Of all the courses Asia Madayag took to earn her health sciences degree, a course on medical ethics was the one that shaped her future. She recalls one particularly memorable class in “Ethical Issues in Medical Decision-Making” that included a documentary and discussion of Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act”—a provision that allows physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.
“I remember thinking how brave the patients were, and it really touched me,” Madayag said, who earned a bachelor’s from the IU School of Health & Human Sciences in May 2024. “Just seeing how controversial it was and the different arguments that came up, I think it’s the controversy—the working in the gray area of medical ethics—that really draws me to it.”
Interested in learning more about a career in the field, Madayag talked with her course instructor, Amber Comer, Ph.D., J.D., associate professor of health sciences and medicine. Soon after their initial discussions, Comer, a palliative care researcher and expert in medical decision-making for patients with critical illness, invited Madayag to complete an independent study opportunity in her research lab. For the next two years, she continued working with Comer as a student researcher in palliative care as part of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at IU Indianapolis.
“Asia is bright, intelligent and enthusiastic—just an incredible young woman,” Comer said. “We had several conversations about her pursuing a Ph.D., and now she’s doing it. And, she’s phenomenal!”
Madayag’s decision to pursue a doctoral degree was influenced by her internship at the American Medical Association (AMA). Comer, the AMA’s director of ethics policy and secretary of the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, encouraged her to apply for the highly competitive position.
“I got such great research experience from the IU UROP program,” Madayag said. “I don’t think I would have gotten the internship at the AMA without it, because having that level of research under my belt was such a resume booster and helped me stand out compared to the other candidates.”
As a medical ethics intern, Madayag wrote articles for the AMA’s website, including pieces about airplane manufacturing quality and Super Bowl injuries. She also conducted research on topics under consideration for the organization’s code of ethics. One of the topics Madayag researched involved palliative care, a medical specialty that focuses on improving quality of life for people with serious illness. Comer said some of Madayag’s research contributed to a new AMA policy that declares palliative care as an ethical imperative for all physicians, regardless of specialty, and affirms palliative care as a human right.
“The fact that Asia, as a student, helped contribute to something that has changed the entire field of medical ethics is a really big deal,” Comer shared. “I’m really proud of Asia for the work she did at the AMA; people told me how wonderful she was, and it spoke volumes not only about her, but about Indiana University as well.”
Madayag is currently in her second semester of a five-year Ph.D. program in the IU School of Health & Human Sciences. Her concentration is in palliative care. After earning her Ph.D., she anticipates applying for an ethics fellowship program.
“I think palliative care is such an important and undervalued field,” Madayag said. “I’m just in my first year of the program, and I am learning so much.”