Clinical Ethics department team

Meet the leaders and team members at Children’s Minnesota:

Ian D. Wolfe, PhD, MA, RN, CCRN, HEC-C, Staff Clinical Ethicist

Dr. Ian D. Wolfe earned his PhD in Nursing with a focus in bioethics, and his MA in Bioethics with a minor in Public Health and focus on health equity, from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Wolfe has a clinical background in burn, trauma and pediatric critical care nursing. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in pediatric bioethics at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. Dr. Wolfe has authored a broad range of journal articles that support his main interest which is how social, political and cultural systems issues affect clinical ethics and care at the bedside.

Dr. Wolfe is the current chair of the Pediatric Ethics Affinity Group at the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and a member of the ethics advisory board for the American Nurses Association Center for Ethics and Human Rights. He has chaired and participated in other volunteer activities with state and national nursing and medical organizations such as the American Association of Critical-care Nurses, and Society for Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Wolfe’s current areas of research focus on preventative and integrated ethics, parent-clinician interactions, and the relationship of hospitals to the community.

Dr. Asma Fazal, MD, MRCPI (Pediatrics), MHSc, Clinical Ethics Fellow

Dr. Asma Fazal completed her medical degree from Hamdard College of Medicine, Karachi, Pakistan. After completing her specialist pediatric training in Ireland, she received membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 2011. Over nine years, and after working in different parts of the world, Dr. Fazal has gained extensive clinical experience in general and subspecialty pediatrics.

Due to her growing interest in ethical issues in pediatric patient care, Dr. Fazal joined the University of Toronto and completed MHSc in Bioethics in 2019. As her capstone project, she developed an e-learn on “Introductory Concepts of Pediatric Bioethics for Healthcare Professionals”. Her bioethics education and training opened a new career pathway for her, and she joined Children’s Minnesota Hospital as a Clinical Ethics Fellow in September 2020.

Besides providing ethics consultations, Dr. Fazal is passionate about ethics education, policy-making, and academic research. Her research interests are substitute decision making, the best interest of a child, consent and capacity, patient confidentiality, moral distress among healthcare professionals, ethical issues involving refugees and migrants, and organ transplantation.

Dr. Fazal lives with her husband, Syed, and two lovely daughters. She loves cooking, gardening and exploring new places.

Ethics committee leadership

Heidi Kamrath, MD, Ethics Committee Co-Chair

Dr. Kamrath currently holds the co-chair position of the Ethics Committee. Dr. Kamrath attended medical school at Des Moines University. She completed her pediatrics residency, chief residency and neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at the University of Minnesota. During her fellowship, she also completed a Certificate of Pediatric Bioethics at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City. She is the medical director for neonatal transport at Children’s Minnesota. Dr. Kamrath’s clinical interests include perinatal consultation and birth planning, care of the extremely preterm infant, neonatal ethics, medical education and quality improvement. She is an adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Kamrath is married with three children. Outside of medicine, she enjoys reading, baking and spending time with her family.

Colleen Wherley, MS, CGC, Ethics Committee Co-Chair
Colleen currently holds the co-chair position of the Ethics Committee. She earned her Master’s of Science degree in Genetic Counseling from the University of Minnesota. She joined Children’s Minnesota in 2016 as a genetic counselor in the Genomics and Pharmacogenomics programs. She currently is the primary genetic counselor with the Genetics inpatient consultation team. She has a strong interest in bioethics and clinical ethics and joined the Ethics Committee in 2018.

Ethics committee members

Tessa Billman
Patient-Family Centered Care Coordinator, Children’s Minnesota

Rachel Calvert
Child Life Manager, Children’s Minnesota

Kris Catrine, MD
Pain and Palliative Care, Children’s Minnesota

David Collier
Sr. Diversity & Inclusion Consultant, Children’s Minnesota

Greg Coon
Community Member

Rev. Abby Davis, M.Div.
Chaplain, Spiritual Care, Children’s Minnesota

Jodi Davis
Community Member

Elise Durgin
Pharmacist, Children’s Minnesota

Bryan Fate, MD, MPH
Primary Care, Children’s Minnesota

Asma Fazal, MD
Clinical Ethics Fellow, Children’s Minnesota

Abigail Faulman, MD
Neonatology, Children’s Minnesota

Susan Grefe, RN
NICU, Children’s Minnesota

Elisabeth Groutwells, MSW, LICSW
Clinical Social Worker, Children’s Minnesota

Nikki Helland, MSW, LICSW
Clinical Social Worker, Children’s Minnesota

Darvia Herold, MD
Metro Pediatrics

Theresa Huntley, MSW, LICSW
Social Worker, Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children’s Minnesota

Stacey Jenkins
Parent, Community Advocate

Beth Johnson, PNP
Transplant Department, Cardiac Care Center, Children’s Minnesota

Heidi Kamrath, MD
Ethics Committee Co-Chair and Neonatologist, Children’s Minnesota

Tamika Lasege, MD
Chief Value Officer, Medical Director, Children’s Health Network

Lynn Liberman, Rabbi
Community Chaplain, Jewish Family Services of St. Paul

Chris Lillehei
Chaplain, Children’s Minnesota

Cherie McGraw, RN
Cath Lab, Children’s Minnesota

Shelly Nauertz
Sr. Diversity & Inclusion Consultant, Children’s Minnesota

Siman Nuurali
Case Management, Children’s Minnesota

Trisha Paul, MD
Resident, University of Minnesota

Andrew Redmann, MD
ENT, Children’s Minnesota

Christine Roberts, RN, BAN
Patient Care Supervisor, PICU, Children’s Minnesota

Hamdi Sahal
Sr. Admin Clinical Ethics, Children’s Minnesota

Paige Schram, Parent
Community Advocate

Carolyn Serie, LICSW
Social Work Manager, Children’s Minnesota

Adam Sterman, MD
Pain and Palliative Care, Children’s Minnesota

Alice Swanson, MD
Child Abuse Pediatrician, Children’s Minnesota

Samreen Vora, MD
Medical Director of Simulation, Children’s Minnesota

Colleen Wherley
Ethics Committee Co-Chair and Genetic Counselor, Children’s Minnesota

Ian Wolfe PhD
Ethicist, Children’s Minnesota