Amber R. Comer, PhD, JD, FAAHPM, is a nationally recognized authority and dual-trained expert in medical ethics, palliative care, health law, and health services research. Dr. Comer’s work centers on safeguarding the rights, dignity, and ethical treatment of seriously ill and marginalized patients by integrating law, ethics, and evidence-based medicine to shape national and global health policy. She has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including The Lancet, JAMA Network, Stroke, The Anatomical Record, Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, and the AMA Journal of Ethics, as well as multiple national Continuing Medical Education modules and textbook chapters used in medical and graduate education.

Dr. Comer serves as Director of Ethics Policy and Secretary of the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) at the American Medical Association (AMA), where she leads the development and interpretation of the AMA Code of Medical Ethics, the profession’s foundational ethical framework for more than 177 years. In this role, she oversees ethics analyses for federal and state legislation, develops ethics policy, contributes to national advocacy strategies, and responds to high-stakes ethics inquiries from physicians, health systems, and government agencies. She also authors CME-accredited ethics education and supports AMA Board reports, litigation briefs, and ethics-related strategic initiatives. Internationally, Dr. Comer serves as an ethics consultant to the World Medical Association (WMA). She was a member of the drafting committee for the 2024 revision of the Declaration of Helsinki, the world’s most influential research ethics document, and she continues to contribute to global standards through the drafting group for the forthcoming Declaration of Tapia.

Dr. Comer is also an Associate Professor of Health Sciences and Medicine at Indiana University, with additional affiliations at the IU Center for Bioethics, the RESPECT Center, and the Regenstrief Institute. As a grant-funded investigator, she has secured competitive funding from major national organizations. Her research portfolio spans surrogate decision-making, serious illness communication, neuropalliative care, palliative and end-of-life care, disparities in health outcomes, and medical ethics. Her work is cited by the World Health Organization, World Medical Association, American Heart Association, and numerous national specialty societies. Findings from her research have informed clinical practice guidelines, ethical standards, hospital policies, and legislative reforms, especially those related to unrepresented patients, ethical decision-making in stroke and critical illness, and equitable access to palliative care.

A committed educator and mentor, Dr. Comer created the first interdisciplinary undergraduate minor in Serious Illness and Critical Care in the United States. She has developed or redesigned more than a dozen courses across health sciences, law, medicine, and bioethics; authored textbook chapters on cultural values and end-of-life care; and produced widely used education and training materials for physicians, ethics committees, and health systems. She has received the Indiana University Trustees’ Teaching Award along with multiple “Favorite Professor” recognitions and has mentored dozens of undergraduate, graduate, and professional trainees whose work has resulted in national presentations, peer-reviewed publications, and competitive awards.

Dr. Comer also plays a leading role in professional societies. She is an elected member of the Board of Directors of the International Neuropalliative Care Society, serves on the Public Policy Committee and formerly chaired the Bioethics Committee/SIG of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and contributes to national efforts to integrate palliative care and ethics across specialties. She is a frequent national and international speaker on medical ethics, serious illness communication, the ethics of emerging AI technologies, and the historical foundations of modern bioethics, including Nazi medical ethics and the lasting implications for contemporary research ethics.

Recognized for both her scholarly and practical impact, Dr. Comer is a Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (FAAHPM) and was named Indy’s Best and Brightest in Health and Life Sciences. Across her roles at the AMA, Indiana University, and global ethics organizations, she is dedicated to building ethical frameworks and practical tools that ensure medicine remains scientifically excellent, evidence-based, and profoundly humane, especially for those facing serious illness, vulnerability, and the end of life.

Selected Courses:

• IU School of Health and Human Sciences: W363- Medical Ethics
• IU Department of History: H364 - Legal and Regulatory Aspects of Healthcare Delivery
• IU School of Liberal Arts: T366 - Medical Decision Making in Film
• IU McKinney School of Law: D882 - Bioethics and the Law

Selected Guest Lectures:

• “Research on Cognitively Impaired Persons”, Indiana University School of Medicine.
• "Ethics of Artificial Nutrition and Hydration", Indiana University School of Health and Human Sciences
• "Physician Aid-in-Dying: Legal and Ethical Challenges", Indiana University Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics

Selected Publications:

• Comer AR. Templeton E, Glidden M, Bartlett S, D'Cruz L, Nemati D, Zabel S, Slaven J. National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) Scoring Inconsistencies Between Neurologists and Emergency Room Nurses. Frontiers in Neurology. 2023.
• Comer AR. Fettig L, Bartlet S, L D'Cruz, Umythachuk, Nina. Physician Self-Reported Use of Empathy in Clinical Practice. Clinical Ethics. 2022.
• Comer AR. The Evolving Ethics of Anatomy: Dissecting an Unethical Past in Order to Prepare for a Future of Ethical Anatomical Practice. The Anatomical Record. 2022.

Additional publications: PubMed

Funding:

Selected Grants:

Validating a Tool to Identify Stroke Patients with Palliative Care Needs (PI)

$175,000 from National Palliative Care Research Center 2019

Description: The primary objective seeks to understand how the receipt of goals of care conversations influences decisions about life sustaining care and goals of care, including the use of DNR orders, mechanical ventilation, ICU utilization, hospice referrals, discharge location, mortality, and advance directives/ POLST forms. The second identifies how neurologists, patients, and families currently understand and communicate about prognosis and treatment decisions after severe stroke.

Selected Activities:

• Member - Eskenazi Hospital medical ethics committee and ethics consultation service
• Member - Eskenazi Hospital Remdesivir Allocation Committee
• Member - American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
• Member - American Public Health Association
• Member - Chronicles of Health Impact Assessment Journal Editorial Board