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice
- Assistant Professor, Department of Media and Information, College of Communication Arts and Sciences
- Pronouns: they/them/theirs
Expertise: epilepsy, disability, LGBTQIA+ experiences, ethnography, science & technology studies, information studies, social analyses of medical and civic technology, inclusive technology
- Assistant Professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice, Department of Medicine
- Pronouns: she/her/hers
Expertise: clinical bioethics consultation, policy-writing, education; application of critical social theories to bioethics: postcolonialism, anti-colonialism, critical race, religious studies; health equity; interdisciplinary bioethics education; critical care ethics
- Assistant Professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice, Department of Medicine
- Pronouns: she/her/hers
Expertise: neuroethics, medical ethics, philosophy of science, social epistemology, feminist philosophy
Adjunct Faculty

Christopher Contag
- Adjunct Professor
- Director, Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering
- Hannah Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
Expertise: biomedicine, biomedical engineering, microbiology, molecular imaging, precision health and medicine

Sabrina Ford
- Adjunct Associate Professor
- Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
Expertise: cancer disparities, cancer prevention and intervention, health behaviors, endometriosis, ademoyosis and liemyomas, STDs and HIV in young women
Henry Ford Health Faculty
Denise White Perkins, MD, PhD
- Clinical Professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice
- Director, Healthcare Equity Initiatives, Office of System Diversity Equity and Inclusion
- Vice Chair of Academic Affairs, Department of Family Medicine
- Henry Ford Health
- Pronouns: she/her/hers
Expertise: health equity, family medicine, public health, social determinants of health, diabetes, hypertension, patient centered health care, graduate medical education
Research Assistants

Jacob Krehbiel
- Research Assistant
- Pronouns: he/him
Jacob Krehbiel is a research assistant working with Assistant Professor Ariel Cascio on the project "Meanings of autism and work: Autistic and non-autistic people navigating shared spaces and conflicting conceptualizations.” He has a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Technical Communication from Ferris State University.

Leslie Morgan
- Research Assistant
- Pronouns: she/her
Leslie Morgan is a fourth-year nontraditional medical student at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine with a passion for research in women’s health and ethics. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Michigan and is applying for a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology to serve urban and underserved communities.