Dr. Thomas Carroll: The Linacre Quarterly New Editor-in-Chief
February 16, 2026
By Nadia Smith
The Linacre Quarterly (LQ) is the longest running medical ethics journal in the country and it is now under the leadership of Thomas Carroll, M.D., Ph.D. He takes the reins from longtime Editor-in-Chief Barbara Golder, M.D., J.D., who he credits for the outstanding journal.
“I want to publicly say thank you to Dr. Golder for her willingness to help me get settled into this role. She has spent countless hours responding to my emails and meeting with me to make sure that I’m staying on track,” he said. “I do not exaggerate when I say that whatever good comes of the next few issues of the LQ will be very much her doing and any mistakes will be most certainly my own!”
In the months of learning the process to execute the LQ, he has grown in his profound gratitude to Dr. Golder and her commitment over the years noting that she has “shouldered a very heavy load almost entirely on her own.”
“Dr. Golder’s work in selecting high-quality manuscripts for publication has been outstanding. Her ability to see potential in what sometimes starts as a very rough draft and see it though the editorial process to a polished finished product is something I hope to emulate.”
For his part, he is glad to have an “excellent Editorial Team, including a group of very smart and hardworking Associate Editors” that will be assisting him as the new editor.
Sister Mary Diana Dreger, the chair of the Linacre Quarterly Committee, headed the search for a new editor-in-chief and at the time if seemed it would be difficult to find a candidate “who could pick up the Linacre Quarterly where Barbara Golder left off and continue the momentum.”
“Dr. Golder started with the Linacre when most of us would think about retiring, and for eight years her enthusiasm and dedication never lessened. Now Tom Carroll has surprised us, making not only a smooth transition but demonstrating that his gifts and energy are no less than Dr Golder’s,” she said. “The new Associate Editors as well as the whole Linacre Quarterly Editorial Committee is excited about what Dr. Carroll has already accomplished and what he is sure to bring to the LQ over the years.”
CMA President Dr. David Hilger could not agree more and expressed his gratitude: “On behalf of the CMA board, I would like to thank Dr. Golder for her dedication and years of service as editor-in-chief of the Linacre Quarterly. We are thankful for all of the current and past editors and contributors, and we are blessed to have Dr. Thomas Carroll continue this longstanding and essential contribution to medical and ethics literature.”
Despite the level of commitment that will be required of Dr. Carroll in this new position, he accepted it gladly recalling how the LQ has been a staple reading of his for many years.
“I see the LQ as one important way that the Catholic Medical Association can foster a true sense of community among Catholic healthcare professionals,” he explained. “My hope is that the articles in the LQ, in addition to making valuable scholarly contributions, provide fodder for real world, person-to-person, conversations that make us all better Catholics, friends, citizens, and disciples of Christ.”
Dr. Carroll practices internal medicine and palliative care at the University of Rochester Medical Center and he is the president of the Finger Lakes Guild of the CMA. As the new editor-in-chief, Dr. Carroll hopes to expand the readership of the LQ and provide a platform for anyone in the Catholic medical community.
“We have been gifted with a superabundance of tradition,” Dr. Carroll said. “It is up to us to help solidify understanding of the foundations of Church teaching in the medical realm while also helping to sort through how that tradition informs our interactions with new, and often challenging advances in the modern medical world.”