Instead of being just a Church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us try also to be a Church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who have quit or are indifferent.
Pope Francis
Dr. Fernandes is an Associate Director of the Ohio State University Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH.
He received his B.A. in Biology and Philosophy from the University of Toledo with a subsequent M.A. in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University. He graduated from the Ohio State University Medical School in 2003. After completion of Residency in Categorical Pediatrics at St. Louis University-Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, he obtained his Ph.D. in Philosophy (Bioethics) from Georgetown University in 2008. The title of his Doctoral Dissertation was: "Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and the Philosophical Anthropology of Karol Wojtyla."
Dr. Fernades currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Bioethics Network of Ohio (BENO) at the University of Dayton, and the Physician Assistant Program Advisory Board (mission and ethics).
Dr. Fernandes is a past Catholic Medical Association (CMA) board member (1998-2001) and currently serves as a Regional CMA Director for IN, MI, OH, and KY.