Maria Leister, JD MBE

Emily Maria Leister, JD, MBE is the Director of Education and Bioethics at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Political Science from Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, her Juris Doctorate from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana, and her Master of Science in Bioethics from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Her work focuses on the intersection of bioethics, trauma, and global health, with particular emphasis on ethical leadership, education, and trauma-informed care for displaced and vulnerable populations. Her bioethical interests include dignity-centered approaches to care, equity in clinical practice, and the integration of human rights frameworks in health and humanitarian systems. Her recent publications include “The Shamanistic Enclave: Building a Refuge for Healthcare Practitioners” (in Refugees, Refuge and Human Displacement, 2022) and “What are the drivers in the neglect of Sudan’s war and humanitarian crisis? Reframing global disengagement” (Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 2025).