Amber Comer

Amber Comer is an associate professor in the Department of Health Sciences and holds an appointment as an affiliate research scientist at the Regenstrief Institute. She is also a member of the Eskenazi Hospital medical ethics committee and ethics consultation service. Comer is an expert in medical decision-making whose research has led to a change in Indiana’s Health Care Consent Law. Her research goal is to reduce suffering at the end of life by improving quality medical decision-making.

Comer received an Early Career Achievement Award in 2017 from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law for her work changing Indiana’s Health Care Consent Law. She graduated from McKinney Law with a Juris Doctor, with a concentration in health law, and she is a graduate of the IU Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI, where she received her Ph.D. She also completed a Medical Ethics Fellowship at the IU Health Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics in 2014 and was an American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Research Scholar in 2018. She is also a member of the Indiana State Bar.

Comer researches medical decision-making, with a special focus on the role of palliative care in medical decision-making for hospitalized patients. Her current work includes researching the role of palliative care in medical decisions for hospitalized patients with severe stroke. She is also studying the effect of state health care consent laws on hospitalized patients’ medical decisions and care, and she researches bioethical issues in medical decision-making. She is a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Public Policy Committee, and chair of the Bioethics Sig.

Areas of Expertise

Stroke treatment and care, end-of-life decision-making and medical ethics.

Other Information