His work focused primarily on questions of medical and bioethics, professional ethics in general, and public responsibility and policy.
At sixteen, he was accepted to the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs with an initial intent to pursue a career in law and politics, but the sudden death of his high school debate coach shortly before he left for Princeton had a profound effect on him, leading him to the study history and philosophy.
May served as the interim pastor of a small church in Oklahoma before enrolling at the Yale Divinity School where he earned a BD degree and ultimately a PhD in contemporary theology.
Four years after completing his doctorate, May joined Indiana University as founder and chair of a new Department of Religious Studies.
He served on the Ethical Foundations subgroup for the Clinton Task Force on Health Care Reform 1993 and was a member of the President's Council on Bioethics from 2002 to 2004 [4] In September 2007, James H. Billington named May the Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in American History and Ethics at the John W. Kluge Center.