Matters of Life and Death: Catholic Bioethics Leader Applies His Passion for Science and Faith to Guide Others Facing Difficult Ethical Healthcare Choices

A passion for science and his Catholic faith from a young age led Dr. John Di Camillo, 40, to pursue a successful and fulfilling career that combined both – ultimately leading to his recent appointment as president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC).

Founded in 1972, the NCBC is an independent nonprofit research organization which provides education, guidance and resources to the Church and society to uphold the dignity of the human person in health care and biomedical research.

The NCBC routinely interacts with Catholic bishops, doctors, hospitals, researchers and individuals seeking to apply Catholic values in an array of literally “life and death” healthcare decisions. The center also offers a free personal ethics consultation service for those facing tough ethical decisions in their life or work.

Dr. Camillo and his wife Serena are parishioners of St. Joseph Parish in Lancaster and live in a peaceful rural setting on the eastern edge of the Diocese of Harrisburg, which facilitates his daily hour-long commute to the NCBC offices in Broomall, just west of Philadelphia. The couple have been married 13 years and have seven children.

Where does a Catholic bioethics expert come from? Dr. Di Camillo traces his interest in bioethics back to his Catholic grammar school days.

“I’ve always loved science and I’ve always been grateful to my parents for teaching me the fundamentals of the faith and sending me to Catholic schools,” he explained. “I remember needing a science project in elementary school. I chose the nervous system. I made a giant poster of the brain and outlined the whole nervous system, spinal cord, and the parts of the brain. I had this fascination with the human body, with science in general and in particular with the brain and nervous system.”

That childhood interest led Dr. Di Camillo to pre-med studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated summa cum laude with majors in the biological basis of behavior and Italian studies. He was recognized as the top student in his class in both fields. He went on to earn his bioethics doctorate and licentiate degrees summa cum laude from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome.

He received the Academic Excellence Award for his doctoral dissertation on institutional collaborative arrangements in Catholic health care in 2016. He also co-translated Cardinal Elio Sgreccia’s monumental bioethics manual, “Personalist Bioethics: Foundations and Applications,” which the NCBC published in 2012.

Dr. Di Camillo noted that when attending the secular UPenn after 12 years of Catholic education, he was initially challenged in conversations about the validity of the Catholic faith with his non-Catholic classmates and professors. Their questions raised questions in his own mind, which in turn led him to dig deeper for answers into Church teachings, the Catechism, encyclicals like Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae all the way through to those written by Pope Benedict XVI (Deus Caritas Est, Spe Salvi and Caritas Veritate).

“These really opened my eyes to the richness, the depth and the intellectual tradition of the Church that is built on centuries of thought by highly intelligent people filled with the faith,” he recalled. For spiritual and social support, he turned to the Penn Newman Center to pray with like-minded students and together debate, reconcile and discuss what they were learning while growing in their spirituality as Catholic young adults.

“That Catholic community aspect is very important for a college student,” he emphasized. “If it had just been my own intellectual journey to try and understand the faith better alone, it would have been a lot harder, and I don’t know if I would have made it through the same way” as he agreed the college years are a time when many young people leave the faith.

While new to his role as its president, Dr. Di Camillo has been involved in various capacities with the NCBC for more than 20 years, including the past 13 years on staff. His vision for the organization includes “improving the dimension of personal encounter,” through expanding its free personal ethics consultations and extending the reach of its educational programs, such as its certification program in healthcare ethics.

“Encountering more people where they are, and helping them make sound decisions, builds our experience to then drive improvements in our educational case studies and policy guidance,” he explained. “This gives us insights to add to what we already gain from our clinical encounters.”

“To summarize, this will provide a 360-degree approach of how we can do Catholic bioethics better than ever, to take us to the next level, by turning us into an unparalleled Catholic bioethics hub…so that anyone who struggles with a healthcare ethics dilemma knows immediately they can turn to us for guidance.”

Many people already turn to NCBC for guidance. Dr. DiCamillo said the top three areas of inquiry are “end-of-life” issues (i.e. ventilators, hydration, hospice, medical interventions); “cooperation with evil” aspects (i.e. “Is it ok for me as a healthcare professional to participate in this procedure/intervention that is contrary to the faith…”); and “fertility questions,” (i.e. achieving or avoiding pregnancy).

One area of special interest for Dr. Di Camillo is engaging with schools to spark interest in developing “the next generation” of bioethicists. The NCBC developed a bioethics curriculum for high schools that was used this past fall by seniors at Lancaster Catholic High School.

The Theology course, “Introduction to Bioethics” is described as “an immersive study in Catholic bioethics,” and is delivered online and in class instruction. The class consists of four modules that address a variety of biomedical and health care ethics challenges across the lifespan. Upon successful completion, students receive three college credits through The Catholic Distance University, as well as one Theology credit.