Anna Gadignani

My interests encompass clinical ethics, empirical bioethics, implementation science, biolaw, and the history of medicine. 

My PhD research focuses on supporting family caregivers of patients affected by heart failure in palliative and end-of-life care. Methodologically, I adopt an empirical bioethics approach, integrating normative ethical analysis with empirical research on the experiences of family caregivers. My work aims to inform shared decision-making practices such as advance care planning.

My research fellowship at IRCCS Policlinico di Sant'Orsola focuses on the ethics of informed consent in clinical practice and scientific research, adopting an empirical bioethics approach. 

Conferences

• Contributed Talk Relational Autonomy Between Comfort and Disturbance: Rethinking Bioethics in Palliative Care, 18th World Congress of Bioethics «Comforting and Disturbing Bioethics», organized by The Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics, University of the Witwatersrand, and the Congress Africa Hosting Committee, in association with the International Association of Bioethics and the International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics. Johannesburg, July 8-10, 2026. (ONLINE)
• Contributed Talk "Given the gendered nature of care work": a feminist reappraisal of caregiving and relational autonomy, Feminist Approaches to Bioethics Congress 2026 «Bioethics in Confrontation: Reflection, Resistance and Resilience», organized by The Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics, University of the Witwatersrand, and the Congress Africa Hosting Committee,  in association with the International Association of Bioethics and the International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics. Johannesburg, July 6-7, 2026. (ONLINE)
• Contributed talk From Prediction to Care: Realigning the Ethical Debate on AI in Palliative Care, BudPT25: Budapest Workshop on Philosophy and Technology – Special Theme «Medical Technologies: Curing and Caring», organized by Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Budapest, November 27-28, 2025.
• Contributed talk Invisible Patients: Recognizing the Epistemic and Moral Role of Informal Caregivers in Heart Failure Care, HUMMED Conference: «Medical Humanities in Dialogue. On the Figure of the Patient», organized by Faculty of Humanities, UNED. Madrid, November 17-19, 2025.
• Contributed talk Reconstructing Trust: Social-Historical Trajectories of the Physician–Patient Relationship in Post-Unification Italy, Workshop Methodologies for the Use of History in Philosophy, organized by the Institute for Philosophical Research, UNAM. Online, November 13-14, 2025.
• Contributed talk Beyond Individualistic Autonomy: Relational Ethics for the Moral Complexity of Palliative Care, Postgraduate Bioethics Conference 2025 «Disruption in Bioethics», organized by the Institute of Medical Ethics, Ethox Centre, University of Oxford. Oxford, September 4-5, 2025.
• Invited talk Come è possibile morire meglio? \ «La continuità di cura nello scompenso end-stage», organized by Fondazione “Gabriele Monasterio”, ASL Toscana Nord-Ovest, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies. Pisa, June 7, 2025. 

Public events

• Guest at «Fine vita. Riflessione sulla legge toscana prima in Italia», Circolo ARCI Capannoli, Capannoli (PI), April 5, 2025.