Arlene M. Davis

Arlene M. Davis is a Professor of Social Medicine and Director of the UNC Center for Bioethics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also serves as Director of the UNC Hospitals Clinic Ethics Service and holds Adjunct Professor appointments in Pediatrics and Psychiatry. A dual-trained attorney and nurse, her work bridges practical ethics, health law, and interdisciplinary research.

• JD, University of Washington
• BS in Nursing, South Dakota State University

Her research focuses on ethical and legal frameworks in clinical and genomic research, including informed consent, human subjects protection, gene editing implications, and emotional labor in healthcare. She has led long-term ELSI grants examining vulnerable populations and genetic information dissemination.

Davis co-chairs the UNC Hospitals Ethics Committee and provides ethics consultations across UNC Health’s quaternary hospital system. She integrates ethics into clinical training through resident programs, simulation modules, and medical student electives. Her recent projects address pandemic-era visitor policies and critical care surrogate decision-making.

Scientific Awards:

• Innovation in Teaching Award, UNC Academy of Educators

As a core faculty member in the NIH-funded Translational and Clinical Sciences (TraCS) Institute, she contributes to translating scientific discoveries into healthcare improvements. Her collaborations span legal and clinical domains, including a decade-long legal research project on adolescent health policies in North Carolina.