Adrienne Asch
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Prof. Adrienne Asch, 2011
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| Born | Adrienne Valerie Asch (1946-09-17)September 17, 1946
New York, New York, USA
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| Died | November 19, 2013(2013-11-19) (aged 67)
Manhattan, New York, New York, USA
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| Occupation(s) | Social worker, university professor |
| Known for | Bioethics, Disability rights |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Swarthmore College Columbia University |
| Doctoral advisor | Morton Deutsch[1] |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Boston University Wellesley College Yeshiva University |
Adrienne Asch (September 17, 1946 – November 19, 2013) was a bioethics scholar and the founding director of the Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University in New York City. She was also the Edward and Robin Milstein Professor of Bioethics at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work and Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which are both graduate professional schools at Yeshiva University. She also held professorships in epidemiology and population health and in family and social medicine at Yeshiva's Albert Einstein College of Medicine.[2]
Asch was born in New York City to Ruth Asch (née Posner) and Julian Asch in 1946.[3] Her birth was premature, and she became blind at a few weeks old from retinopathy of prematurity as a result of too much oxygen in her incubator.[4] Asch grew up in Ramsey, New Jersey, where she attended school in the Ramsey Public School District.[5]
She received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Swarthmore College in 1969 and a master's degree in social work from Columbia University in 1973.[6] She opened her own private practice in 1979. Before studying for her Ph.D. in social psychology in Columbia University, which she received in 1992, she worked in the New York State Division of Human Rights as an investigator of employment discrimination cases.[2] Asch also trained as a family therapist, and earned a certificate from the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in 1981.[5]
Before becoming the Director of the Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University, Asch was professor of women's studies and the Henry R. Luce Professor in biology, ethics and the politics of human reproduction at the Boston University School of Social Work and Wellesley College in Massachusetts.[7] Although she supported a woman's right to choose abortion, Asch took a disability justice approach in her opposition to prenatal testing and abortion that would stop pregnancies carrying disabled fetuses. She wrote and lectured extensively on the topic.[8]
In an article in The American Journal of Public Health in 1999, Asch discussed the topic of prenatal testing for disabilities:
Asch helped to develop guidelines for end-of-life care with the Hastings Center, and was a strong voice for the inclusion of people with disabilities in conversations about bioethics.[10] Asch also worked with assistive technology designers, advising on how to make devices more suited for academic needs.[11]
Asch died at her Manhattan home in 2013, age 67, from cancer.[2]
When she was a girl, her family moved to New Jersey, then one of the few states that let blind children attend school with their sighted peers. She attended public schools in Ramsey, in Bergen County.
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