Early stage colon cancer characterized by inactivation of gatekeeper gene Sep 10, 2008
The School's 17 departments in the basic sciences and clinical specialties work closely with the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, and the Centre for Health Services Research to ensure that teaching and research are aligned and relevant to Singapore's healthcare needs. In January 2008, the School of Medicine, the Faculty of Dentistry and the National University Hospital were unified under the common governance of the National University Health System,... (EurekAlert!)
Pill to boost productivity gaining favor Sep 7, 2008
Hank Greely, a law professor and director of Stanford University's Center for Biomedical Ethics, said he also knows some academics and doctors who have tried Provigil and who apparently didn't have sleep disorders. He added that some of them may have had prescriptions for it, however, which muddies the issue of how appropriate it was for them to use the drug. (AZCentral -- News)
San Bruno company banking on cord blood Sep 3, 2008
"There may be a few rare cases where a family history of a disease might increase the possibility that privately banking blood will be useful," said David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. Magnus said he supports the public banking of cord blood for anyone who may need it, but considers private cord-blood banking "a modern version of selling snake oil" and "plays on parents' fears and the desire to do what's best for their children, combined with a lack of... (San Francisco Chronicle)
Home health testing kit sales top $773 million, but accuracy questioned Aug 29, 2008
You don t always know what the products can do, said Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, a senior research scholar at Stanford s Center for Biomedical Ethics. It s likely more of us will need to take charge of our own health histories: The American Medical Association reports that the numbers of primary care physicians and nurses are declining. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Health)
Perceived discrimination affects screening rates Aug 6, 2008
"We have yet to achieve bias-free health care. This has serious public health implications as we know that higher levels of screening lead to lower levels of mortality. Clinicians need to be aware that they may be sending signals, even unintentionally, that lead minorities to believe they are being discriminated against," said LaVera M. Crawley, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor at the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics. Exactly what those signals are will need to be determined... (EurekAlert!)
Schiavo debate relived in Valley Jul 27, 2008
It's unusual for a conservator to argue for removing life support without evidence that's what the patient would want, said David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and co-chair of the hospital's ethics committee. The reporter can be reached at or (559) 441-6310. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
North Shore Life Sciences Accelerator established Jul 26, 2008
Martha Farmer, a biomedical ethics fellow at Harvard Medical School and an NSTC board member, will guide the day-to-day operations of the accelerator as its president. Research by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative shows that employment in life sciences yields a strong multiplier effect on overall employment, said Farmer. (Georgetown Record, MA)
NSTC launches North Shore Life Sciences Accelerator Jul 18, 2008
Martha Farmer, a biomedical ethics fellow at Harvard Medical School and an NSTC board member, will guide the day-to-day operations of the accelerator as its president. Research by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative shows that employment in life sciences yields a strong multiplier effect on overall employment, said North Shore Life Sciences Accelerator president Martha Farmer. (Beverly Citizen, MA)
First test tube baby praises IVF doctor who was 'like a ... Jul 16, 2008
At a Washington conference on biomedical ethics in 1971, the Nobel laureate James Watson, who with Francis Crick had discovered DNA, said IVF research would necessitate infanticide. Prof Edwards stood up and forcefully defended his work, receiving a standing ovation in the process. (Daily Mail)
Bipolar gene test stirs debate overat-home genetic tests Mar 25, 2008
Patients taking Psynomics' bipolar test may feel branded by a positive result, even if they are not ultimately diagnosed with the disorder, said Hank Greely, a professor of law and genetics with the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. Or they may feel false hope from a negative result, despite the company's disclaimers. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Health)
Bipolar gene test stirs debate over at-home genetic tests Mar 22, 2008
Patients taking Psynomics bipolar test may feel branded by a positive result, even if they are not ultimately diagnosed with the disorder, said Hank Greely, a professor of law and genetics with the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. Or they may feel false hope from a negative result, despite the company s disclaimers. (Yreka Siskiyou Daily News, CA)
Sandi Dolbee: Drug test or trust: There's a lot at stake Mar 2, 2008
Devereaux directs the biomedical ethics seminars for UCSD's Research Ethics Program. She cites literature warning that home tests are not always reliable and there are tricks that can taint the results. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
'Dr Kidney's' arrest exposes gruesome traffic Feb 22, 2008
