Audrey R. Chapman began her professional career as a faculty member in the Political Science Department at Barnard College. She then spent several years teaching and conducting applied social science research on development issues at institutions in Ghana, Lebanon, and Kenya. When she returned to the U.S., she assumed a position directing peace, justice, and human rights programs for the United Church Board for World Ministries, the international agency of the United Church of Christ, attended seminary, and was ordained as a minister in the denomination. She spent 15 years on the staff of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as the Director of the Science and Human Rights Program; the founding Director and then Senior Associate for Ethics of the AAAS Program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion; and for several years, the Co-Director of the AAAS initiative on Science and Intellectual Property in the Public Interest. She has been on the faculty of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine since July 2006 when she assumed her current appointment as a Professor of Community Medicine and Healthcare and the Healey Chair in Medical Humanities and Bioethics.
Dr. Chapman is the author, coauthor, or editor of 18 books and more than 40 articles and reports dealing with ethical, human rights, theological, and intellectual property issues related to health, genetic developments, and pharmaceuticals. She also has published works on economic, social and cultural rights; health care reform; transitional justice; reconciliation; and development issues.
As a Professor in the Division of Public Health Law and Bioethics and the first Healey Endowed Chair, she is responsible for developing medical humanities and health ethics programs at the UConn Health Center.
