Fr. FitzGerald is the Dr. David Lauler Chair of Catholic Health Care Ethics in the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University. He is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncology at Georgetown University Medical Center. He received a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and a Ph.D. in bioethics from Georgetown University. His research efforts focus on the investigation of abnormal gene expression in cancer and on ethical issues in biomedical research. He has published both scientific and ethical articles in peer-reviewed journals, books, and in the popular press.
Fr. FitzGerald has given presentations nationally and internationally, and often been interviewed by the news media, on such topics as human genetic engineering, cloning, stem cell research, and personalized medicine. He is a founding member of Do No Harm, a member of the ethics committee for the March of Dimes, and a member of the Stem Cell Research Commission for the State of Maryland. In addition, he served until March 2009 as a member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society.