Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, PhD, is a Senior Research Scholar and medical anthropologist who focuses on the social and ethical dimensions of emerging technologies and their integration into clinical practice. Dr. Lee leads studies of public understandings of research using clinical data and samples, concepts of race, culture and human genetic variation, and citizen science, commercialization … Read more

Digital technologies are changing how people are recruited to research and raising new ethical, practical, and social considerations. Informed consent practices are also affected, and demanding fresh scrutiny. This presentation considers some of the implications of digitizing informed consent from the perspective of a critical bioethicist who is also an NIH-funded “developer” of a digital … Read more

In early 2017, just prior to the change in administration, the 18 federal agencies that share the “Common Rule” that governs human subjects research issued new regulations. This seminar will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the 6-year rulemaking process, and review the major changes that are coming for IRBs and investigators. Daniel Nelson, JD,  is … Read more

As translational researchers turn to electronic information sources for clinical research recruitment, they are increasingly using on-line communication tools to educate potential participants and document their consent. How can we prevent this from reducing informed consent to the equivalent of a software licensing acceptance check box? John Wilbanks, PhD, is the Chief Commons Officer at … Read more

The human skeleton has long held symbolic significance, but actually owning a skeleton only became possible, and desirable, around the middle of the sixteenth century. From the De fabrica of Vesalius onward, many anatomical texts included detailed instructions of how to make a skeleton, although they were more circumspect about how one might obtain the … Read more

Looking at human and animal experimentation together revealed intersections and differences that were not immediately evident. This talk will look at some of the changes in policy, science, and public perceptions since Experimenting with Humans and Animals appeared at the beginning of this century, and how the landscape of experimentation has also changed. Anita Guerrini, PhD, is Horning Professor in the … Read more

Jennifer Kuzma is a Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program cluster hire in Genetic Engineering and Society. Kuzma is the Goodnight-North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Distinguished Professor in Social Sciences in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) and co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center at NC State.

A recent lawsuit in South Carolina charges Athena Diagnostics with negligence in interpreting a genetic variant. The plaintiff is the mother of child who died after his doctors based their treatment on Athena’s classification of the variant as a variant of unknown significance. She alleges that Athena should have classified the variant as pathological, in … Read more

We are pleased to announce the third statewide conference of the Clinical Ethics Network of North Carolina, “Conundrums in Clinical Ethics Consultation: Consciousness, Capacity, and Compulsion.” This event will take place on Friday, February 24, 2017, at the Conference Center of Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This full-day conference will feature … Read more

Do you have questions about the Zika virus and how it spreads? If you’re traveling this holiday season, do you know how to protect yourself from Zika? Do you have questions about Zika and pregnancy? Do you know all the ways the virus can be transmitted? What about the likelihood of a Zika epidemic here … Read more