Amber Comer, PhD, JD is an Associate Professor of Health Sciences and Medicine who holds faculty appointments in the School of Health and Human Sciences, Department of Health Sciences and the School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Comer is an affiliate faculty in the School of Medicine, Center for Bioethics, the RESPECT Center, and the Regenstrief Institute. Dr. Comer also holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the McKinney School of Law. She is also the Director of Ethics Policy and Secretary of the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs for the American Medical Association 

Dr. Comer holds a PhD from the Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health with a minor in Bioethics, a JD from the Indiana University McKinney School of Law with a concentration in Health Law, and she completed a Medical Ethics Fellowship at the Indiana University Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics. Dr. Comer is also a member of the Indiana State Bar. 

Dr. Comer is a palliative care researcher and bioethicist who is an expert in medical decision making for hospitalized patients with critical illness. Dr. Comer's sub focus is neuropalliative care. Dr. Comer's research goal is to reduce suffering at the end of life by improving the quality of medical decision making. Her work has been nationally recognized and has been cited in clinical practice guidelines and played a role in changing Indiana's Health Care Consent Law. 

Selected Courses:

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

Selected Guest Lectures:

• "Mobility Goals of Care Conversations During Severe Stroke", RESPECT Conference
• "Advance Care Planning Documents and End of Life Care in Patients with ALS", RESPECT Conference
• "Goals of Care Conversations with Stroke Patients Facing Feeding Tube", RESPECT Conference
• "An Intervention to Increase Goals of Care Conversations with Hospitalized Patients Suffering Stroke", RESPECT Conference
• “Research on Cognitively Impaired Persons” Indiana University School of Medicine.
• "Physician Aid-in-Dying: Legal and Ethical Challenges" Indiana University Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics"Documentation of Thrombolytic Therapy Consent in Acute Ischemic Stroke", American Academy of Neurology

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; In Press.

Additional Publications: PubMed

Funding:

Examining the Effects of Changing Indiana’s Health Care Consent Law on Physician Practice and Patient Care in Indiana Hospitals

• Role: PI
• Dates: 2019
• Funder: IUPUI Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research
• Description:

The Effect of a Change in Indiana’s Health Care Consent Law

• Role: PI
• Dates: 2018
• Funder: IU School of Health and Human Sciences
• Description:

HIP 2.0: Health Equity, Responsibility and Community

• Role: Co-PI (Co-PI: David Craig)
• Dates: 2018-2020
• Funder: Executive Committee of the Consortium for the Study of Religion, Ethics, and Society
• Description: This six-part series asks: How are HIP's values of personal responsibility, wellness, and empowerment working for members, providers, and our state? How can congregations, providers, and nonprofits improve HIP's operations through their values of community responsibility, neighborly outreach, social advocacy, and excellent care?

Reflecting on 75 Years since the Liberation of Auschwitz: The lasting Impact of the Nazi Regime on Medical Research

• Role: Co-PI (Co-PI: Jason Organ)
• Dates: 2019
• Funder: Executive Committee of the Consortium for the Study of Religion, Ethics, and Society
• Description: This lecture series features experts in medical research, medical ethics, Nazi history, and anatomical sciences who will discuss critical topics such as the ethical violations that occurred during the Nazi persecution of the Jewish people, the use of Nazi produced anatomical knowledge, and the prospect of medical ethical violations, such as those experienced by the prisoners of Auschwitz, occurring again.

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