I am a generalist, which means I am interested in everything. Since you can’t practically study everything, I focus on Philosophy and Theology, both of which are about everything in different ways, and more specifically on ethical theory and its application in the domains of health care, end-of-life care and business. My earlier graduate work in Philosophy (M.A., Ph.D.) gravitated toward the metaphysical underpinnings of ethics: I was trying to understand what it means to be a human person, since what is good for human persons surely depends on what human persons are. My second round of graduate work (M.T.S., Th.D.) focused on the Christological and Pneumatological foundations moral theology and culminated in a dissertation on the role of the Holy Spirit in generating love in human beings.
Over the decade after I completed my Ph.D. in Philosophy (2008 – 2018) I taught a broad range of subjects at the graduate and undergraduate level, primarily at the University of Waterloo and St. Jerome’s University (SJU): History of Philosophy (Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern), Ethical Theory, Moral Theology, Critical Thinking, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy and Culture. Teaching and studying, combined with volunteer work in my church community and raising four children together with my wife Jennifer, made this an exceedingly busy time! Still, in those years I managed to publish an article on Leibniz’s metaphysics, to author a first book on Ancient Philosophy and to co-author a second book on Business Ethics.
In 2018 I began the first of six years of definite-term appointments as Assistant Professor of Philosophy at SJU and began to focus intensively on end-of-life care, developing four new courses: PHIL 319J Ethics of End-of-Life Care, PHIL 321J Philosophy of Palliative Care, CT 612: Recovering the Art of Dying and MEDVL 305 Medieval Death and Dying. During this period I served as the Principal Investigator for six grant-funded research projects including a SSHRC Insight Development Grant and a SSHRC Insight Grant, leading to the publication of several articles and the creation of a web portal (thekernelnetwork.com) to help mobilize knowledge and build connections in end-of-life care. Also during these years I served as acting director of the Human Sciences and of the Master of Catholic Thought programs, as the President of the St. Jerome’s Academic Staff Association, and as a member of the working group that created the new Health Humanities diploma program, which I have served as acting director since 2022.
In September 2024 I began my cross appointment in the departments of Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Health Humanities, as Lecturer, with continuing status. I look forward to what the future will bring and in particular to ongoing collaboration with other scholars, students and healthcare professionals to find innovative ethical solutions to the social crisis of an aging population in Canada.