Dr. Evelyne Shuster, a philosopher and medical ethicist, is the founder (and first chair) of the Ethics Advisory Committee, and the human rights and health program at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). She has taught at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and has held a faculty position as adjunct associate professor of philosophy, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Shuster has published in peer review journals on issues related to philosophy, medicine, bioethics and human rights.
For over two decades, Dr. Shuster has been an active member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) in her hospital and in such organizations as Family Planning Council. She has conducted research ethics seminars at the Philadelphia VAMC, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Wistar Research Institute. She has organized, directed and participated in numerous conferences on biomedical ethics, human rights and health. Dr. Shuster has been an invited speaker at conferences at home and abroad, notably on reproductive medicine (Mexico), human genetics (Argentina, and the United States), cloning and the right of the child (Monaco), human experimentation and pain management (France), and research on vulnerable populations (Germany).
Dr. Shuster received her MA and PhD in Philosophy and History of Medicine from the University of Paris, The Sorbonne, and has taught continental philosophy at Swarthmore College and Villanova University, before her current position.
Dr. Shuster is a member of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), particularly, Global Lawyers and Physicians (GLP). She has served on special panels, task force and committees that include the national ethics committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and the American Psychological Association, the Association of the United States of America, Global Health Project. In collaboration with her French colleagues, Dr. Shuster has helped create the Centre Georges Canguilhem in Paris, Hôspital Pitié-Salpêtrière, whose primary mission has been to educate graduate, post-graduate medical students, humanity and health care professionals and concerned citizens about human rights issues (1998). Dr. Shuster has also worked with Native Americans and the Pennsylvania Black Caucus on issues related to human genetics and its impact on minorities, including genetic exploitation, bio-colonialism and bio-piracy.
Dr. Shuster has appeared on Nightline, Nightly News, and numerous talk shows, including the Oprah Winfrey Show.