Dr. Joseph J. Fins Honored at Wesleyan’s 190th Commencement: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters


Dr. Joseph Fins

Dr. Joseph J. Fins

Dr. Joseph J. Fins, Chief, Division of Medical Ethics, WDOM, was honored at Wesleyan’s 190th Commencement as an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

Dr. Fins ’82 provided remarks at Wesleyan’s 190th Commencement with a theme involving “The Humanities and Sciences are Better Together.” Dr. Fins has devoted his career to fostering a productive dialogue between the sciences and the humanities. A physician, bioethicist, academic, and champion of public health and the rights of people with brain injuries, Dr. Fins is the E. William Davis, Jr. MD Professor of Medical Ethics. He is the author of Rights Come to Mind: Brain Injury, Ethics and the Struggle for Consciousness (2015) and a co-author of the 2007 Nature paper describing the first use of deep brain stimulation in the minimally conscious state. He is a former chair of the Alumni Association and a trustee emeritus of Wesleyan.