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Amy Caruso Brown

Amy Caruso Brown Amy Caruso Brown, MD, MSc, MSCS

Amy Caruso Brown, MD, MSc, MSCS, is the Interim Chair of Bioethics and Humanities and an Associate Professor of Bioethics and Humanities and of Pediatrics.

She is a graduate of the University of Virginia (BA, 2002), Emory University (MD, 2008), the University of Oxford (MSc, 2008), and the University of Colorado (MSCS, 2014). She completed residency training in general pediatrics (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 2008-2009; University of Colorado, 2009-2011) and fellowship training in pediatric hematology/oncology (University of Colorado, 2011-2014). She is board-certified in general pediatrics and pediatric hematology/oncology and is also certified in healthcare ethics consultation (HEC-C).

Dr. Caruso Brown is the co-director of Patients to Populations, a required course for first-year medical students. She serves on the College of Medicine Curriculum Committee and is the thread leader for Ethics and Professionalism in the UME program.

Her current research interests include the impact of social media on trust and communication between physicians and families and social, cultural and legal dimensions of disagreements between families and clinicians in pediatrics. In the context of her teaching efforts, she is particularly interested in the question of how medical students understand and enact social responsibility as part of their evolving professional identities, across societies and healthcare systems.

Dr. Caruso Brown is a member of the Ethics Consultation Service  and treats patients at the Center for Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders and at Golisano Children's Hospital.

Dr. Brown may be reached at brownamy@upstate.edu

Dr. Brown's current CV

Selected Publications

Research Articles:

Caruso Brown AE, Slutzky AR. Refusal of treatment of childhood cancer: A systematic review. Pediatrics 2017;140(6):e20171951. PMID: 29146622 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2017-19514.     

Caruso Brown AE. Choosing to care for children who might die: Conversations with pediatric residents. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 2017;60(2):247-257.
PMID: 29176086 DOI: 10.1353/pbm.2017.0031

Caruso Brown AE, Suryadevara M, Welch TR, Botash AS. “Being persistent without being pushy”: Student reflections on vaccine hesitancy. Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics 2017;7(1):59–70. PMID: 28713146 DOI: 10.1353/nib.2017.0018

Caruso Brown AE, Howard SC, Baker J, Ribeiro RC, Lam CG. Reported availability and gaps of pediatric palliative care in low-income and middle-income countries: A systematic review. Journal of Palliative Medicine 2014;17(12):1369-83. PMID: 25225748 PMCID: PMC4268583 DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2014.0095

Case Analyses:

Caruso Brown AE, Arthur JD, Mutrie LH, Lantos JD. Ethics rounds: Seeking a second opinion on social media. Pediatrics 2019 Nov;144(5): e20190817. PMID: 31597691 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2019-0817. Epub 2019 Oct 9.

Sharma A, Johnson L, Caruso Brown AE, Unguru Y, Lantos JM. Ethics rounds: An extravagant gift from a grateful patient. Pediatrics 2018 Jun;141(6): pii: e20172837. PMID:29728430 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2017-2837

Kania T, Schafer ML, Caruso Brown AE, Olick RS, Lantos JM. Ethics rounds: Should a teen be allowed to leave the hospital AMA to attend his father’s funeral? Pediatrics 2018;141(5):e20170902. PMID: 29626163 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2017-0902

Caruso Brown AE. At the intersection of faith, culture, and family dynamics: A complex case of refusal of treatment for childhood cancer. Journal of Clinical Ethics 2017;28(3):215-222. PMID: 28930710

Caruso Brown AE. Family-centered care and evidence-based medicine in conflict: Lessons for pediatricians. Hospital Pediatrics 2015;5(1):52-54. PMID: 25554760 DOI: 10.1542/hpeds.2014-0082

Commentaries:

Caruso Brown AE. Constrained adolescent autonomy for healthcare should Include participation in survey research. Am J Bioeth 2020;20(10):85-87. DOI:10.1080/15265161.2020.1806377

Caruso Brown AE. In reply to Shah et al. Acad Med 2020 May;95(5):669. PMID: 32345880. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000003200. 

Caruso Brown AE, Hobart TR, Botash AS, Germain LJ. Can a checklist ameliorate implicit bias in medical education?. Medical Education 2019 May;53(5):510. PMID: 30856280 DOI: 10.1111/medu.13840.

Caruso Brown AE. Reconsidering refusal: Are some cases refractory even to the best tools? American Journal of Bioethics 2018; 18(8):61-63. PMID: 30133387 DOI:10.1080/15265161.2018.1485771.

Caruso Brown AE, Garden R. From silence into language: Questioning the power of physician illness narratives. AMA Journal of Ethics 2017;19(5):501-07. PMID: 28553908 DOI: 10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.5.imhl1-1705

Caruso Brown AE. Should clinicians intervene if they suspect that a caregiver whose child has cancer is at risk of psychological harm? AMA Journal of Ethics 2017;19(5):493-500. PMID: 28553907 DOI: 10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.5.msoc3-1705

Narrative Essays:

Caruso Brown AE. Treating addiction as a terminal disease. N Engl J Med 2020 Jan 16;382(3):207-209. PMID: 31940697. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1909298.

McKinney C, Caruso Brown AE, Montgomery KA et al. Quality Initiative to Decrease Time to Antibiotics in Children with Sickle Cell Disease and Fever. Pediatr Qual Saf. 2020 Jan-Feb;5(1):e245. DOI: 10.1097/pq9.0000000000000245. eCollection 2020 Jan-Feb. PMID: 32190792

Caruso Brown AE. Reconceiving decisions at the end of life in pediatrics: Decision-making as a form of ritual. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 2019 Spring; 62(2):301-318. DOI:10.1353/pbm.2019.0015

Caruso Brown AE. Embracing discomfort on the path to humility. Academic Medicine 2019 Jun;94(6):795. PMID: 31136347 DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002678

Caruso Brown AE. Who deserves access to care in children's hospitals?. Hastings Center Report 2018;48(6):7-11. PMID: 30586175 DOI: 10.1002/hast.929

Caruso Brown AE. Porous boundaries. Journal of the American Medical Association 2017;317(24):2487-88. PMID: 28655020 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2017.1589

Caruso Brown AE. Making a safe space possible. Academic Pediatrics 2017;17(4):343-44. PMID: 28323245 DOI: 10.1016/j.acap.2017.03.009

Caruso Brown AE. Finding faith in skepticism and symbolism in science. Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics 2016;6(3):159-161.

Books:
Caruso Brown AE, Hobart TR, Morrow CB, eds. Bioethics, Public Health, and the Social Sciences for Medical Students and Professionals: An Integrated, Case-Based Approach. Switzerland: Springer; 2019.

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