Michael Vetrano, PhD

Course Director, Medicine in Contemporary Society

Clinical Ethics and Decision Making
Doctor-Patient Communication
Spirituality and Health Care
Religion and Bioethics

Office Phone: (631) 444-6052
E-mail:michael.vetrano@stonybrook.edu

Michael A. Vetrano is Research Assistant professor, Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine, SUNY School of Medicine at Stony Brook NY where he directs the second year program in medical ethics and humanities. He received his Ph.D. in systematic theology, moral theology, and medical ethics from Fordham University (1999). He is also an ordained Roman Catholic priest and pastor of a large suburban parish on Long Island. In addition to his responsibilities to coordinate the professional development of medical students at the university Dr. Vetrano’s interests include:

1. Studying the relationship between ethics, religious values and suffering in the experience of patients. He is especially interested in models of medical decision making, speaking to both community groups and medical professionals on spiritual concerns within end of life care and the special problems of pre-natal and peri-natal decision making.
2. Teaching medical students about appropriate interest in the spiritual life of their patient and the interface between the physicians own spirituality and practice of medicine.
3. The development of models for professional communication especially the development of skills that enable students and residents to increase understanding, compassion, and satisfaction in the doctor-patient relationship.

Recent Activities:
Privileged Communication and Disclosure Among Doctors, Patients and Lawyers, Harvard School of Medicine April 2008.
Religious Understandings of Death and Dying, (Jefferson Ferry Community Center, Setauket NY) February 2007.