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Dr. Michael Brannigan, VP of Clinical and Organizational Ethics at the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City, came to the Center from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Cross-Cultural Ethics and Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at La Roche College. He received his doctorate in Philosophy and master's degree in Religious Studies from the University of Leuven, Belgium, and later pursued a fellowship in cross-cultural ethics in Japan. Born in Japan of Japanese and Irish parents, he brings an international perspective and expertise to the Center's traditional program areas. Brannigan has actively served on hospital ethics committees in New York and Pittsburgh, and has a long history of helping to establish and coordinate ethics committees. Besides consulting and lecturing widely on healthcare, intercultural, and applied ethics, and serving on the editorial board of Health Care Analysis: An International Journal of Health Care Philosophy and Policy, he has received various national and international awards including the Salzburg Fellowship, the Freeman Fellowship, the La Roche Alumni Association Educators Award, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center’s Japanese Center for Quality of Life Studies Award, an International Invitational Fellowship from the University of Tokyo, and the Brother Gregory Nugent, F.S.C. Award for Teaching Excellence. Along with book chapters and numerous articles, Brannigan's books include Cross-Cultural Biotechnology, Ethics across Cultures, Healthcare Ethics in a Diverse Society, Ethical Issues in Human Cloning, Striking a Balance: A Primer on Traditional Asian Values, and The Pulse of Wisdom: The Philosophies of India, China, and Japan. He has recently been plenary speaker at conferences in Turkey and Wales, presenting on issues of cross-cultural bioethics.