D. Micah Hester
Chair/Professor
faculty
Department Chairs, College of Medicine
Research Areas
Links
Biography and Research Information
OverviewAI-generated summary
D. Micah Hester, Chair of the Department of Medical Humanities & Bioethics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, conducts research focused on ethical considerations in healthcare and research. His work specifically addresses patient-provider relationships, end-of-life issues, pediatric ethics, and ethics education. Hester has a particular concern for transparency in research consent processes, including the challenges posed by "therapeutic misconception," where potential participants may overemphasize potential therapeutic benefits while overlooking their role as research subjects. He has also investigated assent in pediatric research protocols.
Hester brings extensive experience to his role, with over two decades of Institutional Review Board (IRB) service. He offers research ethics consultations and collaborates with researchers to navigate ethical challenges from protocol development through consent and IRB review. His scholarly output includes numerous publications, with an h-index of 13 and over 766 citations. His recent publications explore topics such as consensus recommendations for pediatric decision-making, the ethical implications of "medical benefit" in pediatric oncology research, and considerations for consent during medical crises.
His collaborations include work with researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, such as Lauren Bunch and Joshua Daily. Hester's expertise is frequently sought for discussions on ethical issues arising from specific research projects, contributing to the responsible conduct of research.
Research Overview
I am the Chair of the Department of Medical Humanities & Bioethics and a clinical and research ethicist here at UAMS since 2004. I have a PhD in philosophy from Vanderbilt University. My scholarly work has been in the areas of patient-provider relationships, end-of-life issues, pediatric ethics, and ethics education. I am deeply concerned by issues of transparency in consent processes for research, including challenges posed by what has been called "therapeutic misconception"--when would-be participant are focused on therapeutic outcomes, and blind to the fact that they are agreeing to be research subjects. I have done work in assent in pediatric research protocols, as well. I also have over two decades of IRB service experience, and provide research ethics consultations, as requested. I am available to discuss ethical issues that are raised by specific research, and thereby to help think through and monitor ethical challenges in research, from protocol development to consent issues to IRB considerations.
Metrics
- h-index: 13
- Publications: 145
- Citations: 783
Selected Publications
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Of Course Reasons Matter. The Question is How (2025)
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A Potential Clinical Ethicist Weighs in with Insights and Concerns Form the Findings of Fox and Wasserman (2025)
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Oversight for First-in-Human Surgical Procedures (2025)
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Partial waiver of consent to overcome translational science barriers in neonatal clinical research (2025)
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Non-Beneficial or Harmful: Furthering the Futility Discussion (2025)
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Achieving Live Birth is Not an Endpoint but a Steppingstone (2024)
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Equitable Access of Delandistrogene Moxeparvovec for Patients With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: A Call for Discussion (2024)
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Healthcare Privacy in an Electronic Data Age (2024)
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Careful Considerations for Midcrisis Consent to and Refusal of Blood Products (2024)
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Careful Considerations for Midcrisis Consent to and Refusal of Blood Products (2023)
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Ethics at the Edges: Normative Considerations When Spheres of Morality Overlap (2023)
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Consent and Assent in Pediatric Research (2023)
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Pediatric Decision Making: Consensus Recommendations (2023)
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Membership and Structure of Institutional Bioethics Committees (2023)
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Respecting Autonomy and Balancing Benefits by Disclosing the Secondary Finding of Klinefelter’s (2022)
Grants & Funding
- Partnership for Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices in Rural Primary Care NIH Co-Investigator
- Arkansas Center for Clinical and Translational Research NIH Co-Investigator
- 1/6 HBCD Prenatal Experiences and Longitudinal Development (PRELUDE) Consortium NIH Co-Investigator
- Arkansas Center for Clinical & Translational Research NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Co-Investigator
Collaboration Network
Top Collaborators
- Pediatric Decision Making: Consensus Recommendations
- “Medical Benefit” and Therapeutic Misconception: The Ethical Conundrum of Phase 1 Pediatric Oncology Research
- How We Found Consensus on Pediatric Decision-Making and Why It Matters
- Teenage Development and Parental Authority: applying consensus recommendations to adolescent care
- Achieving Live Birth is Not an Endpoint but a Steppingstone
- Pediatric Decision Making: Consensus Recommendations
- Reasonableness as a Relational Principle: An Integrated Framework for Pediatric Decision-Making
- How We Found Consensus on Pediatric Decision-Making and Why It Matters
- Parents (of minors) are not surrogates: acknowledging (finally) the unique moral space of parents
- Of Course Reasons Matter. The Question is How
- Introduction
- Brief Introduction to Ethics and Ethical Theory
- Index
- Membership and Structure of Institutional Bioethics Committees
- Pediatric Decision Making: Consensus Recommendations
- Parents (of minors) are not surrogates: acknowledging (finally) the unique moral space of parents
- Of Course Reasons Matter. The Question is How
- Ethical Issues in Pediatrics
- Demands for harmful treatments by children and the challenge of reasonable pluralism: a quasi-clinical ethics consultation
- Demands for Harmful Treatments in Pediatrics and the Challenge of Reasonable Pluralism: A Quasi-Clinical Ethics Consultation
- Consent and Assent in Pediatric Research
- Respecting Autonomy and Balancing Benefits by Disclosing the Secondary Finding of Klinefelter’s
- Pediatric Decision Making: Consensus Recommendations
- Teenage Development and Parental Authority: applying consensus recommendations to adolescent care
- 676 Phase 1 dose escalation and cohort expansion study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, a METTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 451 (PB439): First results of a Phase 1 study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, aMETTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 676 Phase 1 dose escalation and cohort expansion study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, a METTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 451 (PB439): First results of a Phase 1 study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, aMETTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 676 Phase 1 dose escalation and cohort expansion study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, a METTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 451 (PB439): First results of a Phase 1 study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, aMETTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 676 Phase 1 dose escalation and cohort expansion study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, a METTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 451 (PB439): First results of a Phase 1 study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, aMETTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 676 Phase 1 dose escalation and cohort expansion study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, a METTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 451 (PB439): First results of a Phase 1 study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, aMETTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 676 Phase 1 dose escalation and cohort expansion study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, a METTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 451 (PB439): First results of a Phase 1 study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, aMETTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 676 Phase 1 dose escalation and cohort expansion study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, a METTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 451 (PB439): First results of a Phase 1 study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, aMETTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 676 Phase 1 dose escalation and cohort expansion study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, a METTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
- 451 (PB439): First results of a Phase 1 study evaluating safety, PK, PD and clinical activity of STC-15, aMETTL3 inhibitor, in patients with advanced malignancies
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