Outcomes-based quality improvement in healthcare

Patient-centered, digital technologies and innovation

Process engineering in healthcare

Clinical ethics consultation

Patient-centered decision making

Surrogate decision making

Transplantation ethics

Critical care ethics

Professor Bruce is currently Associate Chief Experience Officer at Houston Methodist Hospital Systems and associate professor at the Institute of Academic Medicine at Houston Methodist and an adjunct associate professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center. She helps develop, support, implement, monitor, and sustain patient and family experience initiatives and oversees some patient-centered digital technology programs and pilot projects.

In terms of her research productivity, Professor Bruce has been awarded 4 local grants, served as a co-investigator on multiple federally-funded grants, and has written over 65 articles in peer-reviewed medical, legal, and ethics journals. She has served as first author in over 50 articles. She has served as first author of 2 textbooks and 5 book chapters.

With regard to her teaching activities, Professor Bruce has taught over 3,000 medical students and residents, nurses, and other allied healthcare professionals. In recognition of her teaching effectiveness and educational contributions, she has been awarded the Norton Rose Fulbright Faculty Excellence Award in Enduring Education, the Norton Rose Fulbright Excellence Award in Educational Leadership, and the Norton Rose Fulbright Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching and Evaluation.

Professor Bruce has developed and/or sustained at least 15 ethics committees for various hospitals and has served as an ethics consultant to several others. She conducted over 4,000 ethics consultations in tertiary and community hospitals throughout the nation.

As a result of her contributions to ethics, she has been selected for numerous leadership positions on national committees for bioethics and was a representative on the ethics committee for the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

She has a doctorate of Jurisprudence, a Master's degree in Bioethics, a certification in mediation, and a law license for the state of Texas. She completed a two-year fellowship in bioethics at the Cleveland Clinic. She was also among the first cohort of nationally-credentialed clinical ethicists. She is also a certified professional healthcare quality consultant (CPHQ).