January 26, 2006

Feinberg launches center for bioethics, science, society

The Feinberg School of Medicine has formed a Center for Bioethics, Science and Society that will focus on social and ethical issues in biomedical research and its related technologies.

Laurie Zoloth, professor of medical humanities and bioethics at Feinberg and professor of religion in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed director of the center, announced Feinberg School Dean Lewis Landsberg, M.D., vice president for medical affairs.

Zoloth, who has served as the director of bioethics at the Center for Genetic Medicine, is a national leader in the field of bioethics in basic research and in theories of justice in health care.

Zoloth is past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and currently serves as chair of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Bioethics Advisory Board, and serves on the NASA National Advisory Council.

The new center will expand the teaching and scholarly work performed by the Program in Medical Humanities and Bioethics, and will collaborate with research centers, institutes and departments across both Northwestern campuses.

Researchers at the center will also participate in the teaching of research ethics in the University’s graduate programs.

The center’s first projects include participation in the National Science Foundation Center for Excellence for Nanotechnology and as principal investigator for the Ethical and Social Implications in the new NIH-funded Center of Excellence in Translational Human Stem Cell Research.