 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
eNewsletters |
|
Neuroethics, Tides Center and Scholar Blogger |
ACT Theatre Event Invitation, August 2006 |
Invitation and WBP Update, August 2006 |
Summer ASBH Pre-Conference, June 2006 |
Books, Bioethics, and Jodi Picoult, April 2006 |
Women's Bioethics Project Book Club, April 2006 |
Making a Difference, January 2006 |
God's Bioethics?, November 2005 |
Tribute to Our Founding Scholars, October 2005 |
Katrina, 3 Updates, and an Invite, September 2005 |
Follow-up on Women and Aging, August 2005 |
Women and Aging, April 2005 |
|  |
Press Releases |
 |
Events Calendar |
 |
Archives |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |

As the New Year begins, our first newsletter of 2006
kicks off with a new series on the many women who are making a difference in
the arena of bioethics. We have selected women from a wide variety of backgrounds,
from theology to science, and are including links to some of their compelling
recent speeches, writings, or works. Join the Women's Bioethics Project in congratulating
Marcy Darnovsky, Vanessa Northington Gamble, Kathy Hudson, Kirsten Moore, and
Laurie Zoloth for making a difference.
Marcy Darnovsky has the kind of vision and passion for social justice that we
normally associate with the political leaders of the sixties, but instead of
fighting for civil liberties she has dedicated her life to ensuring that biotechnology
does not create a world that none of us would want to live in. Dr. Darnovsky
speaks and writes widely on the politics of human biotechnology, and has more
than 40 publications to her credit. Dr. Darnovsky is a teacher as well as an
activist and has taught courses in the politics of science, technology, and
the environment in the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies at Sonoma State University,
and in the sociology of gender at California State University Hayward. Dr. Darnovsky's
Ph.D. is from the History of Consciousness program at
the University of California, Santa Cruz. She currently is the associate director
for the Center
for Genetics and Society.
Between 1932 and 1972 the U.S. Public Health Service conducted an experiment
on 399 black men in the late stages of syphilis, which became known as the Tuskegee
Syphilis Experiment. For forty years these men—mostly illiterate sharecroppers
from one of the poorest counties in Alabama—were never told what disease they
were suffering from or how serious it was. Outraged by abuses like these, Vanessa
Northington Gamble, as a science historian and physician, has made it her life's
mission to promote equity and justice in health and health care. Dr. Gamble
feels it is vital to address issues that are important to African-Americans
and other under-served populations and to increase the number of minority bioethicists.
She is currently head of Tuskegee
University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care.
Kathy Hudson is trying to help Americans think about
some of the biggest public policy challenges they have ever faced. No, not
social security or even the Iraq war but an issue that might determine what
it means to be a human being and the future of society: the impact of genetic
technologies. Dr. Hudson, a molecular biologist by training, is founder and
director of the Genetics
and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University, supported by a $10
million grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts. As one of the few women leaders
in science policy, Dr. Hudson is using a novel approach to the challenge.
She's exploring not just the technical nuts and bolts of the technologies
but also in a creative application of social science techniques she's broadening
the scope of her analysis by gauging how American's feel about so-called "designer
babies," genetic testing, and cloning.
Kristen Moore is one of the rising stars in bioethics.
Traditionally women's health advocacy organizations have not placed bioethics
on the top of their agendas, but thanks to Ms. Moore's visionary understanding
of how seemingly unrelated issues like cloning and genetic testing will
affect the health of women globally, she is tackling some of the most complex
and technological issues of our time. She brings strong expertise in public
affairs including messaging, coalition building, and policy analysis. Kirsten
is President and CEO of the Reproductive
Health Technologies Project
based in Washington, D.C.
Laurie Zoloth is determined
to change the focus of the current bioethical debate from media-grabbing
issues like cloning, and focus instead on the needs of the poor and the
lack of health care for millions of Americans. Dr. Zoloth is a theologian
scholar in the Jewish Talmud and ancient rabbinic texts as well as a soft-spoken
mother of five children. Dr. Zoloth has taken on the President's Council
on Bioethics as well as her own colleagues at the American Society of
Bioethics and Humanities, and is challenging them to care less about "designer
babies" and more about the babies we can't care for today. Dr. Zoloth
is Professor of Medical Ethics and Humanities, and of Religion, at Northwestern
University, Feinberg School of Medicine.
Many of our readers have asked for news about women who are involved in bioethics and links
to interesting reading on bioethical issues.
Please follow the links
below for further insight into the work of these outstanding women:
|
 |