While many people consider ethics an intangible asset, a University doctoral student is making ethics concrete through a company that has captured the attention of one of the state’s biggest startup support systems.
Kathy Gennuso
Kathy Gennuso, chief executive officer of the Institute of Consultative Bioethics (ICB) and a student in the Center for Healthcare Ethics, created EthAssist, trademarked software to provide ethics training. She is believed to be the first Duquesne affiliate invited to address Innovation Works, a nationally known accelerator program that serves the Pittsburgh region, as part of its University Preview Day.
“She has started a company around the intersection of bioethics and business,” said Dr. Alan W. Seadler, associate academic vice president for research, who introduced Gennuso at the May 14 event. “This company fits the character of Duquesne, given our commitment to small business development and our dedication to ethics.”
Gennuso spent much of her career as an information technology specialist, organizing systems to meet needs. After obtaining her master’s degree in organizational leadership and business ethics from the School of Leadership and Professional Advancement, she decided to explore the health care sector. Gennuso encountered many regulations supporting patient welfare and patient rights, but few organizations moving beyond basic compliance.
“Everyone says, ‘Hey, I’m ethical,’ but how do you measure yourself? Unless you measure, you really don’t know. You have to measure it against the best knowledge in the field,” said Gennuso.
“I wanted to distill this information into meaningful, applicable concepts that could be used by professionals when they need it and as they need it,” Gennuso said, creating a means to train frontline healthcare workers and researchers as well as life science and supporting government organizations.
Besides providing a system of guidance for a tough decision, it provides external support to assure that employees have access to the right information at the right time.
“It goes to my roots to take concepts and make systems out of it,” Gennuso said. “There was a synergy to use automation to make knowledge accessible.”