Dr. Fernandes to Present “Truth in Science and Medicine – Why Albert’s Legacy of Truth Matters Now” 

Ohio Dominican University welcomes scholar and physician Ashley Fernandes, MD, Ph.D. to present “Truth in Science and Medicine – Why Albert’s Legacy of Truth Matters Now” during the university’s St. Albert the Great Lecture on Wednesday, Nov. 15. The free lecture will take place at 11 a.m. in the Matesich Theatre, located inside Erskine Hall on ODU’s main campus, 1216 Sunbury Road, Columbus, 43219.

Dr. Fernandes currently serves as a clinical professor of Pediatrics and director of Faculty Professionalism at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, as well as associate director of the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, and director of Professionalism Competency at The Ohio State College of Medicine.

The lecture is presented annually in honor of the Dominican Feast Day of St. Albert the Great, which occurs on Nov. 15. St. Albert the Great, also known as Albertus Magnus (1200-80), is the German Dominican patron saint of those who study the natural sciences. One of the most universal thinkers of the Middle Ages and teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert made contributions to logic, psychology, metaphysics, meteorology, mineralogy, zoology and theology. 

Widely published, Dr. Fernandes currently directs ethics education for all pediatric residents at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His scholarly interests include pediatric ethics, medicine and the Holocaust, bioethics education, professionalism education and remediation, and philosophical anthropology in medical practice. 

Dr. Fernandes is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), an elected member of the AAP’s national Executive Committee on Bioethics, a member of the AOA Medical Honor Society, and a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, receiving the prestigious Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award in 2020 and 2010. He also has been awarded The Ohio State University College of Medicine’s Award in Mentorship in 2019, Professor of the Year Award in 2020, and Master Teacher Award in 2022. He earned an MD from The Ohio State University, a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Georgetown University, and a Master of Arts in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University, with a focus on bioethics.