Anita Ho, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor
Institute for Health & Aging

Anita Ho (PhD, MPH) is a bioethicist and health services researcher with a unique combined academic training and experience in philosophy, clinical/organizational ethics, public health, and business. (She is also a classically trained pianist, with a Master degree in piano performance, trying to decide what she will do when she grows up!) Anita is currently an Associate Professor at the UCSF Bioethics Program and a Clinical Associate Professor at the Centre for Applied Ethics at the University of British Columbia. She is also the Vice President of Ethics (Northern California Division) for CommonSpirit Health. Between 2014 and 2017, Anita was Associate Professor and the Director of Undergraduate Ethics Education at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics at the National University of Singapore School of Medicine.

An international scholar and author of more than 90 publications, Anita is an elected fellow of The Hastings Center. Her current research focuses on ethical dimensions of utilizing innovative and artificial intelligence technologies in health care, research and trial design ethics, supportive decision making, and end-of-life care decisions. She is particularly interested in systemic and social justice issues arising in health care. Her broader research areas include trust and decision making in clinical and research medicine, family-centered care, health-care resource allocation and disparity, organizational and system ethics in health care, cross-cultural and global health ethics, professional-patient relationship, ethics education for health professionals, disability and pain experiences, and various concepts of autonomy. Her book, Live Like Nobody is Watching: Relational Autonomy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Health Monitoring, was published by Oxford University Press in May 2023.

Publications: 

Ethical dilemmas in prioritizing patients for scarce radiotherapy resources.

BMC medical ethics

DeBoer RJ, Ho A, Mutoniwase E, Nguyen C, Umutesi G, Bigirimana JB, Nsabimana N, Van Loon K, Shulman LN, Triedman SA, Cubaka VK, Shyirambere C

What We Owe Those Who Chat Woe: A Relational Lens for Mental Health Apps.

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB

Ho A, Perry J

Live Like Nobody is Watching: Relational Autonomy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Health Monitoring

Live Like Nobody is Watching: Relational Autonomy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Health Monitoring

Ho, Anita

Unmasking the Ethics of Public Health Messaging in a Pandemic.

Journal of bioethical inquiry

Ho A, Huang V

Medical assistance in dying legislation: Hospice palliative care providers' perspectives.

Nursing ethics

Joolaee S, Ho A, Serota K, Hubert M, Buchman DZ

Procedural fairness for radiotherapy priority setting in a low resource context.

Bioethics

DeBoer RJ, Nguyen C, Mutoniwase E, Ho A, Umutesi G, Bigirimana JB, Triedman SA, Shyirambere C

Moral Distress and Resilience Associated with Cancer Care Priority Setting in a Resource-Limited Context.

The oncologist

DeBoer RJ, Mutoniwase E, Nguyen C, Ho A, Umutesi G, Nkusi E, Sebahungu F, Van Loon K, Shulman LN, Shyirambere C

The Surprise Question and Serious Illness Conversations: A pilot study.

Nursing ethics

Le K, Lee J, Desai S, Ho A, van Heukelom H

Taking Family-Centered Care Seriously.

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB

Ho A

Global Disparity and Solidarity in a Pandemic.

The Hastings Center report

Ho A, Dascalu I

Gatekeeping in cancer clinical trials in Canada: The ethics of recruiting the "ideal" patient.

Cancer medicine

Bell JAH, Kelly MT, Gelmon K, Chi K, Ho A, Rodney P, Balneaves LG

Social Determinants of Mental Health and Physician Aid-in-Dying: The Real Moral Crisis.

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB

Ho A, Norman JS

ISPOR Code of Ethics 2017 (4th Edition).

Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research

Santos J, Palumbo F, Molsen-David E, Willke RJ, Binder L, Drummond M, Ho A, Marder WD, Parmenter L, Sandhu G, Shafie AA, Thompson D

Sowing the SEED for Patient Empowerment.

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB

Ho A, Jameson K, Eiser A

Investigating Trust, Expertise, and Epistemic Injustice in Chronic Pain.

Journal of bioethical inquiry

Buchman DZ, Ho A, Goldberg DS

Assessment of Capacity to Consent by Nurses Who Deliver Health Care to Patients Who Misuse Substances.

Global qualitative nursing research

Taylor D, Ho A, Mâsse LC, Van Borek N, Li N, Patterson M, Ogilvie G, Buxton JA

Preventive Ethics Through Expanding Education.

HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues

Ho A, MacDonald LM, Unger D

Racism and Bioethics: Are We Part of the Problem?

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB

Ho A

The Puck Stops Here: Taking Organizational Accountability Seriously.

Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)

Pinney S, Ho A

Redefining ethical leadership in a 21st-century healthcare system.

Healthcare management forum

Ho A, Pinney S

Power hierarchy and epistemic injustice in clinical ethics consultation.

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB

Ho A, Unger D

What's trust got to do with it? Revisiting opioid contracts.

Journal of medical ethics

Buchman DZ, Ho A

A brief tool to assess capacity to consent for medical care among homeless individuals with problematic substance use: study protocol.

Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique

Taylor D, Masse L, Ho A, Rekart ML, Tyndall M, Henry B, Clifton J, Peters L, Ogilvie G, Buxton J

Lessons from predictive testing for Huntington disease: 25 years on.

Journal of medical genetics

Hawkins AK, Ho A, Hayden MR

The physician as health advocate: translating the quest for social responsibility into medical education and practice.

Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges

Dharamsi S, Ho A, Spadafora SM, Woollard R

Oncologists' view of informed consent and shared decision making in paediatric radiation oncology.

Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology

Olson RA, Bobinski MA, Ho A, Goddard KJ

Human rights barriers for displaced persons in southern Sudan.

Journal of nursing scholarship : an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing

Pavlish C, Ho A

Correcting social ills through mandatory research participation.

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB

Ho A

Family and informed consent in multicultural setting.

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB

Ho A