Johan Bester, MBChB, PhD

Associate Dean for Curriculum & Professor of Medical Education

Education

PhD, University of Stellenbosch, 2016
M.Phil, University of Stellenbosch, 2009
MBChB (MD degree), University of Stellenbosch, 2002

Professional Appointments

Associate Dean for Curriculum, University of Georgia School of Medicine, 2026-present
Associate Dean for Pre-Clerkship Curriculum, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 2022 – 2026
Professor, Family and Community Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 2022 – 2026
Professor, Healthcare Ethics, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 2022 – 2026
Assistant Dean for Biomedical Science Education, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, 2020 – 2022
Director of Bioethics, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, 2017 – 2022
Associate Professor, Medical Education (tenured), Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, 2021-2022
Assistant Professor, Medical Education, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, 2017 – 2021
Assistant Staff Bioethicist and Assistant Professor, Cleveland Clinic/Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, 2016-2017
Clinical Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, University of Calgary, 2012-2015
Family Physician and Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan, 2009- 2011

Other Professional Experience

American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH), member, July 2016-present
College of Family Physicians of Canada, member, August 2010-June 2015
Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) National Medical Honor Society – Inducted October 5, 2021
National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME), national faculty member, 2022-present

Awards & Honors

NBOME (National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners) Award as Item Writer for the year in the category
of Preventive Medicine & Health promotion, 2024. Items written for COMLEX and COMAT national
examination programs.
SRE Award (Medical Education Scholarship, Research, and Evaluation) Section Award of Excellence for
best poster in the category of research and innovation. For: “How to make your students love epidemiology,”
Innovation poster presentation at Western Group of Education Affairs (WGEA) annual meeting, Portland OR,
March-April 2022.
Elected and inducted to AOA honor society as faculty member, 2021.
Silver Syringe Award for Innovation in Immunization, 2017. Awarded by Immunize Nevada in April 2018.
Received for scholarly work in ethics of vaccination. (Immunize Nevada is a prominent Nevada non-profit that
works to promote vaccination uptake and provide community vaccination awareness and education. The Silver
Syringe awards are presented yearly to honor those who make substantial contributions to vaccination. The
awards are by nomination and vote.)
CFAB Mentor of the Year award, 2016-2017. Cleveland Clinic Department of Bioethics (awarded by Cleveland
Fellowship in Advanced Bioethics fellows.)
Cleveland Clinic Excellence in Teaching Award, Cleveland Clinic, 2015-2016
Gold Teaching Award, Silver Teaching Award, Bronze Distinguished Service Award (awarded for excellence
in various courses taught in the medical school), Cumming Medical School, University of Calgary, 2014-2015
Class of 2014 Honor Role, Award for Excellence in Small Group Teaching, Cumming Medical School,
University of Calgary, 2013

