TRISTAN MCINTOSH is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Bioethics Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. McIntosh earned her Master’s and PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at the University of Oklahoma, with concentrated focus on innovation, ethical decision-making, and leadership. This background—rooted in how individuals, teams, and organizations actually make decisions and operate—shapes a distinctive research approach. Rather than treating ethics as a purely normative exercise, her work accounts for the organizational conditions and decision-making processes that shape how people actually work, producing guidance that makes ethics actionable, not aspirational.

Her research spans three primary domains: 1) neuroethics, including responsibly navigating industry-academic partnerships in the development and commercialization of neurotechnologies, 2) cultivating research team dynamics that support scientific excellence and responsible research conduct, and 3) preventing and responding to physician misconduct. Across these domains, her work is designed for implementation: helping research teams identify and manage ethical risk before it becomes regulatory or reputational liability, earn and sustain public trust, and build operational and strategic practices that strengthen research quality and integrity.

Dr. McIntosh also designs, delivers, and evaluates educational programming and advises organizations on these topics. She is the co-director of Compass, a national leadership and management professional development program for researchers, and serves on the editorial boards of Accountability in Research and Ethics & Behavior.

Fostering Ethical Neurotechnology Academia-Industry Partnerships: A Stakeholder Engagement and Toolkit Development Project
McIntosh, PI 6/1/22 – 5/31/26 NIH BRAIN Initiative/NIMH
The goal of this project is to identify common ethical and practical challenges in neurotechnology industry-academic partnerships and develop actionable solutions. Using in-depth interviews and consensus-building with a wide range of stakeholders (e.g., researchers, clinicians, industry professionals, patients), the project culminates in a practical, publicly available toolkit to help stakeholders navigate ethical complexities, mitigate risk, and balance scientific values with fiduciary goals.
Role: PI

Exploring Ethical Considerations When Using a Machine Learning Algorithm to Predict Brain Tumor Prognosis and Inform Surgical Decisions
R01CA203861-08S1 Leuthardt & Shimony, PI 8/1/24 – 7/31/25 NIH/NCI
The goal of this project is to examine the ethical implications of using machine learning algorithms to predict brain tumor prognosis and guide surgical decision-making. Using in-depth interviews with glioblastoma patients, their caregivers, and the neurosurgeons who treat them, the project explores stakeholders’ perceived benefits and concerns, ethical considerations, and what responsible integration of this technology into clinical practice should look like.
Role: Supplement PI

Helping State Medical Boards Effectively Protect Patients by Identifying and Promulgating Promising Practices and Essential Resources
Greenwall Foundation, Making a Difference Program McIntosh, PI 7/01/19-6/30/21
The goal of this project is to establish expert consensus among State Medical Board members on the practices and resources needed to protect the public when physicians engage in egregious wrongdoing. Using a consensus-building process with board members and legal experts, the project produces two key outputs: 1) a set of consensus-based promising practices spanning board operations, outreach, and oversight that boards can adopt internally, and 2) model provisions with expert legal commentary to guide states in designing or amending relevant medical practice acts.
Role: PI

Protecting the Public from Bad Actors in Medicine: A Policy Change Workshop for State Medical Boards
Greenwall Foundation, Bridging Bioethics Research & Policymaking McIntosh, PI 10/1/23-9/30/24
The goal of this project is to translate stakeholder-informed policy and practice recommendations into board-level action. In partnership with the Federation of State Medical Boards, the project designs and hosts an intensive, first-of-its-kind workshop for board members and staff, resulting in individualized board action plans for implementing policy changes to better protect the public from physician misconduct.
Role: PI

Program for Advancing Early-Career Researcher Excellence through Leadership and Management Practices
NIH/NIGMS Antes, PI 8/1/21-7/31/26
The goal of this project is to equip researchers nationwide with the leadership and management skills needed to lead research teams effectively. Drawing on organizational psychology literature and tailored to the unique demands of scientific work, the project develops a collaborative digital learning experience spanning three core domains: leading others, managing scientific work, and leading oneself. Scholars complete the program with a fully developed lab manual that reflects and synthesizes their learning across all three domains.
Role: Co-Investigator/Program Co-Director

