Anna Gadignani | Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna

Bio

I am a Ph.D. student in "Health Science, Technology, and Management". My background is in Philosophy and History of Science, and I obtained both my Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna. During my Master's, I studied Bioethics and the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. My studies have primarily focused on the doctor-patient relationship, using an interdisciplinary approach encompassing political and legal philosophy, care ethics and virtues, and the social history of medicine.

Ricerca

My research examines how to rethink the principle of autonomy in healthcare, moving beyond an individualistic approach toward a relational perspective. It investigates how relationships, socio-cultural contexts, and power structures shape care decisions, particularly at the end of life. The aim is to develop a normative model and guidelines for genuinely shared decision-making among patients, informal caregivers, and healthcare professionals, reducing emotional burden and enhancing tools such as informed consent, advance care planning, and living wills.

Corsi

Conferences

Forthcoming 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

Forthcoming 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

Forthcoming 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.