Damien Domenack is one of only six awardees
June 2023 – Drew Theological School PhD student Damien Domenack has been selected by the Hastings Center as one of six 2023-24 Sadler Scholars.
The Sadler Scholars are a select group of doctoral students with research interests in bioethics from racial or ethnic groups underrepresented in the discipline. Sadler Scholars and their advisors are building a community of next-generation scholars, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and advocates.
Domenack is a Peruvian immigrant and transgender person committed to developing and practicing an ethics of care that is intercultural, transgender, and non-binary. He is a healthcare chaplain, providing care to patients through a clinical residency; and a movement chaplain, providing care to fellow religious leaders, organizers, and activists on the frontlines of the global pandemic.
Domenack’s research aims to critically investigate the ways in which an Afro-diasporic care ethic encounters the identity- and community-shaping forces of care for LGBTQI+ persons of color, especially those who are transgender or non-binary.
“I aim to expand my research approach by centering the study of these ritualized, aesthetic expressions of care ethics within LGBTQI+ communities of color,” said Domenack of his research. “Then, I will consider how descriptions and analysis of ritual can add texture and insight to existing scholarly discourse on trans care, critical race and queer theories, hospitality, personhood, and power. From my dual foundation in theory and practice, my work aims to shift, expand, and inform clinical policy in ways that can support how memory, story, and relationality contour LGBTQI+ communities of care.”
Sadler Scholars are invited to partake in workshops on career development, publication, and professional flourishing and have access to one-on-one mentoring sessions with advisors and Hastings Center colleagues, among other enriching professional development opportunities.
Stipends for Sadler Scholars are provided by the Blair and Georgia Sadler Fund for Socially Just Health Policy, which aims to cultivate a more diverse set of scholars committed to creating a more equitable world. The Sadler Fund also supports expert advisors to this initiative.
