Spirit and Place
SPIRIT AND PLACE CIVIC FESTIVAL 2008
Imagining Our Medical Future:
The Ethics of Predictive Genetic Testing and the Search for Personalized Drugs
In medicine, as in any field of research, the essential skills of critical thinking, problem solving, analysis, and dissemination all require imagination and creativity. Imagination and creativity mean searching for different approaches to a problem or situation, looking for alternatives to common or accepted methods and solutions, and trying to examine issues from a different point of view. In our program, we will explore the past, present, and future of imagination in medical science.
The attendees will experience a tour of the heritage of the healing arts in Indiana. The Pathological Department Building which now houses the Indiana Medical History Museum opened in 1896. When it opened, the Indianapolis Sentinel (12/19/1896) declared, “Physicians who have studied in the pathological laboratories of the old world [Europe] say that they have seen nothing to surpass it.”
And then attendees will be invited to engage in a conversation about one of science’s most fascinating developments: the advances being brought about by the human genome project.
In 2003, after nearly 15 years of work, scientists announced that they had finally deciphered the genetic alphabet of human beings: the human genome. They had found out where the 30,000 genes resided on our chromosomes, and learned the order of the letters in the genetic alphabet that make up those genes. In so doing, science ushered in a new era for medicine and for society – one that had been scarcely imagined 15 or 20 years ago. Researchers can now design very sensitive genetic tests that predict whether a person will later develop a serious disease. In some cases, there is little prediction necessary – for some diseases like Huntington’s, having the gene means that a person will get the disease. But for other genetic diseases, testing is less accurate, raising profound ethical questions: should people be tested or not, especially for diseases that have no treatments? Should people be tested if they don’t want to know the results?
At the same time, this same technology can help develop better medicines: imagine that you could take a drug knowing that it was virtually “guaranteed” to work for you or that you could be assured you would not suffer side effects. Such a “personalized” drug has many obvious benefits, but would you want to take such a drug, knowing that medical information about you might be shared with health insurance companies, employers, or other third parties? Would you be prepared to sacrifice some of your privacy?
A panel of experts from the Indiana University Center for Bioethics and the Indiana University School of Medicine will provide a status report on predictive genetic technology and discuss where ethics, medicine, and science intersect – and where the future is taking us.
Each presentation will include discussion of real-life issues facing scientists, policy makers, clinicians and patients. Each presentation will be designed to enhance understanding and awareness of the ethical, legal, and social issues. Questions can be asked at any time during the presentations, and there will be ample time for discussion.
EVENT SCHEDULE AND VENUE INFORMATION
Sunday, November
9, 2008
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Presentation will
be from 2:00 to 4:00 pm with free tours of the museum before and after the
presentation: 1:00 to 2:00 pm and 4:00
to 5:00 pm
Venue: Indiana
Medical History Museum
3045 West Vermont
Street
Indianapolis, IN
46222
No admission charge. Admission on first come, first serve, space available basis.
PRESENTER INFORMATION
Panel: The Ethics of Predictive Genetic Testing and the Search for Personalized Drugs
Eric M. Meslin, Ph.D, Director, Indiana University Center for Bioethics Associate dean for Bioethics, IU School of Medicine; David Flockhart, M.D., Ph.D., Chief, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, IU School of Medicine; Kimberly A. Quaid,, Ph.D. Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Faculty Investigator, IU Center for Bioethics
COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS
Indiana Medical
History Museum
3045 West Vermont
Street
Indianapolis, IN
46222
Preserving the
heritage of the healing arts in Indiana
Indiana University
Center for Bioethics
410 West 10th
Street, Suite 3100
Indianapolis, IN
46202
The Center’s mission is to provide
leadership to advance the academic and public understanding of bioethics and to
inform the development of social and public policy in health, research, and
related fields.
www.bioethics.iu.edu
IUPUI Freethinkers
325 University
Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN
46202
Promoting science,
reason, and free inquiry across the IUPUI campus.
Susan O’Banion,
President
http://www.iupuifreethinkers.org
