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Dr. Anita J. Tarzian joined the National Center for Ethics in Health Care as deputy executive director in June 2020. Prior to this appointment, she was an ethics and research consultant in Baltimore, Maryland and an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. She served for over two decades as the program coordinator for the Maryland Healthcare Ethics Committee Network, a regional ethics membership-supported initiative of the University of Maryland School of Law that serves health care ethics committee members.
A former surgical oncology nurse, hospice nurse, and Peace Corps Volunteer (Dominican Republic 1990–92), her professional work has focused on clinical and research ethics, palliative care, hospice, and disability rights. She served as an institutional review board (IRB) chair and board member at Advarra IRB (formerly Chesapeake IRB) in Columbia, MD. She has had various service roles with the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and has served on numerous ethics committees.
Dr. Tarzian has published and presented widely in the bioethics literature. Creighton University’s Center for Health Policy and Ethics recognized her contributions as a nurse scholar in ethics in their Nursing Legacy project. In 2019, she was elected as a fellow of The Hastings Center, a nonpartisan bioethics research institution founded in 1969.
Career Chronology
2020–Present
Deputy Executive Director, NCEHC, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC
1998–2020
Ethics and Research Consultant, Baltimore, MD
2010–2020
Associate professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Nursing, Family & Community Health, Baltimore, MD
1993–2004
Hospice nurse, Visiting Nurses Association Hospice of Maryland
1993–1997
Hospice nurse, Joseph Richey Hospice, Baltimore, MD
1986–1990; 1993
Staff nurse, Medical/Surgical Oncology, Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center
Education
1998
PhD, Nursing (Ethics), University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
1995
Master of Science, Nursing, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
1986
Bachelor of Science, Nursing, Rush University, Chicago, IL
1984
Bachelor of Arts (Biology), Knox College, Galesburg, IL
