Biography

Dr. Richard Robeson applies Platonist pedagogical methods to the examination of bioethics issues in a narrative ethics sub-specialty he calls “dramatic arts casuistry”: the development and presentation of case studies using devices typically associated with dramatic art. Prior to joining the Graduate Program in Bioethics at WFU in AY 2010-11, he was for many years Adjunct Assistant Professor of Social Medicine, UNC School of Medicine, where he introduced, and refined, the abovementioned Platonist model of bioethics/medical humanities pedagogy.

Professor Robeson holds degrees in History (1974) and Literary Criticism (1975) from North Carolina State University, with special concentrations in Philosophy and Religion, Creative Writing, and African American Studies; and a Fitness Professional Certification from Baylor Sports Medicine Institute (1998). Research interests are focused on the interaction of narrative and counter-narrative (especially those that are hidden or largely unexplored, with particular attention to what may be broadly characterized as the “bioethics of sport”), the general application of the medical humanities in ethics pedagogy, and health & fitness issues for musicians. His AY 2008-09 artist residency in the UNC Department of Music made him the first person in the university’s history to hold simultaneous appointments in its music department and its medical school.

Publication credits include the American Journal of  Bioethics, and the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. His paper, “Athlete or Guinea Pig? — Sports and Enhancement Research” (Studies In Law, Ethics and Technology, 2007), co-authored with Wake Forest University bioethics scholar Nancy MP King, has been called a radically different line of inquiry into the sports-ethics intersection. It was recently anthologized (2016 – Europe & Australia; 2017 – USA) in an encyclopedic volume, The Ethics of Sports Technologies and Human Enhancement (Routledge), co-edited by Hastings Center President Emeritus, Thomas H. Murray.

Professor Robeson’s work has been supported by The National Endowment for the Humanities, The NC Humanities Council, The NC Arts Council, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the NC Biotechnology Center, among others.