Prof. Dr. Silke Schicktanz (acting director)
Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine
Prof. Dr. Silke Schicktanz
Georg-August-University
University Medical Center Göttingen
Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine
Humboldtallee 36
37073 Göttingen
Tel.: +49(0)551 39 69009
Mail: sschick(at)gwdg.de; silke.schicktanz(at)medizin.uni-goettingen.de
Room-Nr.: 1.111
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Since April 2010, Silke Schicktanz is full-professor at the Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University Medical Center Goettingen. Her research focuses on the cultural and ethical study of biomedicine.
In 2011 she hold an Adjunct professorship for Philosophy at the San Francisco State University and was 2011-12 visiting research scholar at the University of California, Berkeley by a grant of the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Foundation (see http://bbrg.berkeley.edu/).
She has studied biology and philosophy at the University of Tübingen from 1991-1997. Her PhD thesis on the ethics of xenotransplantation was approved by the University of Tübingen in 2002.
She held various research positions at the University of Tübingen (1999-2000), at the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine/Forschungszentrum Jülich (2002-2003) and at the Department for Ethics, History and Theory of Medicine at the University of Muenster (2004-2005). Being interested in public dialogue and engagement, she was project leader of the first nation-wide citizen conference on genetic testing, held at Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden (1/2001-2/2002).
She was reviewer for the ERC Advanced Review Panel SH4 (2009-2013; 2015-2017).
Since 2019, she has been a member of the IRG Gene Technology Report based at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and, since August 2020, appointed member of the Central Ethics Committee for Stem Cell Research.
In September 2022, she was elected as the new president of the Academy of Ethics in Medicine, the German-language scientific association for ethics in medicine and health care.
Career
Since 2025 Director of the Institute for the Ethics and History of Medicine,
Since 2014 Head of the independent research group: Culture and Ethics of Biomedicine
Since 2011 Deputy Director of the Institute for the Ethics and History of Medicine,
Since April 2010 Full Professor (W2) of Culture and Ethics of Biomedicine (tenured)
Feb – Sep 2011 Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, San Francisco State University
Jan 2006 – March 2010 Assistant Professor (W1, non-tenured) of History, Theory, and Ethics of Medicine at UMG, Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine (positive evaluation in Nov 2008)
2004 – 2005 Research Assistant (Assistant Position) with teaching responsibilities at the Institute for Ethics, History, and Theory of Medicine, University of Münster
2002 – 2003 Research Associate (postdoctoral position) at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, in the Bioethics and Science Communication Research Group
2002 Doctoral dissertation in the field of “Ethics, Theory, and History of the Life Sciences”
Title: “Medical and Animal Ethics Aspects of Xenotransplantation. A Scientific-Ethical Study on the Current State of Research,” Grade: summa cum laude
2001 – 2002 Project Leader, Citizens’ Conference: The Genetic Diagnostics Controversy, German Hygiene Museum Foundation, Dresden
1999 – 2000 Research Assistant at the Chair of Ethics in the Life Sciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen; DFG Project “New Perspectives in Transplant Medicine” (Director: Prof. Engels)
1998 – 2001 Member of the DFG Research Training Group “Ethics in the Sciences” at the Interfaculty Center for Ethics in the Sciences (IZEW), Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
1991 – 1997 Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Philosophy at the University of Tübingen, overall grade: A (1.05); thesis: “An Aerobic/Anaerobic Microbial Combination Test Using Vibrio fischeri as a Potential Contribution to Reducing Animal Testing,” grade: A
Research
- Ethics of Digitalization and AI in the Medical Sciences and Healthcare
- Cross-Cultural Bioethics
- Research Ethics
- Concepts of Responsibility and Autonomy
- Participatory Ethics
Publications (Selection)
Petersen, N., Andreoletti, M., Blasimme, A., Lazzaroni, C., Leibing, A. & Schicktanz, S. (2026). Verantwortungsfragen entwirren: Perspektiven zur Demenzprävention von Interessengruppen in Kanada, Deutschland und der Schweiz. Sociology of health & illness, 48(1), e70126.
