Dr Ariel Dempsey

Research Fellow

ariel dempsey professional photo
Research Fellow

Dr. Ariel Dempsey is a physician and scholar working at the interface of medicine and theology. She earned her MD from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and DPhil in Science & Religion from the University of Oxford, supervised by Alister McGrath and Matthew Kirkpatrick. She has a deep interest in how we navigate uncertainty in medicine, especially at the end of life, and explores what medicine can learn from religious traditions in living with uncertainty. Her doctoral research developed the concept of Palliating Uncertainty—an approach grounded in the values of palliative care and shaped by the philosophy of pragmatism. Dr. Dempsey is also a member of the team that received the Oxford Vice-Chancellor’s Award in Teaching and the Medical Science Division Teaching Excellence Award for the development and teaching of a Medical Humanities Curriculum at the Oxford Medical School. After postdoctoral work, she will pursue residency in psychiatry with a fellowship in palliative care.  

Ariel is grateful for those who supported her during times of her own medical uncertainties (see TEDxTalk) and have deeply shaped her work on uncertainty.  

She has been honored to present her doctoral research to medical practitioners at leading international palliative care congresses, including:  

  • Keynote Address of the McGill International Palliative Care Congress, Montreal, Quebec 

  • Plenary Address of UK Palliative Care Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland 

  • Oxford Advanced Course in Pain & Symptom Management, Oxford & Newcastle, UK 

  • Plenary Address of Psychiatry & Palliative Care Conference: Merging of Disciplines, Belfast, Ireland  

  • Hospice UK Clinical Echo, International, Online 

  • Trillium Hospice Palliative Matters Podcast, Grand Rapids, MI, USA 

  • Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care, Edinburgh, Scotland   

She published her research in the upcoming edition of the Oxford Handbook of Palliative Care, was mentored by one of the founders of palliative care (Dr Robert Twycross), submitted written evidence on the Assisted Dying Bill, which was published by the UK Parliament, and teaches on spiritual care at the Oxford Medical School.  

Research interests:  

  • Uncertainty  

  • Palliative Care  

  • End-of-Life Care 

  • Spiritual Care 

  • Pragmatism 

  • William James 

  • Søren Kierkegaard 

  • Decision Making Under Uncertainty 

  • Medical Humanities 

  • Religion/Spirituality & Health 

  • Dance/Movement  

Affiliations 

  • Fellow of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science & Religion 

  • Postdoctoral Fellow in Health & Christian Ethics, University of Oxford Faculty of Theology 

  • Lead of Medical Humanities: Spirituality, Religion & Health  

  • Junior Research Fellow, Wycliffe Hall