Areas of Expertise

Undergraduate Medical Education

Graduate Medical Education

Curricular Innovation and Integration

Accreditation and Quality Improvement

Publications

Publications in Peer Reviewed Literature

Bester, JC. Ritual Male Infant Circumcision: The Consequences and the Principles Say Yes. American Journal
of Bioethics 2015;15(2):56-58
Bester, JC. Vaccine Refusal and Trust: The Trouble with Coercion and Education and Suggestions for a Cure.
Bioethical Inquiry 2015;12:555-559
Bester, JC, Cole CM & Kodish E. The Limits of Informed Consent in the Overwhelmed Patient: Clinicians’
Role in Protecting Patients and Preventing Overwhelm. AMA Journal of Ethics 2016;18(9):869-886.
Bester, JC. Measles and Measles Vaccination: A Review. JAMA Pediatrics. 2016;170(12):1209-1215.
Bester, JC & Gross JA. Organ Donor Registration Reconsidered: How Current Practices Strain Autonomy.
American Journal of Bioethics. 2016;16(11):33-35.
Bester, JC, Smith ML, & Griggins, C. A Jehovah’s Witness Adolescent in the Labor and Delivery Unit: Should
Patient and Parental Refusals of Blood Transfusions for Adolescents Be Honored? Narrative Inquiry in
Bioethics. 2017;7(1):97-106.
Bester, JC. Children, the Duty to Vaccinate, and the Limits of Solidarity. American Journal of Bioethics
2017;17(4):53-55.
Bester, JC. Measles Vaccination is Best for Children: The Argument for Relying on Herd Immunity Fails.
Bioethical Inquiry. 2017;14:375-384.
Bester, JC., & Kodish, E. Children are not the Property of Their Parents: The Need for a Clear Statement of
Ethical Obligations and Boundaries. American Journal of Bioethics. 2017;17(11):17-19.
Bester, JC. Book Review: Vaccination Ethics and Policy (eds. JL Schwartz and AL Caplan). American Journal
of Bioethics. 2017;17(11):W9-W11.
Bester, JC. Dismissal of Child-Patients for Nonvaccination Should not be Policy. Clinical Pediatrics
2018;57(5):505-508.
Bester, JC. Charlie Gard and the Limits of the Harm Principle. JAMA Pediatrics 2018;172(3):300-301.
Bester, JC., Sabatello, M., van Karnebeek, C., & Lantos, J. Please Test My Child for a Cancer Gene, But Don’t
Tell Her. Pediatrics 2018;141(4):e20172238.
Bester, JC. The Harm Principle Cannot Replace the Best Interest Standard: Problems with Using the Harm
Principle for Medical Decision-Making for Children. American Journal of Bioethics 2018;18(8):9-19.
Bester, JC. Rumors of the best interest standard’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, and the harm
principle remains tenuous: Responding to my commentators. American Journal of Bioethics 2018;18(8):W1-
W5.
Bester, JC. Not a matter of parental choice but of social justice obligation: Children are owed vaccination.
Bioethics 2018;32(9):611-619.
Bester, JC. 2018. The nature of ethics expertise in clinical ethics and implications for training of clinical ethics
consultants. In: Moral expertise: New essays from theoretical and clinical bioethics. Eds: Watson JC & Guidry-
Grimes LK. Springer.
Bester, JC, Flechner, SM, Ronin, M, & Hill, G. Should all living kidney donors receive donor health
insurance? Ethical guidance for evaluating policies and actions that provide financial benefits to living organ
donors. Journal of Organ Transplantation 2018;1(2):12-20.
Bester, JC. The best interest standard and children: clarifying a concept and responding to its critics. Journal of
Medical Ethics 2019;45:117-124.
Mabel H, Harrison C, Ahmad M, Blume E, Boyle G, Bester J, & Lantos J. When a child needs a transplant but
lacks familial social support. Pediatrics 2019;143(1):e20181551.
Bester, JC and Kodish E. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, informed consent, and rescue: What provides moral
justification for the provision of CPR? Journal of Clinical Ethics 2019;30(1):67-73.
Bester, JC. The best interest standard is the best we have: Why the harm principle and constrained parental
autonomy cannot replace the best interest standard in pediatric ethics. Journal of Clinical Ethics
2019;30(3):223-31.
Buchanan CA, Bester JC, Bruno B, Delany C, Kennedy KO, Koogler T, Sederstrom NO, Moore JA, and Weise
K. Pediatric ethics consultation: Practical considerations for the clinical ethics consultant. Journal of Clinical Ethics 2019;30(3):270-83.
Bester, JC. Beneficence, interests, and wellbeing in medicine: What it means to provide benefit to patients.
American Journal of Bioethics 2020;20(3):53-62.
Bester, JC. The two components of beneficence and wellbeing in medicine: A restatement and defense of the
argument. American Journal of Bioethics 2020;20(5):W4-W11.
Bester, JC. Defensive practice is indefensible: How defensive medicine runs counter to the ethical and
professional obligations of clinicians. Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy 2020:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-020-09950-7.
Bester, JC. Not society’s sacrificial lambs: It is wrong to withhold vaccination from children to benefit others.
American Journal of Bioethics 2020;20(9):81-83.
Bester, JC. The ethical obligation to vaccinate children and its policy implications. On Education. Journal for
Research and Debate. 2020;3(8): https://doi.org/10.17899/on_ed.2020.8.2
Bester, JC. Justice, wellbeing, and civic duty in the age of a pandemic: Why we all need to do out bit. Journal
of Bioethical Inquiry 2020;17(4):737-742.
Yadete, T, Batra, K, Netski, DM, Antonio, S, Patros, MJ, and Bester, JC. Assessing acceptability of COVID-19
vaccine booster dose among adult Americans: A cross-sectional study. Vaccines 2021;9(12):1424.
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9121424
Bester, JC. 2022. Vaccine ethics: Ethical considerations in childhood vaccination. In Pediatric Ethics: Theory
and Practice, pp. 437-451. Springer: Cham.
Bester, JC. 2022. Parental refusal of beneficial treatments for children: Ethical considerations and the
clinician’s response. In Pediatric Ethics: Theory and Practice, pp. 143-154. Springer: Cham.
Bester, JC. 2022. The Best Interest Standard and its rivals: The debate about ethical decision-making standards
in pediatrics. In Pediatric Ethics: Theory and Practice, pp. 57-77. Springer, Cham.
Bester, JC. 2022. A Clinician’s Obligation to be Vaccinated: Four Arguments that Establish a Duty for
Healthcare Professionals to be Vaccinated Against COVID-19. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry. 2022;
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-022-10182-y
Gonzalez, P, Moreno, M, Iida, T, Sieck, B, Bester, J, & Simanton, E. 2022. Incorporation of comprehensive
examinations for a time-efficient remediation method. Advances in Medical Education and Practice 13:1417-
1422.
Bester, JC. 2022. When Limiting Liberty, Tread Carefully: Autonomous Free Choices Should not be Overruled
because of the Beliefs and Values of the Decider. American Journal of Bioethics 22(10): 70-72.
Salter, EK, Hester, DM, Vinarcsik, L, Antommaria, AHM, Bester, J, et al. 2023. Pediatric Decision Making:
Consensus Recommendations. Pediatrics 152(3): e2023061832.
Bester, JC & Blustein J. 2024. Childhood Interests: What They Are and Why It Matters. Perspectives in
Biology and Medicine 67(2): 197-208.
Bester, JC. 2024. Minors Lack the Autonomy to Consent to Gender-Affirming Care: Best Interests Must Be
Primary. Hastings Center Report 54(3): 57-58.
Haycocks, N, Hernandez-Moreno, J, Bester, JC, Hernandez, R et al. 2024. Assessing the Difficulty and Long-
Term Retention of Factual and Conceptual Knowledge through Multiple-Choice Questions: A Longitudinal
Study. Advances in Medical Education and Practice 15: 1217-1228.Bester, JC. Beneficence, interests, and wellbeing in medicine: What it means to provide benefit to patients.
American Journal of Bioethics 2020;20(3):53-62.

