In the Spotlight

The Rise of the Biocrats
The Pennsylvania Gazette | May/June 2012

From stem cell research to HPV vaccinations, healthcare policy to genetic modification, bioethics increasingly provides the framework for weighing the costs and benefits of scientific progress. Long a leader in the field, the University is moving to make Penn the place where such work happens, and where the next generation of bioethicists will be minted.
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"There is, as in many areas of medicine, a pipeline problem," says Emanuel. "There are only a few sites around the country where you can get suitable training [in bioethics]. And so part of the plan is to make Penn the best place in the world to train to become a bioethicist."

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News & Announcements

• May 21, 2012
  Halting PSA testing the right thing to do, bioethicist says
  (From MSNBC) As many as 70 percent of men with poor [PSA] test scores do not have cancer.
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  No man should trust his life to a test that is wrong more often than it is right. Read more...
  
• May 17, 2012
  Panel debates: Should we test anthrax vaccine on kids?
  (From MSNBC) The Obama administration is asking a presidential commission to help decide [this] ethical quandary...
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  "I think this is an exercise in utter futility," added Caplan... Read more...
  
• May 15, 2012
  Art Caplan reflects on a career in bioethics while leaving for NYU
  (From Newsworks) After founding the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics, Caplan is now taking his expertise to New York University.
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  "One of the things I've always felt about bioethics is that it should be an academic enterprise, but it should also be a public dialogue." Read more...
  
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