Neuroethics Profile

Martha Farah of Penn is profiled in Science Daily.

What's Up Roundup

Ten myths about assisted suicide from Spiked Liberties.

Ethics of compulsory drug screening.

Amusing "please call our expert" release on Pfizer Celebrex heart risks, from Saint Louis University

Knight Ridder piece by April Lynch on hiding genetic testing results from insurance companies

Another PR piece fed to the media on an ethicist, this time Penn's Martha Farah and neuroethics.

Moving Toward Bioethics in Secondary School

Ethics and Topical Issues Could Replace Traditional Sciences , writes RedNova. "Teenagers will be able to ditch traditional science studies and focus on the ethics of hot topics like cloning and MMR, under GCSE reforms outlined this week." Is this true? Feedback from partner teachers working with Penn's high school bioethics project would indicate that unless the teaching of bioethics somehow replaced the teaching of science, it would be a welcome option. Many teachers tell us they don't have the time and, some say, the training to teach bioethics in a systematic way. Nonetheless teachers fit bioethics in because they are interested, their students are interested & ask the right questions, and because by teaching basic science in a broader context they can point out the relevance of emerging technologies for students, their families, and society. -Dominic Sisti

Guest Blogger Dominic Sisti

Welcome to Dominic Sisti, our Guest blogger for the next few months. Those of you with interest in bioethics for high school students know him, and we think he's great.

Here's a biosketch: Dominic A. Sisti is a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics, an ethicist at Holy Redeemer Health System in Philadelphia, and an adjunct instructor at Villanova University. Dominic received his master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania (Bioethics, 2000) and his Bachelor of Science degree from Villanova University (Biology, 1996). He serves on several ethics committees and is currently working to develop the Center's High School Bioethics Project (PI- Prof. McGee) (see highschoolbioethics.org). Dominic is a co-editor of Health, Disease, and Illness: Concepts in Medicine (with Profs. Caplan & McCartney, Georgetown University Press, June 2004).

Welcome, Dom!

Gene Doping

ScienceNews reports on the surge of requests to Lee Sweeney of Penn for gene doping, which coaches, athletes and even university programs are eager to have.

Bioethics Tenure and Moves from Penn

The Chronicle ran "Penn's Medical School Denies Tenure to 2 Bioethicists" in this week's issue, in a piece whose purported focus was the move of McGee from Penn to Albany. Jeffrey Brainard commented on the tenure situation in the Penn department of medical ethics. Brian Leiter blogs the topic.

Penn Nanotech $11 Million Award - Bioethics Core

Word from the small strange hamlet of Philadelphia that Penn has received its first nanogrant. Story in the Daily Pennsylvanian: "According to Bonnell, the nanotechnology program will work with Penn's Center for Bioethics in order to 'lead the national discussion on the ethical considerations surrounding nanoscale science and its potential impact on humanity.'"