Program

Sessions take place in room 308 of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, 219 West 40th Street. 

8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast and Registration

9 a.m. Keynote: Why Bioethics Matters
Daniel Callahan, Co-founder, Senior Research Scholar, President Emeritus, The Hastings Center
Thomas H. Murray, Senior Research Scholar, President, CEO, The Hastings Center
Moderator: Mildred Solomon, president-elect, The Hastings Center; Senior Director for Implementation Science, Association of American Medical Colleges; Associate Clinical Professor of Medical Ethics, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and the Department of Anesthesia at Children’s Hospital Boston

From Shiavo to stem cells to synthetic biology, the public has been paying increased attention to issues in bioethics—both what happens at the bedside and what happens in policy. Each year, The Hastings Center receives hundreds of phone calls from writers covering science, medicine, health policy, and business, seeking answers to a wide range of questions about ethical issues. In the opening session, one of the founders of bioethics, Dan Callahan, will talk about its history and relevance. And Hastings Center president Tom Murray will talk about the interest in and need for a national conversation about the issues bioethicists tackle—and the critical role journalists play. The keynote program will help writers delineate a perspective: how bioethics is part of your story, and how to enrich a story by weaving in related bioethical considerations.

10:15 Conflicts of Interest: Research and Clinical Ethics
Doug Levy, Executive Director, Communications and Public Affairs, Columbia University Medical Center
Karen Maschke, Research Scholar, The Hastings Center; Editor, IRB Ethics & Human Research
Ivan Oransky, Executive Editor, Reuters Health
Moderator: Charles Ornstein, Senior Reporter, ProPublica

Whether in research funding, physician prescribing, or scientific publication, conflict of interest is front-page news, and a core bioethics issue. Representative stories and cases will be discussed by attendees and panelists, and a framework for finding what counts as a conflict, and writing about it, discussed. One potential attendee, a medical writer, has already posed the hypothetical question, “Does your dermatologist have skin in the game?”

11:15 a.m. Coffee Break

11:30 a.m. Concurrent Sessions
These presentations group together a range of bioethics issues around a particular theme. What do advances in medicine and technology mean for patients in the doctor’s office, or in the hospital? What kind of new decisions do people face across their lifespans? These sessions will provide insights and story angles for journalists.

  1. Bioethics at the Bedside: Genetic Testing, Personalized Medicine, Organ Transplantation and More
    Alan Fleischman, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
    Robert Klitzman, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Director, Master’s of Bioethics Program, Columbia University
    Claudia, Kalb, Freelance journalist and former senior science and medical writer, Newsweek
    Moderator: Emily Laber-Warren, Director of the Health & Science Reporting Program, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism

    What are the bioethics issues patients and their physicians confront in the doctor’s office or the hospital? This topic encompasses new developments in organ transplantation, the impact of genetic testing and personalized medicine, neuroscience and determination of death, and case studies from the field. Additional panel members will be announced.

  2. From Assisted Reproduction to Advanced Illness: The Circle of Life
    Michael Gusmano, Research Scholar, The Hastings Center
    Josephine Johnston, Research Scholar, The Hastings Center
    Robin Marantz Henig, Contributing Writer, The New York Times Magazine
    Moderator: Randi Epstein, medical writer, adjunct professor of journalism at The Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, and managing editor, Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine

    This panel of two bioethicists and a veteran journalist will explore assisted reproduction, surrogacy, end-of-life care, and related concerns.

1  to 2 p.m. Lunch [not included in Bioethics Bootcamp registration]
Nearby dining options feature a range of cuisines and price ranges. Attendees will have an opportunity to consider practical ethical situations such as tipping and check-splitting.

2:15 p.m. Emerging Biotechnology: Enhancement, Microbiomes, Synthetic Biology and More
Gregory E. Kaebnick, Research Scholar and Editorial Director, The Hastings Center; Editor, The Hastings Center Report
Andrew Revkin, Former New York Times environmental reporter and founder, DotEarth blog; Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding, Pace University
Rosamond Rhodes, Professor of Medical Education, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Moderator: Beth Schachter, Science Communications Consultant

Moving beyond medicine, this session will cover emerging scientific and environmental issues. Topics range from synthetic biology to nanotechnology to new ways to grow food to robotic surgery. Two bioethicists and an environmental reporter will identify and explore relevant bioethical considerations.

3:15 p.m. Coffee Break

3:30 p.m. The Editors’ Panel
Jeff Kluger, Senior Editor, TIME Magazine
Brendan Maher, Features Editor, Nature
Jennifer Rainey Marquez, Senior Editor, Parade Magazine
Ron Winslow, Deputy Bureau Chief, Health and Science, The Wall Street Journal
Moderator: Susan Gilbert, Public Affairs Editor and Editor of Bioethics Forum, The Hastings Center

TIME Magazine managing editor Nancy Gibbs wrote in the Hastings Center Bioethics Briefing Book for Journalists and Policymakers, “A national discussion about what should and should not be permissible when it comes to making babies or curing disease or growing food requires a common language and honest brokers to guide the discussion. This is where bioethicists play a fateful role.” In this panel, editors will reveal what bioethics stories grab them. How much do they want a bioethics angle in a science story? A policy story? Which topics do they see too rarely, or too often? By highlighting the range of media that care about bioethics, this panel can broaden your perspective on potential markets for your science stories. The panel concludes with a question-and-answer segment.

4:45 p.m. Wine and Cheese Reception
Following the formal program, panelists and participants are invited to socialize at a networking reception at the CUNY Journalism school. This concluding activity provides an informal opportunity for attendees to talk with editors and bioethicists who choose to stay, have more time with colleagues, and process the day’s information. Wine and cheese will be provided.