"The ordinance came about after a struggle by professionals, civil society and the media for almost two decades against a strong pro-organ trade lobby," Dr Farhat Moazam, professor and chairperson of the Center of Biomedical Ethics and Culture at the Sind Institute for Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), Karachi, told IPS by telephone. Moazam was part of the campaign to get the law passed against what she prefers to call organ "trafficking" rather than the more neutral "trade". (Asia Times Online)
University creates task force on enrollment Feb 11, 2008
Dr. Baruch is a professor of emergency medicine at the Center for Biomedical Ethics, Brown Medical School in Providence, R.I. He is author of "Fourteen Stories: Doctors Patients and Other Strangers" (Kent State University Press, 2007). Baruch's short story, "Accident Room" will also be the subject of an ECU Readers' Theater performance at 7 p.m., March 2 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at 131 Oakmont Drive in Greenville. (The Daily Reflector)
Med students coping Jan 24, 2008
The UI Center for Biomedical Ethics has had a strong hand in introducing stress management into mandatory classes, she said. Students have also taken a renewed interest in wellness. (Daily Iowan, IA)
Doctors Under-reporting Medical Errors To Hospitals, Study Suggests Jan 16, 2008
"Taken together, the findings indicate that physicians have more experience talking to patients about medical errors than reporting them to hospitals," said Kaldjian, who also is director of the college's Program in Biomedical Ethics and Medical Humanities. "It may be that physicians find it more important or meaningful to talk to patients about mistakes and may not see as much value in communicating the same mistakes to a reporting system," he added. (Science Daily)
Peter DuBois has always been moved by theater Dec 24, 2007
His two older brothers went in different directions: One now runs the biomedical ethics program at Saint Louis University, the other is an executive at a national insurance company. DuBois dabbled a little in politics while studying at Villanova University before the tug of theater and the arts pulled him in, he says. (Boston Globe)
M.D.s may stay mum Dec 18, 2007
"The medical profession is supposed to be self-regulated," said Lauris Kaldjian, the director of the UI program in biomedical ethics. "Society gives freedoms to the medical profession, and one of those is a real degree of professional autonomy.". (Daily Iowan, IA)
Scientists turn human skin cells into stem cells in breakthrough Nov 22, 2007
"The two results are significant, maybe even astounding," said Christopher Scott, a director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. He predicted that the success in producing stem cells from skin cells will bring on calls for ending research using human embryos. (San Francisco Chronicle)
New BioTime chief prospects for pay dirt Nov 10, 2007
"It's these platform technologies that could (have) an immense benefit for research," said Christopher Thomas Scott, director of the Program on Stem Cells in Society and a senior research scholar at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. Pages: 1. (San Francisco Business Times, CA)
Parker honored by Anna Maria College Nov 10, 2007
She was on the Board of Incorporators at The Westerly Hospital, the Governor s Skills Commission on Education, a member of the Small Business International Trade Task Force at Bryant College and of the Bishop s Biomedical Ethics Commission for the Diocese of Providence. She is a member of the National Council of Catholic Women and International Catholic Organizations and was invested as a Dame of Malta in 2000. (Westerly Sun, RI)
Maren Grainger-Monsen on how film can wake people up to realities in medicine Nov 5, 2007
"I was a resident in emergency medicine at Stanford hospital. In the emergency department I found that the staff would all lead resuscitations and we'd all say, 'I never want that done to myself.' I thought, 'I need to make a film about that.' The public doesn't understand what a resuscitation is like. There is this perception that you can just get your heart started again and everything is fine, so why would you die if you could survive? The issue is the consequences of being resuscitated and... (San Francisco Chronicle)
World's First-Ever Stem-Cell Storage Company Opens In Bay Area Oct 30, 2007
"They are clearly ripping people off. This is something that has little or no value, said David Magnus, the director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. "(It is) hard to see the case why people should spend a lot of money to do this when they would be better off donating their embryos for research. "Krtolica said her company is only providing a choice for people.It costs $2,000 to $3,000 to preserve stem cells with the company.It costs $250 a year to maintain the cells. Copyright 2007... (NBC 11, CA)
Nascent stem cell company raises ethical and medical issues Oct 30, 2007
"These companies are essentially taking advantage of people's ignorance and fears to make a buck," said David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. StemLifeLine's commercial debut also raised unsettled ethical questions that experts had thought they would consider when therapies actually materialized. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Health briefs for Oct. 22 Oct 23, 2007
Most recently, Bareis served as the medical director of several nursing facilities, provided guidance of some biomedical ethics programs and did some teaching. In his retirement, Bareis has written two books. (Rapid City Journal, SD)
Long-awaited International Ethical Guidelines For Biobank Researchers Sep 22, 2007
"It is crucial to be able to weigh the conflicting interests, so that the regulation of biobank research doesn't become a patient security problem in diagnosis, care, and treatment," says Mats G. Hansson, professor of biomedical ethics and director of the Center for Bioethics at the Karolinska Institute and Uppsala University in Sweden. Today there is a plethora of extremely comprehensive guidelines and regulations in different countries, which entails major complications for biobank scientists,... (Science Daily)
