Education B.A. LeMoyne College, 1976 A.M. Boston College, 1978 Ph.D. Boston College, 1982

Research Professor Murphy's interests are primarily in the areas of genetics, reproductive technologies, research ethics, and sexuality and medicine. His interest in the AIDS epidemic led to his involvement as coeditor of Writing AIDS: Gay Literature, Language, and Analysis (Columbia University Press), which examined the meaning and uses of AIDS in novels, poetry, film, and the media. His 1994 book Ethics in an Epidemic: AIDS, Morality, and Culture (Columbia University Press) examined many of the ethical issues associated with a novel communicable disease. In 1994, he was coeditor for Justice and the Human Genome Project (University of California Press), which examined the implications of genetic research for interpreting human difference, insurability, and health care priorities. Most recently, he has authored Gay Science: The Ethics of Sexual Orientation Research (Columbia University Press), which is an examination of the nature and effects of the scientific student of sexual orientation. A complete listing of publications is available here.

Teaching Professor Murphy teaches in a variety of settings in the medical school curriculum, including the Essentials of Clinical Medicine course in the first two years of the undergraduate curriculum. That course integrates topics in ethics alongside issues in preventive medicine, human sexuality, and geriatrics. Professor Murphy also conducts ethics discussions with third-year medical students during their medicine rotation at University of Illinois Hospital. In the summers, he participates in series of ethics seminars with residents in child and adolescent psychiatry.

Service At UIC, he either serves or has served on the Hospital Ethics Committee; the Animal Care Committee; the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues; and the West Side Veterans Affairs Hospital Institutional Review Board. He currently serves on a university-side committee charged with making recommendations regarding a multi-disciplinary Master's degree in women's health. Professor Murphy also offers commentary on bioethical issues for the public press.