Dr. Hall is a general surgeon with training in both moral philosophy and theology, and is interested in the ethics of surgery. His current research focuses on improving the decision-making and preoperative care of frail patients scheduled for elective surgery. Other research focuses on improving the quality and efficiency of IRB review throughout the VA healthcare system, and using qualitative and quantitative methods to describe how patients and surgeons negotiate the process of informed consent for clinical surgery. He is also interested in how surgical residency shapes the character of surgeons-in-training and how best to form the virtues of character necessary for good surgical practice.

Dr. Hall earned degrees in medicine and theology from Yale University before completing his surgical training at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church with interests in the theology of medicine. He was the first John Templeton Fellow in Religion and Medicine at Duke University where his research focused on epistemology, moral philosophy, religious measurement, and the ways in which medical decision-making is influenced by religious and secular worldviews. He has published and lectured on ethics and the role religion plays in the context of clinical medicine. His clinical interests focus on both minimally invasive, emergency general surgery, and surgical palliative care.