The Ethics of Human Enhancement and Biotechnology
The science of medicine seeks to improve and enhance the human condition, while the practice of medicine pursues health and human flourishing. The intersection of medicine, science and technology empowers us to overcome many of our mental and physical limitations in ways that could change what it means to be human.
Genetic insights and technologies help develop treatments that target causes of diseases. Technologies such as gene editing and embryo selection enable parents to curate their future children’s traits such as physical appearance, intelligence, and even immune systems. Brain-computer interfaces can help those with spinal cord injuries walk again. Such connections can also dramatically expand human cognitive abilities. These and other biotechnologies can improve our memories, increase our stamina and strength, alter the aging process, and eliminate many disabling conditions. These biotechnologies raise ethical questions that can touch on deeply held cultural, societal, personal, and professional values that can have far-reaching implications across the patient care continuum.
The Event:
This pioneering, interdisciplinary symposium explores the practical, ethical, clinical, and societal promises and perils that fuel the human enhancement debate. AHN Clinical Ethics has assembled leading voices in the field of human enhancement to probe these matters according to the themes of 1) current innovation, 2) benefits to patient health and flourishing; and 3) policy considerations concerning access to innovation. Through enlightening talks, facilitated innovative workshops, and a candid plenary discussion, this symposium is geared to all disciplines including physicians and other clinicians, healthcare professionals, executives and administrators, graduate students and faculty, researchers, and medical, public, community policy advocates.
Dr. Allen Buchanan is Laureate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona and Emeritus James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Law at Duke University. He has published widely in Political Philosophy, the Philosophy of International Law, and Bioethics (including two books on the ethics of biomedical enhancement). His career has combined scholarly publications and teaching with policy work at the highest levels. He served as the only non-scientist member of the Advisory Council for the National Human Genome Project, as a member of the Secretary of Health and Human Services Committee on Genetic Testing, and as Staff Philosopher or consultant on every Presidential Bioethics commission, as well as on The Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments.
Dr. Keisha Ray earned a PhD in philosophy from the University of Utah. She is currently an associate professor with the McGovern Center for Humanities & Ethics and serves as the Director of the McGovern Center’s Medical Humanities Scholarly Concentration. Most of Dr. Ray’s work focuses on the sociopolitical determinants of Black people’s health, integrating social justice education into medical school curriculum, and the sociopolitical implications of biomedical enhancement for marginalized populations. Her latest book “Black Health: The Social, Political, and Cultural Determinants of Black People’s Health” was released earlier this year.
Dr. Bruce D. White is a board-certified pediatrician, a pharmacist, and an attorney with fellowship training in clinical medical ethics. He currently serves as Professor of Clinical Medical Education, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Nashville. Dr. White served as Director of the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College, Albany, New York, and as professor of pediatrics and the John A. Balint, MD, Chair of Medical Ethics in the College. He taught at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona, where he also served as chair of the pediatrics department and directed the clinical ethics fellowship program. He also held appointments as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Science in the University of Arizona Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska. He also served as professor and director of the Healthcare Ethics and Law (HEaL) Institute at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.
We extend special thanks to our sponsor:
Allegheny General Hospital is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Credits to be determined.