For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 16, 2002
President Names Members of Bioethics Council
Statement by the Press Secretary
President Bush today named 17 leading scientists, doctors,
ethicists, social scientists, lawyers, and theologians to serve on the
President's Council on Bioethics. The Council will be
chaired by Dr. Leon Kass, a prominent bioethicist from the University
of Chicago who was previously named. As biomedical science
continues to develop at a rapid pace, our society must confront
increasingly difficult ethical questions. The Council will
keep the President and our nation apprised of new developments and
provide a forum for discussion and evaluation of these profound
issues.
The Council will consider a range of bioethical matters connected
with specific biomedical and technological activities, such as embryo
and stem cell research, assisted reproduction, cloning, uses of
knowledge and techniques derived from human genetics or the
neurosciences, and end-of-life issues. The Council may also
study broader ethical and social issues, such as the protection of
human subjects in research and the appropriate uses of biomedical
technologies.
The Council's paramount objective will be to develop a deep
understanding of the issues that it considers and to advise the
President of the complex and often competing moral positions associated
with biomedical innovation. The President has assembled a
diverse group of individuals to address these matters, who will bring a
variety of perspectives to these challenging issues. Council
members have been chosen not only for their specialized knowledge, but
also for their thoughtfulness and their devotion to serious ethical
inquiry. With their assistance and guidance, the President
will continue to forge a policy on bioethical issues that reflects his
strong support of science and technology, as well as his deep respect
for human life and human dignity.
The Council will hold its first meeting on January 17-18, 2002, in
Washington, D.C. Council members include:
Leon R. Kass, M.D. Chair. Addie Clark Harding
Professor, College and the Committee on Social Thought at the
University of Chicago, and Hertog Fellow, American Enterprise
Institute. Professor Kass, a nationally renowned
bioethicist, has written extensively on biology and human
affairs. His works include Toward a More Natural Science
(1984), The Hungry Soul (1994), and The Ethics of Human Clonng (1998,
with James Q. Wilson).
Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D. Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Biophysics, University California San
Francisco. Professor Blackburn, a distinguished cell
biologist whose research is on chromosome telomere structure, holds a
number of awards and prizes, including the California Scientist of the
Year Award (1999) and the American Association for Cancer
Research-G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award (2000). She is an
elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991) and
a member of the Institute of Medicine (2000). She has also
served as President of the American Society for Cell Biology (1998).
Stephen Carter, J.D. William Nelson Cromwell Professor
of Law, Yale Law School. Professor Carter teaches
constitutional law and law and religion. His recent books include
God's Name in Vain (2000), Civility (1998), and Integrity (1996).
Rebecca Dresser, J.D., M.S. Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor
of Law, Washington University School of Law. Professor
Dresser has written extensively on bioethical issues, and she serves on
the editorial boards of IRB: Ethics and Human Research and the American
Journal of Bioethics Her book, When Science Offers
Salvation: Patient Advocacy and Research Ethics, was published last
spring.
Daniel Foster, M.D. Donald W. Seldin Distinguished Chair
in Internal Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Internal
Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical
School. Dr. Foster, whose research is in intermediary
metabolism, has received the Banting Medal, the Joslin Medal, the
Tinsley R. Harrison Medal and the Robert H. Williams Distinguished
Chair of Medicine Award for his work. He is a member of the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and is a
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Francis Fukuyama, Ph.D. Bernard Schwartz Professor of
International Political Economy, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced
International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. Professor
Fukuyama has written widely on the human and political implications of
modern technological society. His books include The End of
History and the Last Man (1993), The Great Disruption: Human Nature and
the Reconstitution of Social Order (2000), and a new book on
biotechnology that will appear shortly.
Michael Gazzaniga, Ph.D. Director, Center for Cognitive
Neuroscience, Dartmouth College. Professor Gazzaniga
conducts research on how the brain enables the mind. He is a
fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and
the American Neurological Association. His publications
include The New Cognitive Neurosciences (2000) and The Mind's Past
(1998).
