Stephen G. Post bio - Stony Brook University Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care & Bioethics

s post Stephen G. Post, PhD

Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics
Professor of Bioethics, Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Religion

History of Bioethics; Geriatrics, Dementia; Religion and Health Care;
Compassion and Altruisim

Office Phone: (631) 444-9797; Email: stephen.post@stonybrook.edu

Stephen G. Post is Professor of Preventive Medicine and Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University. He was previously (1988–2008) Professor of Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Family Medicine in the School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, and Senior Research Scholar at the Becket Institute of St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University. Post is a Senior Fellow in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University, and a Distinguished Senior Advisor for the Positive Psychology Center at the University Pennsylvania. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

From the late 1980s, Post focused on ethical and social issues surrounding persons with developmental cognitive disabilities and dementia. He is an elected member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel of Alzheimer's Disease International, and was recognized for “distinguished service” by the Association’s National Board for educational efforts in bringing ethical issues to Association Chapters and families throughout the United States (1998). In 2003, Post was elected a Member of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia for "distinguished contributions to medicine." His book entitled The Moral Challenge of Alzheimer Disease: Ethical Issues from Diagnosis to Dying (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, 2nd edition) was widely influential. He has contributed numerous studies pertaining to dementia on topics such as genetic testing, anti-aging technologies, and hospice care. In 1994, Post was elected a Hastings Center Fellow, and a Senior Scholar in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University. Post co-founded the Bioethics Network of Ohio. He served as editor-in-chief of the definitive reference work in the field of bioethics, the third edition of the five-volume Encyclopedia of Bioethics (Macmillan Reference, 2004).

Post is a leader in the study of altruism, compassion, and love in the integrative context of scientific research, health care delivery and outcomes, philosophy, and religious thought. He is President of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, an Ohio-based 501 (c)(3) established in July 2001 with support from philanthropist John Templeton and the Templeton Foundation. The Institute has supported high level empirical research at more than fifty universities on topics related to unselfish love and its effects. Post became interested in these topics while a youth at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire, where he studied with African-American philosopher Rev. John T. Walker, who later became Dean of the National Cathedral. Post worked in biological research before completing his PhD (1983) on the relationship between other-regarding love and happiness at the University of Chicago under James M. Gustafson, where he was an elected University Fellow, a preceptor in the Pritzker School of Medicine, and a Fellow in the Martin E. Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion. He received the Hope in Healthcare Award in 2008 for his "pioneering research and education in the field of unconditional love, altruism, compassion, and service." His work was included in the distinguished series "Best American Spiritual Writing" (2005), and he received the Kama Book Award in Medical Humanities from World Literacy Canada (2008). Post is an elected member of the International Society for Science and Religion. He writes the Psychology Today blog entitled "The Joy of Giving."

Post authored and co-authored a series of articles in the early 1990s that contributed directly to the de-pathologizing of religion and spirituality in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistic Manual (DSM IV). He then served on the Board of Directors of the National Institute for Healthcare Research, which supported a generation of researchers investigating religion and health in medical schools across the United States. Post consulted extensively with the Division of Religious Liberty of the National Council Of Churches, USA, and authored a scientifically grounded book entitled Human Nature and the Freedom of Public Religious Expression (University of Notre Dame Press, 2003).

He is the primary author of more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Science, The
International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, The Journal of Religion,
The American Journal of Psychiatry, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Lancet. He has written seven scholarly books on altruism and love, and is also the editor of eight other books, including Altruism & Health: Perspectives from Empirical Research, and Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy and Religion in Dialogue, both published by Oxford University Press.

A public intellectual committed to conveying important ideas in the wider culture, Post has appeared on a wide range of radio and television programs including Nightline and 20/20, and National Public Radio. He is sought after as a public speaker by community and professional groups, and is the recipient of the "Top Notch Public Speaker Award" from the Ohio Endowment for the Humanities.

A member of the Episcopal Church, Post co-founded the Cleveland Ecumenical Institute for Religious Studies. He serves as a Trustee of the John Templeton Foundation.

Representative National and International Presentations:
Keynote Address, “Not Just a Burden of Caring” (Ottawa Alzheimer’s Society) Ottawa, Canada, 3 June 2008.

Keynote Address, 3rd International Conference on Happiness Research, Sydney, Australia, 9 May 2008.

Thomas P. Johnson Foundation Lecture, “Social Capital, Altruism and the Epidemiology of Goodness” (Rollins College) Winter Park, Florida, 8 April 2008.

Annual Distinguished College Lecture, “How Giving Gives Back” (The Eighth Annual Bissell Symposium, Hiram College) Hiram, Ohio, 24 March 2008.

Inaugural Calgary Foundation Forever Funds Distinguished Speaker Series, “It’s Good to be Good: Why Giving of Oneself is Essential to Happiness & Health,” Calgary TELUS Convention Center, 24 February 2008; Keynote Address, Calgary Health System Annual Conference, Banff Center for Creativity, Canada, 25 February 2008.

Keynote, “Happiness, Health, and Giving: The Benefits of Volunteerism” (Governors’ Summit on Volunteerism), Las Vegas, 31 January 2008.

Distinguished Author Public Reading, “Why Good Things Happen to Good People” (KAMA Book Award Reading Series, World Literacy Canada, Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada, 16 January 2008.

U.S. Congressional Forum, “Respect and Civility” (Faith & Politics Institute), U.S. Congress, 24 October 2007.

Distinguished Lecture, “Human Worth and the Most Deeply Forgetful” (Queens University) Kingston, Ontario, 5 October 2007.

Keynote, Annual Meeting of the Religion News Writers Association, San Antonio, Texas, 28 September 2007.

Distinguished Lecture Series, “Persevering in the Good” (Pepperdine University), Malibu, CA, 15 September 2007.

Keynote Panel, “Health and Giving” (National Conference on Volunteering and Service, Corporation for National Service & The Points of Light Foundation), Philadelphia, PA, 17 July 2007.

Symposium Presentation, “Learning from the Cognitively Disabled” (What Can We Learn from the Disabled? Sponsored by Jean Vaniuer, Founder of L’Arche International, the John Templeton Foundation and the College de France) Trosly-Breuil, France, 17-19 March 2007.

Lecture & Panel, “Doing Good and Feeling Better: Group Selection Theory and Health” (University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, “Alternatives to Self-Interest”) Ann Arbor, Michigan, 5 March 2007.

Lecture & Seminar, “Altruism, Happiness, and Health: It’s Good to Be Good” (Theology and Medicine Program, Duke University Medical Center and Divinity School) Durham, NC, 1 March 2007.

Keynote Address and Panel, “Is It Really Better to Give Than to Receive?” (The Veritas Forum at Harvard University) Cambridge, Massachusetts, 22 February 2007.