December 2016 Newsletter
GBI excited to announce new President, Dr. Bruce Gelb
Global Bioethics Initiative is pleased to announce the election of Dr. Bruce Gelb, M.D., F.A.C.S, as President of the Board of Directors. Dr. Gelb is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center, School of Medicine, and the Surgical Director of Renal Transplantation of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute. He also performs liver [...]
The future of bioethics under President-elect Trump: Professor Moreno’s Thoughts
It is difficult to predict the fate of bioethics in the coming years under the new President-elect Trump, states Professor Jonathan Moreno, an Advisory Board member of Global Bioethics Initiative. He is also a Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, History and Sociology of Science, and of Philosophy. In 2008-09 he served as a member [...]
After the election bioethics faces a rocky road
By Arthur Caplan Academic bioethics has never been popular with Republicans. Libertarians dislike academic bioethics because it seems too elitist and anti-free market. Religious thinkers worry it is technocratic, soulless and crassly utilitarian. Now with Trumpism add a populist disdain for expertise, experts and the scientific method and you have a stew that means few [...]
Novel system to get dying patients an experimental cancer drug raises hopes — and thorny questions
By KAREN WEINTRAUB @kweintraub NOVEMBER 8, 2016 The drug was still experimental, but clinical trials suggested it could be a lifesaver for patients with a lethal form of blood cancer called multiple myeloma. And those patients were clamoring to get it. They overwhelmed drug maker Janssen Pharmaceuticals with requests for the medication. Most companies [...]
The most extensive face transplant performed by surgeons at NYU Langone Medical Center
Face transplants are slowly becoming an everyday surgery in the world. Just this past August, Dr. Eduardo Rodríguez performed one. In a 26-hour operation, the most extensive face transplant operation to date, the plastic surgeon and his team removed the face and scalp of a young victim of a fatal accident and successfully grafted the [...]
Organs for the rich and cute: Should patients campaign for their own donors?
By Ada Roberts This week the Canadian Society of Transplantation released a report officially sanctioning the practice of publicly campaigning for organ donors, a practice that made headlines last year when two Canadian parents were desperately searching for functional kidneys for their recently adopted twins. The practice, says the report, is “ethically and legally acceptable” [...]
October 2016 Newsletter
Applications for Ongoing Internship Program are Now Open! International students and volunteers are welcome to apply Global Bioethics Initiative accepts applications for unpaid internships for students interested in bioethics. These internships provide students with the opportunity to learn about pertinent issues in global health and bioethics and gain skills in research, project management, and organizing [...]
September 2016 Newsletter
Bioethics in the News! One Step Closer to Tailored-Made Humans The researcher and biologist Fredrik Lanner, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, started to edit the DNA of healthy human embryos. This is the first reported action taken in gene editing on developing human embryos in the world; it’s another step onward to ultimately tailor-make a human being. Click [...]
The Resurrection Project, New Scientist Cover Story
The Resurrection Project We can't stop death, but we can try to reverse it by Helen Thomson "We already have small biobanks for storing bones from human donors, as well as tendons, ligaments and stem cells. But with rapid advances in regenerative medicine, there is a growing need for large-scale facilities in which we can [...]