ATLANTA - After assisting on two published reports, Professor Paul A. Lombardo continued his work as Senior Advisor to the Presidential Commission for the study of Bioethical Issues with a series of public talks to medical and public health professionals.  Lombardo provided historical, legal and bioethical insight to the Commission for its widely applauded report Ethically Impossible, which described the investigation of secret STD experiments performed by the U.S. Public Health Service on vulnerable subjects in Guatemala in the 1940s. 

Lombardo also worked on a related report entitled Moral Science that explained how human subjects research regulation has evolved since the unethical Guatemala studies. Moral Science included Commission recommendations for further strengthening the ethical regime surrounding biomedical research. 

Since those reports were issued, Lombardo has been asked to speak on Ethically Impossible and the Guatemala investigation at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and at the American Sexually Transmitted Disease Association’s annual meeting in Minneapolis.

“The Commission’s work has provided an opportunity to work with some of the premier scientists and bioethicists in the world,” said Lombardo.  “It has also given me an intimate view into the topics the Commission is currently investigating for future reports,” he added. 

The Commission’s ongoing agenda includes work on issues arising out of the use of whole genome sequencing, the development of medical countermeasures for children, and ethical challenges posed by advances in the neurosciences.

Contact:
Stacie P. Kershner
Associate Director
Center for Law, Health & Society