Jeanette Bresson Ladegaard Knox

Jeanette Bresson Ladegaard Knox serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. She also holds a Senior Researcher position within the Section of Health Services Research and is affiliated with the Centre for Medical Science and Technology Studies. Her work bridges philosophy, art, and medicine to explore humanistic, existential, and ethical dimensions of health and illness.

Dr. Knox earned her academic background in Continental Philosophy from Copenhagen University, with additional degrees in Theater Studies and Religious Studies from the same institution. She also holds a Diploma in Philosophical Practice from the University of Oslo and is a certified Socratic dialogue facilitator through the Norwegian Society of Philosophical Practice. Prior to her current position, she taught at various departments and universities including the University of Copenhagen, DIS, St. Olaf College in the United States, and university colleges like SUND / Kleo UCC.

Her research focuses on medical ethics, particularly clinical ethics and humanistic health research, with emphasis on narrative, philosophical, and aesthetic approaches to health practice. Theoretically grounded in existential phenomenology, hermeneutics, philosophy of existence, moral theories, ancient philosophy, and Stoicism, she develops methods to foster creative, critical, and dialogic environments within healthcare. Her work addresses concepts including death, mortality, selfhood, vulnerability, creativity, intersubjectivity, and the art of living. She conducts ethnographic research with participatory art and philosophy projects in pediatrics, disability, chronic disease rehabilitation, and personalized medicine.

Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on ethics laboratories as dialogical spaces for moral deliberation, narrative medicine applications, existential approaches to disability and chronic illness, and the philosophical dimensions of precision medicine. Her work shows strong interdisciplinary connections between healthcare practice, philosophical inquiry, and artistic methods, particularly in addressing existential suffering and promoting human flourishing among vulnerable populations.

Dr. Knox actively contributes to clinical ethics practice through her membership on the Clinical Ethics Committee for Pediatrics at the Juliane Marie Center, University Hospital Copenhagen (since 2012), and the Board of the Danish Society for Clinical Ethics (2020-present, previously vice-chair 2014-2018). She coordinates research projects including MORPHEUS (2023-2028), DET: The Existential Theater (2024-2026), and serves as Research and Ethics Lab coordinator for MeInWe (2017-2024). She has received significant funding from sources including the Carlsberg Foundation's Semper Arden grant, Columbia University, and the Danish Cancer Society.

Her research methodology combines theoretical philosophical work with empirical intervention studies, often involving participatory art and Socratic dialogue practices. She has developed the Ethics Laboratory model for moral learning across disciplines and the 4C model for ethical reflection in neonatal care. Current projects include exploring drama and music for children with cerebral palsy, investigating shared decision-making for venous blood clots, and examining existential approaches to disability through the DET project.