Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Eva Winkler leads the Section Translational Medical Ethics (formerly: research group “Ethics and Patient Oriented Care in Oncology”) at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg. Her research focusses on the intersection of research and health care from the perspective of medical ethics. The multidisciplinary research group comprises researchers from the natural sciences and humanities combining competencies from the fields of philosophy/ethics, social sciences, biology, and medicine.

The envisaged realization of Translational Medical Ethics benefits from the research group’s close connection to the NCT as Top Oncological Center and from the expertise in the combination of theory-driven ethical analysis with empirical social research (qualitative and quantitative).

The research group systematically studies issues in the field of clinical ethics, research ethics, and ethical questions concerning the health system (Health Policy Ethics). These fields cover topics such as the informed-consent-process in research, patient’s rights relating to self-determination in treatment decisions, and ethical justification of expensive treatments facing limited resources in health care. In addition to scientific publications, the research group develops and implements concrete recommendations and policies for stakeholders.