Ju Zhang

Ju Zhang is a postdoctoral fellow in bioethics. She received her second Ph.D. in philosophy from The University of Texas at Austin in 2022 and her first Ph.D. in philosophy from Beijing Normal University in China in 2015. She also studied in the Philosophy Department of The University of Oxford from 2013 to 2014 for a UK-China joint training Ph.D. program in philosophy.

Ju's current research focuses on developing and defending a trust-oriented model of the patient-physician relationship. Her goal is to promote rational patient-physician trust by modifying relevant concepts such as patient autonomy, informed consent, and justified intervention in light of her model. This research is motivated by the profound mistrust between healthcare professionals and patients around the world, and Ju is committed to addressing unique issues that different countries face, such as the issue of race and gender in the United States and paternalism and authoritarianism in China.

In the near future, Ju intends to extend her research on patient-physician trust to nonexpert-expert trust in general and to trust between a relatively disadvantaged individual/group and a relatively advantaged individual/group. She is also interested in studying trust and cooperation among communities, societies, and nations, believing that rational trust is key in tackling global issues such as climate change and pandemics.