Center For Biomedical Ethics And Society

A team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center will address the concerns and hopes surrounding health-related AI chatbots with the aid of a two-year funding award of up to $7.3 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Read More

Results of the study suggest the prospect of an array of individual and societal benefits to personalized medicine, as well as risks for physical, dignitary, group, economic, psychological and legal harms, many of which may have been over-emphasized or overlooked in the literature. Read More

Joanne Lynn, M.D., a geriatrician and health services researcher, will present the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Sept. 22. Read More

Experts in medicine and the law at the University of Minnesota and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) are leading a national effort to analyze and recommend improvements in genomic law. Read More

A new report released this week raises questions about “gene drives,” a biological process that can profoundly and rapidly alter the characteristics of entire species. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine have received a four-year, $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a new center for the study of privacy concerns associated with the use of genomic information, the NIH announced this week. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is encouraging faculty and staff to answer this question: If you became incapable of making health care decisions for yourself because of injury or illness, would your family or health care provider know your wishes for health care? Read More

Duke University’s Norman Wirzba, Ph.D., left, talks with Vanderbilt’s Douglas Heimburger, M.D., M.S., following Wirzba’s recent lecture on the importance of sustainable agriculture and its impact on population health. Read More

Norman Wirzba, Ph.D., professor of Theology, Ecology, and Agrarian studies at Duke University in the Divinity School, the Nicholas School of the Environment, and the Sanford School of Public Policy, will present a public lecture at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 4, in Light Hall, Room 214 entitled “Why Sustainable Agriculture Matters.” Read More

“There’s no magic bullet” to control rising health care costs in the United States, health law expert Timothy Jost, J.D., said during last week’s Flexner Discovery Lecture. Read More

Ellen Clayton, M.D., J.D., the Craig-Weaver Professor of Pediatrics and professor of Law and Health Policy at Vanderbilt University, has been selected to serve as co-chair of the National Academies’ Report Review Committee (RRC). Read More

The Flexner Discovery Lecture Series kicks off this fall with a discussion of health care cost control. Timothy Jost, J.D., emeritus professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law, will speak on Thursday, Sept. 10. Read More

Bernard Lo, M.D., president of the Greenwall Foundation and director emeritus of the Program in Medical Ethics at the University of California, San Francisco, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Sept. 25. Read More

Vanderbilt University researchers have received a five-year, $1.2 million grant from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to strengthen research ethics capacity in Mozambique. Read More

We’re on a potential collision course, said last week’s Flexner Discovery Lecturer, between the delivery of good medical care and the possibilities offered by genome medicine. Read More

Wylie Burke, M.D., Ph.D., an expert in the social, ethical and policy implications of genetic information, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Sept. 19. Read More

Keith Meador, M.D., MPH, has been named director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Keith Meador, M.D., MPH Meador succeeds Ellen Wright Clayton, M.D., J.D., Craig-Weaver Professor of Pediatrics, who is stepping down after 12 years as director to devote… Read More

A report released by the Institute of Medicine confirms the safety of eight vaccines studied by a committee of experts. Evidence showed no links between immunization and serious conditions that have raised concerns, including Type 1 diabetes and autism. Read More

Should scientists inform participants in genomic studies about their risk for diseases or conditions discovered during the studies, and if so, when and how? A Vanderbilt professor is part of a team working to answer these questions. Read More