Thomas Koch

Tom Koch is among the best known, most prolific writers you've probably never heard about. An ethicist, writer, and researcher specializing in the care of the fragile, he holds a multi-disciplinary PhD (medicine, ethics/philosophy, geography) from the University of British Columbia. His more than 15 books and 300 articles include the first books on elder care from the perspective of the caregiver. Beginning with Mirrored Lives (1990), he pioneered the use of narrative writing in gerontology. He was also the first to write extensively on the use of electronic data and public information. That series began with The News as Myth (1990), followed by Journalism in the 20th Century (1992) and The Message is the Medium (1996). In medicine and medical cartography he is an authority on the history of maps in medicine and community health (Cartographies of Disease, 2005; Disease Maps: Epidemics on the Ground(2010)). As a medical ethicist he is the author of both The Limits of Principle (2005) and Thieves of Virtue: When Bioethics Stole Medicine (Sept. 2012).

In Toronto he serves as a medical ethicist and consultant specializing in issues of chronic care as well as the study of the environmental and social determinants of endemic and epidemic disease.

A fourth level black belt in Aikido, and a long-time student of karate, when not writing he also practices Tai Ch'i and the flute.

For a complete list of books and papers see his website: http://kochworks.com