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February 2016 Newsletter

Posted on 12 March 2016
["Global Bioethics Initiative"]
Global Bioethics Initiative (GBI) is dedicated to fostering public awareness and understanding of bioethical issues, and to exploring solutions to bioethical challenges.
Through its events and activities, which include an annual Summer School on Global Bioethics, GBI seeks to keep the international community, policy decision-makers, the media, and the general public informed and aware of important bioethical issues. Such awareness is essential for making informed decisions and fostering public debate. Using various platforms, we at GBI are able to promote our motto “Doing bioethics in real life!”
GBI is also an active member of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), a global initiative that aligns institutions of higher education with the United Nations in furthering the realization of the purposes and mandate of the Organization through activities and research in shared culture of intellectual social responsibility.
Global Bioethics Initiative enjoys a special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, the UN’s central platform for debate, reflection, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.
Partial Scholarships and Continuing Medical Education (CME) Accreditation are available.Please click on Apply Now on the image below for details and forward it to a friend!
Summer School 2015 Participants’
Testimonials
“My first impression of the International Bioethics Summer School in Manhattan can be summed up in four words, INSIGHTFUL, INFORMATIVE, EDUCATIVE AND HELPFUL. The program is well organized and the Professors are amiable, accommodating and very resourceful. They know their subjects very well too. Based on this, I will highly recommend this course for both students and professionals in the field of Bioethics anywhere in the world.” – Sampson Addo, ​Research Development Officer, ​College of Basic and Applied Sciences,University of Ghana, Ghana
“It has been two weeks since the start of the Summer School in Bioethics in Manhattan and it has been a real eye opener. The participants are a very diverse group ranging from High school majors to established professionals, which makes the class very vibrant and thought provoking. I am very honored to be part of this wonderful experience. The highlight for last week was the invitation to the United Nations General Assembly as guests of the Romanian ambassador to be part of the One World Concert. This marked 70 years since the signing of the United Nations Charter. What an enjoyable experience it was to see all the different choirs and cultures coming together. I can’t think of a more fitting symbolism for what Global Bioethics Initiative stands for.”– Pinky Chirwa, Neonatologist, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, South Africa
​“I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my first summer working in New York City. I truly enjoyed participating in the Summer School, as well as working as an intern and learning the behind the scenes operations of a non-governmental organization.” – Agata Ferretti, Graduate Student, The University of Milan, Italy
“Attending the GBI Summer School was a once in a lifetime opportunity! The lectures were fascinating and I loved how much I learned about how bioethics applies to the real world. I also loved the camaraderie that was formed as the class got to know each other over the course of the five weeks.” – Eija Lindroos, ​Graduate Student, ​University of Turku​, Finland
Summer 2015 Field Trip to the United Nations
Dr. Bruce Gelb, Director of Renal Transplantation, Department of Transplant Surgery NYU Langone Medical Center and GBI Board Member accompanies 2015 students to the United Nations feild trip.
Summer School participants meet with Colonel Tim House and Mr. Lliam Findlay, who was Assistant to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Ebola.
On July 14th 2015, the summer school program participants took a field trip to the United Nations, to meet with Colonel Tim House, the Special Assistant to the Military Adviser for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), and Lliam Findlay, a Political Affairs Officer working with the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon’s Special Envoy on Ebola. Colonel Tim House presented the United Nation’s system and its mission as well as details about theDPKO. Lliam Findlay discussed his involvement with UNMEER, the UN Mission for Emergency Ebola Response.
Physician Assisted Suicide for Psychaitric Patients
Assisted suicide for psychiatric patients has been legal inthe Netherlands since 1993, a country with some of the longest standing euthanasia practices. In the Netherlands, the main argument foreuthanasia is the autonomy of the patient. Whether psychiatric patients are able to objectively determine that their suffering is irreversible is coming under question. Click here to read more.
Canada: Human Rights Violation or Paternalism?
In 2004, Canada passed the Assisted Human Reproduction
Act (AHRA) in order to monitor, regulate, and enforce Assisted Human Reproduction research
and activities. One of its most controversial provisions is the criminalization of payment for
sperm, eggs, or the services of surrogate mothers. Violators face strict penalties of up to $500,000 or a 10-year prison sentence. Click here to read more.
Surrogacy in China, as the One-Child Policy Comes to an End
At the start of 2016, China amended its one-child policy that had been in motion for 30 years. Perhaps it was because surrogacy had wormed its way into family planning among the richer members of the Chinese population, a concern for a vast majority of citizens who could not afford such a luxury. Clickhere to read more.
Upcoming Events
Speakers: DAISY DEOMAMPO, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anthropology at Fordham University; LESLIE MORGAN STEINER, blogger, public speaker, and author of Baby Chaseand Crazy Love, which was the subject of the first TED Talk by a domestic violence survivor; and panel moderator ANA LITA, Ph.D., Executive Director of Global Bioethics Initiative.
GBI Ongoing Internship Program
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 events. Candidates interested in interning with GBI should contact the Executive Director, Dr. Ana Lita at alita@globalbioethics.org. Read more here. Students may intern with GBI during the summer of 2016 as well as attend the summer programs.
Pictures and Videos
Check out our Summer School Website 2016 for details about the application process, lectures, feild trips, documentary screenings, as well as photos with faculty and students in 2015. Watch a video clip made in 2015 by our youngest summer school participant, Syra Mehdi interviewingProfessor Jonathan Moreno.
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