Leon R. Kass, MD, PhD, is dean of the faculty at Shalem College, professor emeritus in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, and scholar emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute. He was chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2001 to 2005. His numerous articles and books include: Toward a More Natural Science: Biology and Human Affairs (1985), The Hungry Soul: Eating and the Perfecting of Our Nature (1999), Wing to Wing, Oar to Oar: Readings on Courting and Marrying (1999) with Amy A. Kass, Life, Liberty, and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics (2004), The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (2003), What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song (2011) with Amy A. Kass and Diana Schaub, Leading a Worthy Life: Finding Meaning in Modern Times (2017), Reading Ruth: Birth, Redemption, and the Way of Israel (2021) with Hannah Mandelbaum, and most recently, Founding God's Nation: Reading Exodus (2021). He is the winner of the 2023 Herzl Prize, Tikvah's highest honor.