Colonel draws fire for study Sep 3, 2007
"It doesn't constitute research at that point," said David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. The IRB and the higher-level review office hadn't caught the problem because the researchers said consent would be obtained prior to any study procedures, Army officials said in a statement. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Kevin Andrews CV was not playing it by the book Aug 26, 2007
Issues in Biomedical Ethics, published by Macmillan in India. This record of proceedings of an international congress of the Festival of Life was edited by Dr C. J. Vas and E. J. De Souza, leaders of a Catholic ethics centre in Mumbai. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Drehs: Future of cheating Aug 11, 2007
British bioethicist Dr. Andy Miah, author of the book "Genetically Modified Athletes: Biomedical Ethics, Gene Doping and Sport," believes we're not far from the day when athletes will have microscopic devices implanted in their brains to boost performance. It sounds like science fiction, but the technology is being studied to help people suffering from Parkinson's disease. (ESPN -- Football News)
Fertility Patients Favor Donating Unused Embryos for Research Jun 23, 2007
Reacting to the study findings, co-researcher Dr. Anne Drapkin Lyerly, of Duke University, said, "We were surprised. These were quite dramatic findings."When we asked these infertility patients about what they thought they would do with embryos, 50 percent said that they would be likely to donate some or all of them for research and 60 percent said that they would be likely to donate them for stem cell research," said Lyerly, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University... (Forbes)
On the Brink of Artificial Life Jun 19, 2007
What's to stop terrorists from buying pieces of DNA and fitting them together into a vicious pathogen, frets David C. Magnus, director of Stanford University's Center for Biomedical Ethics. "There are plenty of people lying awake worrying about this," he says. (BusinessWeek)
Gene Tests 'To Make Insurance Pricier' Jun 10, 2007
But a professor of biomedical ethics at the University of London has said the information may be misunderstood by firms who then drive up prices as a result. Writing in the British Medical Journal, Richard Ashcroft said: "It is important to note how genetic information can be misunderstood, or its importance overestimated, and therefore used in discriminatory ways that would not be justified. Advertisement "For instance, if a woman were to test positive for a mutation in the BRCA1 gene, a naive... (Sky News)
New genetic tests era raises insurance fear Jun 8, 2007
In the British Medical Journal today, Richard Ashcroft, professor of biomedical ethics at Queen Mary, University of London, writes that the tests could lead to "irrational discrimination". There are warnings that the insurance industry, which is banned from using all but one genetic test, could push for more to be legalised. (Guardian Unlimited -- UK)
Gene tests 'to mean higher insurance premiums' Jun 8, 2007
Dr Richard Ashcroft, professor of biomedical ethics at the University of London, said there was a risk that people would be discriminated against on the basis of a poor understanding of genetics. The concerns come a day after scientists announced they had discovered a series of genes linked to common diseases affecting 20million Britons. (Daily Mail)
Test Shows Baby's Gender At 6 Weeks Jun 7, 2007
Dr. David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, said there are several ways this kind of testing may be inaccurate. "You could have had a failed pregnancy -- a miscarriage without knowing it, which is common."There could be fetal cells in the blood stream that are detected and ruin the results or if the person had a transfusion or are near a male when drawing their blood. (NBC 11, CA)
Health reformers to piggyback on 'Sicko' May 27, 2007
" Moore's technique of portraying certain corporate or political entities as evil, as demonstrated in his earlier films, could mask some of the subtleties of a complex problem like health care, said Dr. Maren Grainger-Monsen, a filmmaker in residence at Stanford University's Center for Biomedical Ethics. "His work, in general, is provocative and inflammatory, but he does a good job in getting these topics in the public and getting people to talk about them," Grainger-Monsen said. "The problem is... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Politics)
Docs slow to admit mistakes May 19, 2007
"It seems fair to assume that all of us have made at least a minor error, if not a major error, sometime in our careers," said Dr. Lauris Kaldjian, an associate professor of internal medicine at the university's medical college and director of its Program in Biomedical Ethics and Medical Humanities. "Most doctors recognize that they're fallible, but they still strive for perfection," Kaldjian said. (Herald Online, SC -- Health)
Physicians May Say They Would Disclose A Medical Error, But How Many Actually Do? May 12, 2007
D., associate professor of internal medicine in the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and director of the college's Program in Biomedical Ethics and Medical Humanities. "We were interested in what factors or beliefs might be motivating physicians who are more likely to disclose errors to their patients.". (Science Daily)
News you can use from the American Journal of Sports Medicine, May 2007 May 8, 2007
(Co-authors' institutions: Center for Health Services Research and The Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, both at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN; KSF Orthopaedic Center, Houston, TX.). . (EurekAlert!)