Korecky, K., Schicktanz, S. (2025): Ungelöste ethische Fragen zu mHealth-Apps zur Prävention der Alzheimer-Krankheit. Medizin, Gesundheitswesen und Philosophie, 1–13, DOI: 10.1007/s11019-025-10272-9
Vonderschmitt J, Wöhlke S, Schicktanz S (2023) Knappe Ressourcen, öffentliche Gesundheit und professionelle Pflege: Die COVID-19-Pandemie verschärft bioethische Konflikte – Ergebnisse aus globalen qualitativen Experteninterviews. BMC PUBLIC HEALTH 23: 1–15, DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-17249-4
van Gils-Schmitt, H., Schicktanz S. 2025: Die wissenschaftlich-ethischen Grundlagen der Partizipation in Bioethik, Forschung und Gesundheitsversorgung, in: Klingler, C., Pichl, A., & Ranisch, R. (Hrsg.). (2025). Ethik der Partizipation: Einblicke in gesundheitsbezogene Forschung, Politik und Technologieentwicklung. transcript Verlag, 29-44
Schicktanz, S., & Schweda, M. (2026). Anti-Aging. In Handbuch Alter und Altern: Anthropologie–Kultur–Ethik (S. 1–14). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. (überarbeitete Auflage)
Sakowsky, R. A., & Schicktanz, S. (2025). Bioethische Expertise und das Plädoyer für die Beteiligung von Laien. In Research Handbook on Law, Governance and Bioethics (S. 120–134). Edward Elgar Publishing
Schicktanz, S. (2025). Antizipation. In Handbuch Medizin und Lebenszeit: Gutes Leben im Kontext neuer Chancen und Herausforderungen (S. 1–14). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Raz, A. & Schicktanz, S. (2016): Comparative Empirical Bioethics: Dilemmas of Genetic Testing and Euthanasia in Israel and Germany. Springer Brief in Ethics, 120 Seiten
Schicktanz, S.; Welsch, Johannes; Schweda, Mark; Hein, Andreas; Rieger, Jochem W.; Kirste, Thomas (2023): KI-gestützte Ethik? Überlegungen zur KI-Simulation für die ethische Bewertung und Gestaltung assistiver Technologien. In Frontiers in Genetics 14, Artikel 1039839. DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1039839.
Presentations (Selection)
Vorträge (Auswahl)
May 2026 Sven Paul & Silke Schicktanz: What Is Needed to Support People with Dementia Using AI, Re:publica, Berlin https://re-publica.com/de/session/was-gebraucht-wird-um-menschen-mit-demenz-mit-ki-zu-unterstuetzen
June 12–13, 2025 Linköping University Medical Ethics Conference (LIMEC): The Ethics of Predictive Medicine: Dementia risk prediction between the right to know, responsibilization, and technologies of hope (invited keynote) Prof. Silke Schicktanz, PhD March 2026 32
May 19–21, 2025 International Symposium: Solidarity in Health & Healthcare, University of Vienna: One for all, all for one? Reciprocity, solidarity, and collective responsibility in the ethics of healthcare (invited keynote)
September 11, 2024 Keynote presentation at the symposium “The Importance of the Patient Perspective in Healthcare”, Institute for Quality Assurance and Transparency in Healthcare, Berlin
April 26, 2024 ETH Zurich: Rethinking Mental Disease and the Birth of Bioethics in the Shadow of the Holocaust: The (not so) slippery slope of historical references in bioethical argumentation (invited)
January 19, 2024: Rotterdam Medical Ethics Online Colloquium: The 2nd Wave of Empirical Ethics (invited)
October 10, 2024: Festive Symposium for Claudia Wiesemann: It’s a Family Affair – Children and Family in the Focus of Medical Ethics, Göttingen: Participation of Children in Clinical Research and Care from an Ethical Perspective
October 11–12, 2023: NYU Webinar: Bioethics, Global Justice, and Longevity Research: Ethical Governance for a Just Future: What Ought a Code of Ethics for Governing Longevity Research and Availability to Require? (Organized by C. Robertson, S. AlAsiry, B. Earp) (Invited)
Public Outreach
YouTube Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQRAh1V86dG4ZjQsjxo4BSsqLwyXcx8n8
Radio CRE: Lecture in English on “Normative and Epistemic Challenges of Collective Patient Representation”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTsZAkWPkIg
Podcast on the stakeholder conference presenting the position paper Involvement of patient organisations in digital health research
https://pandora-forscht.de/das-positionspapier/
https://pandora-forscht.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Episode-Stakeholderkonferenz.mp3
Video recording from Forum Wissen: Panel discussion on animal testing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nxsj4l5QN8
Podcast: In this episode, medical ethicist Prof. Dr. Silke Schicktanz from the University Medical Center Göttingen talks with Isabella and Alina about the prerequisites for making an important life decision.
www.organspende-info.de/informieren/podcasts/sag-mal-ueber-organspende-reden/
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