Stavros Niarchos Foundation Bioethics Academy

5th Annual Stavros Niarchos Foundation Bioethics Academy Intensive Course

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Bioethics Academy (SNFBA) is co-directed by Prof. Jeffrey Kahn, the Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics (JHU), and Prof. Effy Vayena, Associate Vice President for Digital Transformation & Governance, and Chair of Bioethics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH).

Objective
The 5th Annual SNFBA will be a three-day intensive course focusing on Foundations of Bioethics and will include lectures from distinguished bioethics experts from Johns Hopkins and ETH Zurich, and in-depth small group discussion of case studies and lecture topics.

Dates of the Event
September 9-10, 2024

Place of Event
Lighthouse, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Cost
The SNFBA is free to accepted participants, and fully supported through the generosity of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).  The total number of participants is limited to 50 to preserve a high-quality experience.

Eligibility
Applications are encouraged from professionals residing and working in institutions in Greece with the following experience and expertise:

  • Professionals working in, or overseeing, clinical research
  • University students of medicine, pharmacy, and biology interested in developing capacity in clinical research
  • University students of law or philosophy interested in bioethics
  • Members of committees performing biomedical research ethics review
  • Professionals working in health and science policy
  • Biomedical researchers and research staff
  • Policy makers involved in biomedicine/health/biotechnology sectors
  • Administrators of biomedical and clinical research institutions

Applications are now being accepted online until July 20, 2024, but may close earlier if the 50-person capacity is reached. Apply here.

Required Application Documentation

  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Short Personal Statement no more than 250 words including why the Course is of interest to you, your motivation for applying, and how the Course will be of use in your professional work and professional development

For questions please contact Katerina Ligomenides ([email protected])

Apply for the 5th Annual SNFBA Bioethics Summer Course here

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is not involved in the evaluation of applications or selection of participants in any way.

Intensive Course Faculty

Co-Directors

Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH - Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics
Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH
Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director; Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy

Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH
Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director of the Berman Institute of Bioethics; Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy

Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH, is the Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, a position he assumed in July 2016. From 2011, he has been the inaugural Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy.  He is also Professor in the Dept. of Health Policy and Management of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  He works in a variety of areas of bioethics, exploring the intersection of ethics and health/science policy, including human and animal research ethics, public health, and ethical issues in emerging biomedical technologies.

Prof. Kahn has served on numerous state and federal advisory panels. He is currently chair of National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Health Sciences Policy, and has previously chaired its committee on the Use of Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research (2011); the committee on Ethics Principles and Guidelines for Health Standards for Long Duration and Exploration Spaceflights (2014); and a committee on the Ethical, Social, and Policy Considerations of Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques (2016).  He also formerly served as a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee.

In addition to committee leadership and membership, Prof. Kahn is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and an elected Fellow of The Hastings Center.  He was also the founding president of the Association of Bioethics Program Directors, an office he held from 2006-2010.

Prof. Kahn is a co-principal investigator with Berman Institute faculty member Gail Geller, ScD, MHS, on GUIDE: Genomic Uses in Infectious Disease and Epidemics, an NIH-funded project to study the largely unexplored ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) of genomics as applied to infectious disease.

Prof. Kahn’s publications include Contemporary Issues in Bioethics; Beyond Consent: Seeking Justice in Research (two editions); and Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics, as well as over 135 scholarly and research articles.  He also speaks widely across the U.S. and around the world on a range of bioethics topics, in addition to frequent media outreach.  Prior to joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins, Prof. Kahn was Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota.

Effy Vayena, PhD - Associate Vice President for Digital Transformation & Governance, and Chair of Bioethics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH)
Effy Vayena
Chair in Bioethics, ETH Zurich

Effy Vayena 
Associate Vice President for Digital Transformation & Governance, and Chair of Bioethics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH)

Effy Vayena is a Professor of Bioethics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) and renowned expert at the intersection of medicine, data, and ethics. Her work focuses on important societal issues of data and technology as they relate to scientific progress and how it is or should be applied to public and personal health.

Vayena completed her education as a social historian with a PhD in Medical History from the University of Minnesota. A keen interest in health policy has led her to work with the World Health Organization. Upon her return to academia, Vayena was awarded a professorship by the Swiss National Science Foundation. She founded the Health Ethics and Policy Lab to tackle pressing questions that arise through technological advances such as genomic technologies and big data analytics in healthcare and research.

She received her habilitation from the University of Zurich in the field of bioethics and policy and has been appointed a Visiting Professor at the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School and a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where she was previously a Fellow. She is a member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences and chairs the Ethical, Legal and Societal Implications advisory group of the Swiss Personalized Health Network, a national infrastructure and research program aiming to advance personalized health in Switzerland.

Vayena is a leading expert in the dynamic and diverse field of health data and ethics, successfully leveraging her academic work and international network to promote a fruitful debate about the ethics of health in the digital age. She has previously worked with the Wellcome Trust, OECD, Commonwealth Fund, Chatham House, and academic institutions and governments around the world. Since May 2021 she is the chair of the Hellenic National Bioethics and Technoethics Commission.

In 2019, the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics (JHU) in conjunction with the Bioethics Chair at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) launched a new initiative called the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Bioethics Academy (SNFBA). The SNFBA is exclusively supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) and was created with the intent to support and enhance knowledge and awareness for bioethics in Greece.

The three main components of the SNFBA are:

  1. An intensive bioethics course offered every year at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) in Athens, Greece;
  2. Annual in-depth workshops alternating between Zurich, Switzerland (hosted at ETH) and Baltimore, USA (hosted by JHU);
  3. An alumni network for summer course participants.

In-Depth winter two-day Workshops

These workshops alternate between Zurich, Switzerland (hosted at ETH) and Baltimore,  U.S.A. (hosted at JHU) and include faculty from the Summer Course along with additional visiting faculty. Approximately 20 attendees are invited per workshop, based on their interest in further training and education in bioethics and their aptitude for bioethics.

Workshop content is topical and developed with input from the selected participants.  The program includes presentations by participants, intensive case analysis and consultation (with at least some actual cases provided by participants), train-the-trainer exercises so that participants can return to their institutions/workplaces to help educate their peers, and additional specialized content.

Alumni Network

The third component of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Bioethics Academy is an Alumni Network created for summer course participants, all of whom automatically become members.

In addition to providing news, resources and information via a dedicated SNFBA website, email, and social media channels, the network will be a means for staying in touch with other SNFBA alumni in Greece and bioethics faculty at JHU and ETH. The network hosts virtual discussions via webinar and convenes in-person reunions and events in conjunction with the timing of the annual summer course and SNF Annual International Conference in Athens.