Two-Day Conference Addresses Topic of Measuring Ethicality

Can ethics be measured? Can data offer a better understanding of the ethicality of clinical research?

Those are the questions being presented Thursday, Feb. 21, and Friday, Feb. 22, at a conference titled "Empirical Bioethics: Emerging Trends for the 2st Century.” The event takes place in the Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center on UC’s medical campus. Registration is required by Feb. 15, 2013.

Sponsored by the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST) and the Ethics Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, this conference will bring together local and national experts on the topic of bioethics to discuss cutting-edge research defining the ethical framework guiding clinical and translational studies.

Keynote speaker Daniel Sulmasy, MD, PhD, Kilbride-Clinton Professor of Medicine and Ethics and associate director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago, will present "Ethics and Evidence: What Data Can and Cannot Do for Bioethics.” 

Featured presenters on Day 2 are Peter Ubel, MD, professor, Fuqua School of Business and Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, and Rebecca Pentz, PhD, professor of research ethics with the Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine.

A sampling of additional presentation topics include:

• Returning children’s genomic data research results to parents.
• Vaccine decision aids.
• Informed consent in pediatric cancer research.
• Measuring voluntary consent in parents with seriously ill children.
• Influences of financial interest disclosures in the informed consent process.
• Community consultation in studies involving exception to informed consent.

"Medical science is moving into a new era, one in which important ethical issues faced by patients, clinicians and researchers are being scrutinized more closely than ever before,” says Richard Ittenbach, PhD, professor of pediatrics at UC, member of the biostatistics and epidemiology division at Cincinnati Children’s, and member of the CCTST ethics group. "The processes used to solve these dilemmas and the decisions that result are now being investigated using rigorous analytical methods.

"Developing an ‘ethical framework’ that includes established and well-recognized methods will provide clinicians and scientists with a much-needed guide to confront many of our most pressing ethical questions.”

The fee for the conference is $100, which includes a reception for attendees (Day 1), meals (Day 2) and parking. Continuing medical education credits, psychology ethics credits, and social work values and ethics clock hours are available. Additional information and links to online registration can be found at www.cctst.uc.edu/node/195.

Questions should be directed to Bettie Durant at 513-803-2610 or bettie.durant@cchmc.org.