What does it mean to be human?

A Distinguished Speaker Series on Biotechnology Law, Policy and Ethics

Seminar Description

What does it mean to be human?
New biotechnologies offer great opportunities to improve human lives by curing diseases, alleviating suffering, and enhancing our potential. They also present challenges to our understanding of the meaning of human life. This seminar series explores the roles of law, public policy, and ethics in addressing these advances in biotechnology in the 21st century.

Moderated by Roberta M. Berry, J.D., Ph.D.
Visiting Professor in Biotechnology Law, Policy & Ethics
Georgia State University College of Law
Roberta M. Berry is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Law, Science & Technology Program at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently writing a book on the ethical and policy implications of genetic engineering of human beings, and has co-edited an interdisciplinary book on health care law, ethics and policy. Professor Berry has written numerous articles and delivered papers on the legal, policy and ethical issues posed by bioscience research, genetic knowledge and biotechnologies

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - 4:00 - 5:30pm

Perfecting People Through Biotechnology
The Implications of Human Enhancement for Society

From the beginning of time, humans have been trying to improve their minds and bodies through enhancement techniques … from coca leaves to coffee, from education to exercise, from prayer to steroids. Today, new biotechnology drugs and devices offer unparalleled opportunities to eradicate disability, improve performance and modify appearance. As the possibilities of manipulating the human genome grow near, some welcome the prospect and others oppose it. Some question whether we are prepared to cope with the implications for ourselves and our society.

Maxwell J. Mehlman, J.D.
Arthur E. Petersilge Professor of Law and Director, The Law-Medicine Center
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Professor of Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Maxwell J. Mehlman is the author of Wondergenes: Genetic Enhancement and the Future of Society (Indiana University Press, 2003), and he has authored or co-authored several other books and numerous articles on topics including the ethical, legal and social implications of new discoveries in human genetics, and the just allocation of scarce resources. A Rhodes Scholar, Professor Mehlman practiced law with Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., specializing in the regulation of medical technology, before joining the Case Western faculty. He is directing a pilot project on research issues in enhancement pursuant to a National Institutes of Health grant designating the Department of Bioethics at Case Western a “ Center of Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social Issues Research.”

Ronald Bailey
Science Correspondent, Reason magazine

Ronald Bailey is the author of Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case for the Biotech Revolution (Prometheus Books, 2005). An adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute, he has authored or edited several other books and has produced several programs for PBS television and ABC News. His articles and reviews, including the award-winning “The Battle for Your Brain,” have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, Smithsonian magazine, National Review and Forbes . He has lectured widely including at Harvard, MIT, Morehouse, Rutgers, Virginia and Yale, and has offered testimony before a committee of the United States Congress.

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Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 4:00 - 5:30pm

The Life and Death of Terri Schiavo
Scientific, Religious, Legal and Ethical Perspectives

The decade-long controversy over the care of Theresa Marie Schindler Schiavo began as a private family matter and escalated into a national moral and political debate. Our speakers carry us to the center of this controversy, to the bedside of Terri Schiavo, to illuminate the debate surrounding her life and death from the perspectives of science, religion, law and ethics.

Nicolas S. Krawiecki, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology
Emory University School of Medicine
Emory Children's Center

In addition to his clinical practice and teaching of pediatric neurology, Dr. Nicolas S. Krawiecki is Co-Director of the Clinical Ethics curriculum for third-year medical students at Emory University. He also serves as Chair of the Ethics Committee at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Egleston Hospital.

Kathy Kinlaw, M.Div.
Acting Director, Center for Ethics
Program Director, Health Science Ethics
Emory University

Kathy Kinlaw also serves as Bioethics Associate in Pediatrics, Emory School of Medicine, and is the Executive Director of the Health Care Ethics Consortium of Georgia. Her publications and scholarly interests are primarily in the areas of palliative and end-of-life care, neonatal ethics, public health ethics, ethics and medical education, and the work of health care ethics committees.

Charity Scott, J.D.
Professor of Law in the College of Law and J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Director, Center for Law, Health & Society
Georgia State University

Charity Scott holds joint faculty appointments in Georgia State University’s College of Law and the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Institute of Health Administration. She has published on a variety of health law issues including antitrust and the health care field, medical ethics and the law, medical privacy and health policy.

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Monday, November 14, 2005 - 4:00 - 5:30pm

Creating Human-Nonhuman Chimeras
New Techniques, New Ethical and Legal Challenges

In Greek mythology, a chimera was a monster with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a serpent. Today, in pursuit of new cures for debilitating diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, researchers have begun to create chimera-like beings by inserting human genes into nonhuman animals. They are also preparing to graft human brain cells onto nonhuman primate brains. Our speakers will explain the scientific impetus to the creation of chimeras, and explore the ethical and legal terrain at this new frontier between human and nonhuman animals.

Cynthia B. Cohen, Ph.D, J.D.
Senior Research Scholar
Kennedy Institute of Ethics
Georgetown University

Cynthia B. Cohen is a Fellow of The Hastings Center, former Executive Director of the National Advisory Board on Ethics in Reproduction and former chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of Denver. She has also served as a consultant to the National Institutes of Health, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and she is a member of the Ethics Committee of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and the Canadian Stem Cell Oversight Committee. Dr. Cohen has written or edited many books and articles on ethical issues including stem cell research, genetic testing, reproductive and therapeutic cloning, the new reproductive technologies and organ transplantation.

Henry T. Greely, J.D.
Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law
Director, Center for Law and the Biosciences
Stanford University

Henry T. (“Hank”) Greely is a former law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, and the author of numerous articles and book chapters on the ethical and legal implications of life sciences research and biotechnologies. He has served as a member or chair of several advisory committees including the Human Genome Diversity Committee (Chair, Ethics Subcommittee, North American Regional Committee), the Ethics Committee of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and two California Advisory Committees (on human cloning and on embryonic stem cell research). He has been called to offer testimony on human cloning before committees of the United States Senate and the California Legislature.

Article on Chimeras

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Partners

2005 Speaker Series Presented by
Georgia State Law’s Center for Law, Health & Society
In Partnership With:

Emory University Center for Ethics

Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy
Program in Law, Science & Technology
Program in Philosophy, Science & Technology

Georgia State University College of Law
Intellectual Property Advisory Board

Friends and Supporters

Emory College Program in Science & Society

 Georgia Institute of Technology Focused Research Program in Ethics & Technology

Georgia State University Blumenfeld Center for Ethics

Georgia State University Student Health Law Association