Chair

Prof. Dr. med.

Alena Buyx

Technical University of Munich

Focus of the Commitment in the German Ethics Council

  • Medical Ethics
  • Research Ethics
  • Public Health Ethics

Contact for Press Enquiries on the Following Topics

  • Justice and Solidarity in Health Care
  • Participative Medicine and Research
  • Transplantation, Genetic Research, Antibiotic Resistance

Born in 1977

Professional Background

  • Since 2018 Director of the Institute of History and Ethics of Medicine and Professor of Ethics of Medicine and Health Technologies at the Technical University of Munich
  • Since 2014 Professor of Biomedical Ethics and Head of the Department of Biomedical Ethics at the Institute of Experimental Medicine at the University of Kiel
  • 2012-2015 Senior Research Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University College of London
  • 2012-2014 Head of the DFG-Emmy Noether Research Group "Bioethics and Political Philosophy" at the University of Münster
  • 2013 Habilitation and venia legendi in Ethics, History and Theory of Medicine at the University of Münster
  • 2009-2012 Assistant Director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in London
  • 2008-2009 Visiting Scholar of the Harvard University Programme in Ethics and Health at the Harvard Medical School
  • 2006-2008 Assistant Professor at the Institute for Ethics, History and Philosophy of Medicine at the University of Münster
  • 2005 Medical Licensure, Medical Doctor; Magistra Artium in Philosophy and Sociology at the University of Münster
  • 1997-2004 Dual studies in Medicine, Philosophy and Sociology at the Universities of Münster and York as well as at the University College of London

Memberships

  • Since 2024 Member of the Advisory Board „Health and Resilience“ of the German Federal Government
  • Since 2024 Member of the Board of Trustees of the Bucerius Law School
  • Since 2024 Member of the Board of Trustees of the initiative „Science Year 2024 – Freedom“
  • Since 2024 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance
  • Since 2023 Member of the Board of Trustees of the Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius ZEIT Foundation
  • Since 2021 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Robert Koch Institute
  • Since 2021 Member of the acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering
  • 2021-2023 Member of the COVID-19 Advisory Board of the German Federal Government
  • Since 2020 Member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
  • 2019-2021 Member of the WHO Expert Advisory Committee on Developing Global Standards for Governance and Oversight of Human Genome Editing
  • Since 2017 Co-Director (non-executive) of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Solidarity (CeSCoS) at the University of Vienna
  • Since 2016 Member of the German Ethics Council, since April 2019 Chair of the German Ethics Council
  • 2016-2019 Member of the Advisory Board of the Health Talks of the European Forum in Alpbach
  • Independent Ethics Advisor of different Horizon-2020 DynaHealth consortia in London (until 2019)
  • SysMedPD (Systems Medicine of Mitochondrial Parkinson's Disease ) in Luxemburg (until 2021)
  • EMBRYOandLATERHEALTH in Rotterdam (until 2022)
  • LifeCycle in Rotterdam (until 2022)

Distinctions

  • 2023 Bavarian Order of Merit
  • 2022 Bavarian Constitution Medal of the Bavarian state parliament
  • 2021 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Medal of the Technical University of Munich
  • 2021 National Prize of the Deutsche Nationalstiftung

Publications (Selection)

  • Prainsack, B.; Buyx, A. (2016): Solidarity in biomedicine and beyond. London.
  • Prainsack, B.; Buyx, A. (2016): Das Solidaritätsprinzip. Plädoyer für eine Renaissance in Medizin und Bioethik. Frankfurt am Main.
  • Kollar, E.; Laukötter, S.; Buyx, A. (ed.) (2016): Special Issue: Just Health – the Capability Approach. In: Bioethics, 30 (1).
  • Kollar, E.; Laukötter, S.; Buyx, A. (2016): Humanity and Justice in Global Health. In: Bioethics 30 (1): 41-8.
  • West-Oram, P.; Buyx, A. (2015): Conscientious objection in healthcare provision: a new dimension. In: Bioethics, DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12236.
  • Littmann, J.; Buyx, A.; Cars, O. (2015): Antibiotic resistance: An ethical challenge. In: International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 46 (4), 359-361.
  • Buyx, A. et al. (2015): Alkoholabstinenz vor Lebertransplantation. In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt, 112 (49), A-2078 / B-1716 / C-1662.
  • Kollar, E.; Buyx, A. (2013): The ethics and policy of medical brain drain. Review. In: Swiss Medical Weekly, 143, w13845.
  • Prainsack, B.; Buyx, A. (2013): A solidarity-based approach to the governance of biobanks. In: Medical Law Review, 21 (1), 7191.
  • Hucklenbroich, P.; Buyx, A. (ed.) (2013): Krankheits- und Funktionsbegriff in der Medizin. Paderborn.
  • Buyx, A.; Prainsack, B. (2012): Lifestyle-related diseases and individual responsibility through the prism of solidarity. In: Clinical Ethics, 7, 79-85.
  • Buyx, A.; Strech, D.; Schmidt, H. (2012): Zur Ethik einer Vorsorge durch (direct-to-consumer) individuelle Genanalysen und Ganzkörper-MRTs. Erläuterung und Diskussion der Empfehlungen des Nuffield Council on Bioethics. In: Zeitschrift für Evidenz, Fortbildung und Qualität im Gesundheitswesen, 106 (2012), 29-39.
  • Prainsack, B.; Buyx, A. (2011): Solidarity. Reflections on an emerging concept in bioethics. www.nuffieldbioethics.org/sites/default/files/Solidarity_report_FOR_WEB.pdf.
  • Buyx, A.; Tait, J. (2011): Ethical framework for biofuels. In: Science, 332 (6029), 540-541.
  • Buyx, A.; Friedrich, D. R.; Schöne-Seifert, B. (2011): Ethics and effectiveness: rationing healthcare by thresholds of minimum effectiveness. In: British Medical Journal, 342, 531-533.
  • Buyx, A.; Huster, S. (ed.) (2010): Ethische Aspekte von Public Health. In: Sonderheft Ethik in der Medizin, 22 (3).
  • Buyx, A. (2009): Anreize in der postmortalen Organspende: Belohnte Spendebereitschaft. In: Ethik in der Medizin, 21 (1), 7-20.
  • Buyx, A. (2008): Personal responsibility for health – why we don't like it and why maybe we should. In: Journal of Medical Ethics, 34 (12); 871-874.
  • Buyx, A. (2008): Be careful what you wish for? Theoretical and normative aspects of wish-fulfilling medicine. In: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 11 (2), 133-143.
  • Schöne-Seifert, B.; Buyx, A.; Ach, J. (ed.) (2006): Gerecht behandelt? Rationierung und Priorisierung im Gesundheitswesen. Paderborn.
  • Buyx, A. (2005): Eigenverantwortung als Verteilungskriterium im Gesundheitswesen – Theoretische Grundlagen und praktische Umsetzung. In: Ethik in der Medizin, 17 (4), 269-283.