I am a healthcare ethics educator, nursing ethicist, and clinical ethicist with academic degrees in applied ethics, medical education, and biomedical ethics. I completed my doctoral thesis on nursing ethics at the IBME. My professional journey combines hands-on bedside clinical practice, academic teaching, ethics consultation, and policy work in healthcare ethics.

Before transitioning into academia and clinical ethics, I accumulated twelve years of clinical experience as a trained nurse and nurse anaesthetist. These years of practical work in various healthcare settings informed my understanding of ethical challenges in everyday care and shaped my commitment to integrating ethical reflection into clinical practice. From 1996 to 2014, I contributed to national ethics committees in Switzerland, including serving on the Ethics Committee of the Swiss Nurses’ Association, the Central Ethics Committee of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMW), and the Cantonal Research Ethics Committee of Northwestern Switzerland. These roles allowed me to engage in ethical policymaking at the intersection of professional nursing practice, medical sciences, and research ethics.
I also serve as Associate Editor of the journal Nursing Ethics. This editorial role gives me a unique opportunity to follow contemporary debates in nursing ethics and to connect with an international community of nursing ethics scholars in a dialogue on the ethics in clinical practice, policy, and research.

Since 2014, I am working as a clinical ethicist at the University Hospital of Zurich (USZ), a position affiliated with the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine (IBME), where I also serve on the PhD Commission.

Since 2011, I have been a Professor at the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), where I am responsible for the content of bachelor's program in nursing science and teach ethics at both undergraduate and graduate levels. In my teaching, I strive to connect ethical theory and concepts with clinical realities, encouraging students to engage in critical reflection and to recognize ethical dimensions in their everyday work.

My academic focus lies in the empirical and philosophical study of ethics in healthcare, with a special emphasis on clinical and nursing ethics, ethics education, care for persons with dementia, interprofessional collaboration, and medical assistance in dying. Additionally, my research addresses the ethical implications of moral distress and moral resilience among healthcare professionals and investigates the role of ethics support structures in clinical environments.

A central theme in my work is the belief that ethical reflection should not remain abstract or academic but should actively inform and enhance the quality of care. I view ethics as a practical tool to strengthen critical reflexivity, improve decision-making and clinical outcomes, uphold patients’ dignity and right to informed choice, and promote justice at both societal and planetary levels.
Drawing on my experience in clinical practice, academic teaching and research, ethics consultation, and policy development, I strive to foster ethically grounded, person-centered care practices. My work aims to embed ethical reflection as an integral part of clinical routines and organizational cultures. 

ZORA