University of Virginia Health System

Ruth D. Gaare, JD, MPH,
University of Virginia Institute for Practical Ethics
434.924.3487
rg3r@virginia.edu

Ruth Gaare is executive director of the University of Virginia Institute for Practical Ethics and a core faculty member of the Medical School's Center for Biomedical Ethics. She will teach a new elective course the 2000-2001 academic year for medical students on Public Health Policy, and teaches courses on Public Health in the College of Arts and Sciences and law school.

Ms. Gaare came to the University of Virginia in 1998 from Johns Hopkins University, where she had been on the faculty of the School of Public Health and Associate Director of the Bioethics Institute since 1994. As Associate Director of the Bioethics Institute, she was responsible for the coordination of all academic programs, including the Greenwall Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Bioethics and Health Policy.

In addition, Ms. Gaare was involved in numerous research projects, including a Robert Wood Johnson-funded grant with the Maryland Attorney General's Office on End-of-Life Care, and a Pew-funded grant on Managed Care and Public Health. Ms. Gaare also is trained in meditation and worked with the Maryland and Baltimore City Departments of Health in the development of an ombudsmen program for the state of Maryland's Medicaid Managed Care Program. She taught two courses at the school of Public Health: Ethical Issues in Public Health and Ethical Issues in the Evolving Care Delivery System.

Additionally, she was a member of numerous university committees, including the Johns Hopkins Hospital Ethics Committee. She continues to serve on the Johns Hopkins Health Care Scientific and Benefits Assessment Committee, which recommends the medical benefits that will be provided under Johns Hopkins health plans.

Ms. Gaare's education includes a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, a Masters of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, certificates in meditation from Boston University and Harvard School of Public Health, and coursework as a Research Scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.