April 2016 Newsletter

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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 annual summer school programs 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 an active member of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), a global initiative that aligns institutions of higher education with the United Nations to further the realization of the mandate of the Organization. GBI enjoys a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the UN’s central platform for debate, reflection, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.

Summer Programs in Bioethics in Manhattan and Dubrovnik

The registration fees are 100% tax deductible as GBI is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code in the US

Students may intern with GBI as well as attend the programs

A Manhattan-based NGO, Global Bioethics Initiative (GBI), has organized two bioethics summer schools, one in New York City and one in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in July and August.

The program in NYC is open to everyone from senior high school students to professionals. The program in Dubrovnik is aimed especially at undergraduates and post-graduates planning to work in academia, biomedical and health-related industries.

The lectures and discussions deal with the ethics of contentious issues ranging from end-of-life care, to organ donation, to mental illness and addiction and to HIV surveillance.

Both programmes include a series of lectures and seminars by notable faculty, field trips, film screenings, evening events with guest speakers open to public and a mini conference prior to the graduation ceremony.

Partial scholarships for low-income country residents and Continuing Medical Educatiom credits are available.

Students can apply to intern with GBI this summer but also to attend the programs. For further information, contact Dr Ana Lita.

Manhattan, NYC – July 11-22, 2016

Program

Contact

Faculty

Dubrovnik, Croatia – August 5-14, 2016

Program

Contact

Faculty

Partial Scholarships for low-income country residents & Continuing Medical Education credits are available
*One (1) AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ is equivalent to one (1) hour of European EACCME Credit (ECMEC©)Click on Apply Now above!

2015 Summer School
Participants’ Testimonials

“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

“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

2015 United Nations Field Trips

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.

Dr. Bruce Gelb (fifth left), Director of Renal Transplantation, NYU Langone Medical Center accompaning 2015 summer school participants to the United Nations.

Bioethics News

Iraqi families sell organs to overcome poverty

According to the 2014 World Bank statistics, about 22.5% of Iraq’s population of 30 million live in severe poverty. Breadwinners do not earn enough to pay for rent, healthcare, or the needs of their children. Being proud, many Iraqi families refuse to beg for food. As a desperate solution, they turn instead to selling their kidneys.Baghdad and Kurdistan are two prominent organ trafficking hubs, with illegal gangs offering up to $10,000 for a kidney.In 2012, the government of Iraq approved a law to combat trafficking. Read more here and see the news video here.

Transnational Surrogacy in India: What Went Wrong?

In Bengaluru, a group of infertile women await clearance for a life changing procedure that will allow them to bear life of their own. These women suffer from a rare disorder called MRKH (Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser) syndrome, which causes their reproductive systems to be underdeveloped or absent, and they are unable to carry a pregnancy. However, womb transplants give these woman, and many others who suffer from similar reproductive problems, the opportunity to carry and birth their own biological children. Read more here.

Past Event

Speakers and GBI Intern students

On March 23, 2016 Global Bioehics Initiative organized under the auspices of the UNCommission on the Status of Women (CSW) 60th Session, 14-24 March 2016 Crossing Borders for Fertility Services: Attending to Women’s Rights to Reproductive Care.

New reproductive and genetic technologies are providing people with the opportunity almost allover the world to have children. Variations in legislation across countries, however, are giving place to the phenomenon of cross-border reproductive care, where people cross international borders to access a variety of reproductive services fertility treatment, egg procurement, and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. This raises a host of ethical concerns about whether women’s rights and needs are appropriately respected.

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; BRIAN ESSER, lawyer and practitioner 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 h ere. 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 for details about the application process, lectures, feild trips, documentary screenings, as well as faculty page. Watch the videoclip of the opening reception of the summer program 2015.

Global Bioethics Initiative
777 United Nations Plaza 5th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212.687.3324
Fax: 212.661.4188
E-mail: alita@globalbioethics.org