Prof. Dr. med. Mirjam Faissner, M.A.

About

Mirjam Faissner is a medical doctor, bioethicist and philosopher. Since April 2026, she has been Professor of Theory and Ethics in the Life Sciences at the University of Lübeck. Her research focuses on normative issues in healthcare, with a particular emphasis on questions around diversity, injustice and participation. She investigates how societal power structures shape the production of medical knowledge and healthcare provision, and how these dynamics can adequately be taken into account in bioethics analyses.

A key focus of her research is on diversity and marginalisation in healthcare, for example in the context of gender and sexual diversity, racism and ableism. She is particularly interested in how diversity in healthcare can better be addressed through intersectional approaches. At a theoretical level, she works on forms of structural and epistemic injustice in the healthcare system and their impact on medical practice and care, particularly in psychiatry, internal medicine, reproductive decision-making, research ethics and clinical ethics.

Methodologically, Mirjam Faissner combines philosophical analyses with qualitative empirical research. She is particularly committed to developing and reflecting on participatory research methods in bioethics, in which different stakeholders – such as those affected, their relatives or healthcare professionals – are actively involved in research processes, for example as co-researchers.

Furthermore, Mirjam Faissner is a founding member and co-coordinator of the working group Feminist Perspectives in Medical Ethics and Bioethics within the Academy for Ethics in Medicine, which advocates for greater visibility of feminist approaches in bioethics. She is also a co-initiator and co-coordinator of the scientific network “Bioethics and Structural Injustice” (2024–2027), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Awards

2025: Award for the best poster presentation at the 2025 Annual Conference of the Academy for Ethics in Medicine, awarded by the Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine at the Technical University of Munich (together with Amelie Kolandt and Susanne Michl)
2024: Scholarship awarded by the ‘Charité Talent Program 2.0’ at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
2024: Invitation as Scholar in Residence at Brocher Foundation (CH)
2024: Early Career Mobility Award of the Oxford Berlin Research Alliance for a research stay at Uehiro Oxford Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford (UK)
2023: Award for Philosophy and Ethics in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy from the German Society for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology, for an essay on the connection between structural racism and psychiatric ethics (together with Esther Braun)
2023: Travel grant awarded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for a research stay at the Department of Philosophy and Centre for Bioethics at New York University, New York (US)
2023: Funding from the Mercator Foundation for a research stay at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, Washington D.C. (US)
2021 – 2023: Member of Global Young Faculty VII, Mercator Foundation, Working Group Health Justice: Funding for a research project on healthcare provision for sex workers
2022: Young Researchers’ Prize for Ethics in Medicine awarded by the Academy for Ethics in Medicine, for an essay on epistemic injustice and depression screening apps (together with Sebastian Laacke, Eva Kuhn and Regina Müller)
2020: Simon Dally Book Award for academic excellence awarded by the Faculty of Philosophy, King’s College London
2019: Hedwig Wallis Doctoral Prize for Psychosocial Medicine at the University of Hamburg, Germany
2014 – 2020: Scholarship awarded by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)

Positions and Activities

Current Memberships

Since 2026: Appointed member of the Commission for Ethics in Security-Related Research at the University of Lübeck
Since 2026: Appointed member of the Ethics Committee at the University of Lübeck
2026 – 2028: Member of the University of Lübeck’s Senate Committee on STEM

Past Memberships

2024 – 2026: Appointed member of the Ethics Committee of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
2023 – 2026: Clinical ethics consultant at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
2021 – 2023: Member of the Clinical Ethics Committee at the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL University Hospital Bochum, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
2021 – 2022: Member of the working group on ‘Ethical Dilemmas in the COVID-19 Pandemic’ organised by the Regional Association of Westfalia-Lippe, Germany

Scientific Societies / Expert Associations

Member of the Academy for Ethics in Medicine (Working Group Ethics in Psychiatry, Working Group Feminist Perspectives in Medical Ethics and Bioethics); the German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology; German Society for Philosophy; SW*IP Germany; the European Philosophy of Science Association

Academic Networks

2024 – 2027: Scientific network funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) „Bioethics and Structural Injustice“
Since 2024: Critical Political Epistemology Network
2025 – 2028: Scientific network funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) „Structural Injustice and Responsibility for Relational Equality”

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