Advancing the Use of Professional Decision-Making Strategies in a Culturally Diverse Research Community
National Science Foundation McIntosh & Antes, Co-PIs 9/1/20-8/31/24
The goal of this project is to examine how cultural background shapes the way researchers approach professional and ethical challenges in the workplace. Using comparative data from researchers born in East Asia and the United States, the project identifies shared and distinct decision-making strategies across cultural contexts, informing the development of more culturally inclusive responsible conduct of research (RCR) curricula.
Role: PI

Ethical Decision-Making about Conducting Essential Research in a Pandemic: Experiences of Principal Investigators and Research Personnel
National Science Foundation McIntosh and Antes, Co-PIs 8/1/20-9/30/21
The goal of this project is to understand how principal investigators made decisions about staffing and conducting on-site research during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, and how those decisions affected research personnel and research oeprations. Using survey and interview data from PIs and staff, the project identifies key decision-making strategies, barriers, and facilitators — producing lessons to inform institutional responses to future disruptions to normal research operations.
Role: PI

Developing Action Plans for Responding to Noncompliance
NIH/NCATS Powderly, PI 8/10/20 – 8/31/21
The goal of this project is to determine how research institutions develop and implement action plans in response to serious and continuing noncompliance. Using in-depth interviews and a national survey of institutional officials, the project identifies common root causes of noncompliance and corrective action plan activities used to support remediation.
Role: Supplement PI

• McIntosh, T., Solomon, E. D., Dormeville, M., DuBois, J. M., & Antes, A. (2026). Effects of a novel responsible conduct of research training program and learning transfer intervention on ethical and professional decision-making skills. Science and Engineering Ethics.

• Solomon, E. D., Parsons, M. V., Skolnik, M., Mwobobia, J., DuBois, J. M., & McIntosh, T.* (2025). Neuroethicists’ Perspectives on Ethical Issues in Neurotechnology Industry-Academia Partnerships. AJOB Neuroscience, 1–15. *senior/corresponding author

• Parsons, M. V., Skolnik, M., Mwobobia, J., Solomon, E. D., DuBois, J. M., & McIntosh, T.* (2025). Ethical implications of neurotechnology in industry-academia partnerships: Insights from patient and research participant interviews. PloS One, 20(9), e0330367. *senior/corresponding author

• McIntosh, T. & Antes, A. L. (2025). Evaluating and supporting leadership, management, and mentoring: a framework for catalyzing responsible research and healthy research environments. Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics, 10, 1569524.

• McIntosh, T., Pendo, E., Walsh, H. A., Baldwin, K. A., King, P., Anderson, E. E., Caldicott, C. V., Carter, J. D., Johnson, S. H., Mathews, K., Norcross, W. A., Shaffer, D. C., & DuBois, J. M. (2024). What can state medical boards do to effectively address serious ethical violations? Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics.

• McIntosh, T., DuBois, J. M., & Perlmutter, J. S. (2022). Ethical challenges in the commercialization of neurotechnology: Contending with competing priorities. AJOB Neuroscience, 13(1), 60-62.

• McIntosh, T., Antes, A., Schenk, E. Rolf, L., & DuBois, J. M. (2023). Addressing serious and continuing research noncompliance and integrity violations through action plans: Interviews with institutional officials. Accountability in Research, 1-33.

• Antes, A.*, McIntosh, T.*, Solomon-Cargill, S., & Bruton, S. (2023). Principal investigators’ priorities and perceived barriers and facilitators when making decisions about conducting essential research in the COVID-19 pandemic. Science and Engineering Ethics, 29(2), 8. *Co-first authors

• McIntosh, T., Walsh, H., Baldwin, K., Pendo, E., & DuBois, J. M. (2021). Protecting patients from egregious wrongdoing by physicians: Consensus recommendations from state medical board members and staff. Journal of Medical Regulation, 107(3), 5-18.

• McIntosh, T., & DuBois, J. D. (2020). From research to clinical practice: Ethical issues with neurotechnology and industry relationships. AJOB Neuroscience, 11(3), 210-212.

• 2024, 2025, & 2026 | Top Abstract Award, International Neuroethics Society Annual Meeting
• 2024 | Award for Outstanding Talk, International Neuroethics Society Annual Meeting
• 2023 | Award for Distinguished Scholarship, Journal of Medical Regulation