Robert P. George, J.D., D. Phil. McCormick Professor of
Jurisprudence, Princeton University, and Director of the James Madison
Program in American Ideals and Institutions. A lawyer and
constitutional scholar, Professor George is the author of Making Men
Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality (1995) and In Defense of
Natural Law (1999). He is a member of the editorial board of
the American Journal of Jurisprudence and the board of directors of the
Philosophy Education Society.
Alfonso Gomez-Lobo, Ph.D. Ryan Family Professor of
Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy, Georgetown
University. Professor Gomez-Lobo specializes in Greek
philosophy, Greek historiography, the history of ethics, and
contemporary natural law theory. He is the recipient of
several awards, including a research fellowship from the Guggenheim
Foundation. His latest book, Morality and the Human Goods, will appear
shortly.
Mary Ann Glendon, J.D., L.LM. Learned Hand Professor of
Law, Harvard University. Professor Glendon teaches and
writes on international human rights, comparative law, and
constitutional law issues. The National Law Journal named
her one of the "Fifty Most Influential Women Lawyers in America" in
1998.
William B. Hurlbut, M.D. Consulting Professor in Human Biology,
Stanford University. Dr. Hurlbut's main areas of interest
involve the ethical issues associated with advancing biotechnology and
neuroscience, and the integration of philosophy of biology with
theology. Most recently, he has worked with the Center for
International Security and Cooperation on a project formulating policy
on Chemical and Biological Warfare and with NASA on projects in
astrobiology.
Charles Krauthammer, M.D. National Columnist, The
Washington Post. Dr. Krauthammer, who received his medical
degree from Harvard Medical School and practiced psychiatry at
Massachusetts General Hospital for several years, writes a nationally
syndicated editorial page column for The Washington Post Writers
Group. He won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished
commentary. He has written many newspaper and magazine
articles on bioethical topics, including stem cell research, cloning,
euthanasia, and assisted suicide.
William F. May, Ph.D. Cary M. Maguire Professor of
Ethics Emeritus, Southern Methodist University. Professor
May, a distinguished and widely respected medical ethicist, was until
last June head of the Maguire Center of Ethics at SMU. He is
also a founding fellow of the Hastings Center for
Bioethics. His numerous books include Beleaguered Rulers:
The Public Obligation of the Professional (2001) and The Physician's
Covenant : Images of the Healer in Medical Ethics (1983); and The
Patient's Ordeal (1991).
Paul McHugh, M.D. Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry
and Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Psychiatrist-in-chief
of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. McHugh, a member of the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, is currently
Co-Chairman, Ethics Committee of the American College of
Neuropsychopharmacology. He also serves on the board of The
American Scholar. His writings include Genes, Brain, and
Behavior (1990) and essays on assisted suicide and the misuse of
psychiatry.
Gilbert Meilaender, Ph.D. Richard & Phyllis Duesenberg
Professor of Christian Ethics at Valparaiso
University. Professor Meilaender is an editor for the
Journal of Religious Ethics and the Religious Studies Review
. He takes a special interest in bioethics and is a Fellow of the Hastings
Center. His books include Body, Soul, and Bioethics (1995)
and Bioethics: A Primer for Christians (1997).
Janet D. Rowley, M.D., D.Sc. Blum-Riese Distinguished
Service Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and
Human Genetics, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of
Chicago. Dr. Rowely is internationally renowned for her
studies of chromosome abnormalities in human leukemia and
lymphoma. She is the recipient of the National Medal of
Science (1999) and the Albert Lasker Clinical Medicine Research Prize
(1998), the most distinguished American honor for clinical medical
research.
Michael J. Sandel, Ph.D. Professor of Government,
Harvard University. Professor Sandel, who was a Rhodes Scholar,
teaches contemporary political philosophy and the history of political
thought. Sandel's books include Democracy's Discontent:
America In Search of a Public Philosophy (1996) and Liberalism and the
Limits of Justice (1982). He has received fellowships from
the Ford Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the
National Endowment for the Humanities.
James Q. Wilson, Ph.D. The James A. Collins Professor of
Management and Public Policy Emeritus at the University of California
Los Angeles. Professor Wilson, one of the nation's most respected
political scientists, has written extensively on human nature and
ethics. His publications include The Moral Sense (1997) and
Moral Judgement: Does the Abuse Excuse Threaten Our Legal System?
(1998).
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