Brain-scan technology may spot lies Apr 29, 2007
"Are there limits to the knowledge we want to have?" said Emily Murphy, of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. Murphy favors government regulation of lie-detection studies similar to clinical trials for drugs. (AZCentral -- Business)
Experts discuss stem cell research in La Jolla Apr 7, 2007
"Issues we seemed to have a lot of time to deal with, we have to deal with right now," said speaker David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. Geron, a biotechnology company in Menlo Park, has already asked for permission to begin clinical trials of using human embryonic stem cells to treat people with spinal cord injuries, Magnus said. (North County Times)
Shelter raided, 250 cats and dogs seized Apr 5, 2007
Gini Barrett, an associate professor in biomedical ethics and public policy at Western University College of Veterinary Medicine in Pomona, agrees. "There has always been this very fine line between a rescuer and a hoarder," Barrett says. (Pet-Abuse.com)
Romney Campaign Recruits Supply-Siders Mar 19, 2007
Former member of the President s Committee on Mental Retardation, the Congressional Biomedical Ethics Advisory Committee and the National Institutes of Health, Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel. Miss Carpenter is congressional correspondent & assistant editor for HUMAN EVENTS. She is the author of "," published by Regnery (a HUMAN EVENTS sister company). (Human Events Online)
Doctors keep options from patients Feb 8, 2007
"That means that there are a lot of physicians out there who are not, in fact, doing the right thing," said David Magnus, director of Stanford University's Center for Biomedical Ethics. According to an American Medical Association policy statement, doctors can decline to give a treatment sought by an individual that is "incompatible with the physician's personal, religious or moral beliefs.". (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
GOP bill seeks to avoid use of embryonic cells Jan 30, 2007
Flores' bill also would create panels to look at biomedical ethics and stem-cell research and would ban human cloning. "Florida can do more to spur scientific discovery in the field of stem-cell research without crossing the ethical line of using taxpayer dollars for the destruction of human embryos," Flores said. (Orlando Sentinel -- News)
Committee forming to replace Ayers Jan 23, 2007
Childress specializes in biomedical ethics, has chaired the University's religious studies department, served as the principal of Brown College and was a co-director of the Virginia Health Policy Center. Paid Advertisement. (The Cavalier Daily, VA)
First womb transplant in US planned Jan 16, 2007
"This raises a set of very difficult medical and ethical questions," said Thomas Murray, who heads the Hastings Center, a biomedical ethics think tank in Garrison, N.Y. "I think it's very questionable. This would be very hard to justify.". The operation marks a confluence of two medical specialties -- transplant surgery and reproductive medicine -- that frequently spark controversy. (Boston Globe)
Students take steps into the world of stem cells Jan 14, 2007
Mary Devereaux, director of the biomedical ethics seminar series at UCSD, will lead the ethics part of the course, which will heavily lean toward issues with human embryonic stem cell research. Devereaux said the most-debated subject, the ethics of killing a human embryo to get stem cells, "masks" other important concerns. (North County Times)
Adult Stem Cells Spur Rush to Market as Remedies Avoid Bush's Embryo Ban Jan 11, 2007
It isn't about to be here, it is here now,'' says Christopher Thomas Scott, executive director of the Program on Stem Cells in Society at Stanford University's Center for Biomedical Ethics in Palo Alto, California. The companies that will emerge first in the stem cell arena will be those using adult stem cells. (Bloomberg)
UK Stem Cell Vote Jan 6, 2007
Its morally obligatory to do this to reduce reliance on procured ovocytes from healthy women who are just donating eggs for research purposes, says Dr. David Magnus, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University. Moreover, Dr. Magnus points out that humans are often fitted with heart valves from pigs, and that when diabetics inject themselves with insulin, they are actually using insulin that has been produced by bacteria that was infused with human genes. (Red Herring)
Hazy future for genetic drugs, tests Jan 3, 2007
Some questionable advertisements already have caught the attention of Sandra Soo-Jin Lee of Stanford's Center for Biomedical Ethics. In the January issue of the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology peutics, she criticized a Florida company that claims a genetic basis for health products it sells to racial groups. (San Jose Mercury News -- Business)
