Rate My Professor Lauren Berninger

Dr. Lauren Elizabeth Berninger, DO, MBE, serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Section of Palliative Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, serving as chief resident, and her fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Johns Hopkins University from 2020 to 2021. Berninger earned her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Peace Studies from Bucknell University. She also holds a Master of Bioethics from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, where her professional interests include ethical decision-making at the end of life, medical education, incorporating humanism and humanities into medicine, and moral distress among healthcare providers. Actively involved in clinical ethics, she serves on the hospital ethics committee and has moderated bioethics events, such as Ethics for Lunch on ethical challenges in caring for incarcerated patients.

Berninger's research output includes seven publications, encompassing peer-reviewed articles, a book chapter, and reviews. Notable works are 'Autonomous by Extension: Balancing Patient Autonomy and Vulnerability in Surrogate Decision-making' (2024, AACN Advanced Critical Care, co-authored with C.B. McGeehan); 'Palliative and Supportive Medicine in Gastrointestinal Oncology' (2024 book chapter in Gastrointestinal Oncology: A Critical Multidisciplinary Team Approach, co-authored with C.X. Tapper, I.S. Browner, and T.J. Smith); 'Evaluation of Required End-Of-Life (EOL) Ethics Content in the Ten Residency Programs Offering Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship' (2026, American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, co-authored with S.W. Youssef and D.J. Doberman); 'Opioid Rotation: Considerations, Controversy, and Clinical Practice #440' (2022, Journal of Palliative Medicine, co-authored with C. Tapper); and 'Painful Diabetic Neuropathy-Spinal Cord Stimulation, Peripheral Nerve Stimulation, Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation, and Scrambler Therapy: A Narrative Review' (2022, Pain Physician, co-authored with E.J. Wang, O. Komargodski, and T. Smith). In 2023, she received the Best Consulting Physician award from Johns Hopkins for her compassionate support to patients and families facing serious illness, assistance to primary teams in managing distress, and expertise in complex situations such as brain death discussions.