Books

Bester, JC. 2021. The Limits of Parental Authority: Childhood Wellbeing as a Social Good. Routledge: New York. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003025108
Nortje, N, and Bester, JC, eds. 2021. Pediatric Ethics: Theory and Practice. Springer: Cham.

Peer Reviewed Published Abstracts

Kelly, M, Hofmeister M, Bester J, & Perez, G. What Procedural Skills are Performed in the Family Medicine
(FM) Clerkship? Medical Education 2015;49(s1):68 (OC5-2)
Kelly, M, Bester J, McClurg, C, & Hofmeister M. From Classroom to Clinic, Applying Evidence Based
Medicine in Practice. Medical Education 2015;49(s1):62 (OC3-3)
Bester J, Greene N, & Simanton E. Teaching students to practice according to evidence: Does an active-
learning information mastery course translate to skill and confidence in finding, appraising, and applying
evidence? WGEA meeting, published online. 2020 WGEA Regional Meeting: Abstract Compendium.
https://www.aamc.org/media/48881/download

Non-Peer Reviewed Publications

Weise K, Bester JC, Siegel L, & Gilleran C. Addressing Decision-Making Capacity. Critical Connections
2016;15(3):10-11. http://www.sccm.org/Communications/Critical-Connections/Archives/Pages/Addressing-
Decision-Making-Capacity.aspx
Bester, JC, & Kodish E. The Tragedy of Playing Politics with Children’s Health. Huffpost August 3, 2017.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-tragedy-of-playing-politics-with-childrens-
health_us_59835624e4b0396a95c87570 Featured on Cleveland Clinic’s Newsroom:
https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2017/08/04/eric-kodish-m-d-at-huffpost-the-tragedy-of-playing- politics-
with-childrens-health/
Bester, JC. The Case for Vaccination. (ed. JR Lee). UNLV News Center November 2, 2017.
https://www.unlv.edu/news/article/case-vaccination
Bester, JC. Why We Need to Continue Vaccinating Children During COVID-19. Health Care Quarterly
August 2020. https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1278833-2020-08-20-health-care-quarterly-vol-29-summer-2020/21

Directory