Director Penny Lane’s award-winning documentary feature film Confessions of a Good Samaritan, featuring our lab’s research...
Established in 1967 to honor Rev. Edward B. Bunn, S.J., the award is chosen by a vote of the senior class and presented to the member of the Georgetown University College faculty who “is admired and respected by all students for their service to Georgetown in the classroom and on the campus community.”
Dr. Marsh received this award at the recent Georgetown University’s College of Arts and Sciences annual Tropaia ceremony.
“Professor Marsh brings creativity, enthusiasm and care to every classroom, learning environment and exchange that she has with students,” said Georgetown College Dean Rosario Ceballo.
Marsh addressed the assembled students and faculty upon receipt of her award, touching on her own research into the neuroscience of altruism and her experience teaching and working with Georgetown students. As part of her work, Marsh and her students have conducted MRI brain scans and behavioral tests on altruistic kidney donors to “identify the neural and cognitive processes that give rise to altruism.
“One thing I’ve learned from my research is that altruism is fundamentally about love,” Marsh says. “Those who sacrifice to help strangers – the good Samaritans around us – really do seem to love strangers.”
“More than anything I teach my students about the amygdala or the striatum, I want them to remember how deeply embedded the capacity for love is in humans — and not just love for a few, but for many,” stated Dr. Marsh.
