Berman Institute Monthly Newsletter October 2019

Berman Founder Ruth Faden to Receive Hasting Center’s 2019 Beecher Award for Lifetime Achievement

Ruth Faden, PhD, MPH, founder of the Berman Institute and Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Bioethics has been named the 2019 recipient of The Beecher Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Hastings Center’s most prestigious award recognizing individuals who have made a lifetime contribution to ethics and the life sciences and whose careers have been devoted to excellence in scholarship, research, and ethical inquiry. In its citation, the Hastings Center states “Dr. Faden’s work has profoundly influenced innumerable aspects of our field and, perhaps more importantly, helped to shape public policy on some of the nation’s most pressing issues: from HIV testing of pregnant women to food and agriculture policy, and many aspects of science policy, including stem cell and embryo research. She has also powerfully critiqued the prevailing research ethics paradigm in the United States, encouraging major shifts in how we think about the oversight of comparative effectiveness research.”

In her latest book, Structural Injustice: Power, Advantage, and Human Rights (September 2019, Oxford University Press), Dr. Faden and co-author Madison Powers build on their longstanding call for bioethics to expand its understanding of justice to put forward a groundbreaking theory of social injustice, more broadly. Their theory forges links between human rights and fairness norms and is built to fit a real-world characterized by deprivation, human rights violations, disadvantage, and unfair power relations, both within and across nations.

Read more about Ruth Faden and the Beecher Award.

Announcements

Join the Berman Institute at ASBH

More than a dozen Berman Institute faculty and doctoral students will lead 20 sessions during the 21st annual meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities from Oct. 24-27. See the full schedule of Berman-led sessions, including the inaugural Bioethics Book Club session, dedicated to our Travis Rieder’s 2019 book, “In Pain,” and a wide-ranging discussion with Berman Institute founder Ruth Faden reflecting on her career, the major issues she has addressed, and where she would like to see the field go in the future.

Cynda Rushton Inducted into International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame

Cynda Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN, was inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame by Sigma Theta Tau International. This award recognizes nurse researchers who have achieved significant and sustained national or international recognition and whose research has improved the profession and the people it serves.

Rushton

New Postdoctoral Fellowships Available in Fall 2020

The Berman Institute’s postdoctoral fellowships are helping launch the careers of the next generation of bioethics scholars. In addition to our flagship Hecht-Levi Fellowship and the Faden Scholars Program, new two-year fellowships are available:

  • Joint Fellowship in Ethics and Infectious Disease
  • Inaugural Fellowship in Philosophy and Mental Disorder
  • Fellowship in the Ethics and Regulatory Aspects of Pragmatic Clinical Trials

Learn more and apply now.

Alexis Walker, PhD, has been awarded an NIH grant to investigate “Organizational and Cultural Dynamics in Genomics Companies: Industry Engagement in Navigating Social and Ethical Issues.”

Jessica Fanzo, PhD, has been appointed to serve on the new Johns Hopkins Sustainability Leadership Council. The council of faculty, staff and students from across Johns Hopkins will advise the Office of the Provost and JHU senior leadership on a wide range of issues surrounding sustainability and climate change, increase cross-university communication, and help to mobilize change in sustainability-related policies and practices with our local and global partners.

Vivian Altiery De Jesus was elected as Member-at-Large of the 2019-2020 JHSPH Student Assembly.

Events

October 25, 6-8 p.m.
Berman Institute and Wellcome Trust Reception at ASBH Annual Meeting
Location: Union Standard, 524 William Penn Place, Pittsburgh, PA. RSVP here.

October 28, Noon-1:15 p.m.
Seminar: Power, Suffering and the Struggle for Dignity: Human Rights Frameworks for Health and Why They Matter
Alicia Eli Yamin, JD, MPH
Location: Feinstone Hall, Bloomberg School of Public Health. Lunch will be provided.

October 30, 12:30-4:40 p.m.
Symposium
: CRISPR in Assisted Reproduction: What are the Limits and Who Should Decide?
Location: Mountcastle Auditorium, Wood Basic Science Building

November 6, 4:30-6 p.m.
Levi Symposium: Responsible Practices During America’s Opioid Epidemic – Ethical Pain Management in Orthopedic Surgery

Location: Chevy Chase Auditorium, Sheik Zayed Tower, Johns Hopkins Hospital

Publications

Zackary Berger, MD, PhD, co-authored an op-ed in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Caught in the Web–U.S. Immigration and Compound Disadvantage.” Berger and co-author Daniel Goldberg recount the compound structural disadvantages that immigrants to the US face, especially when interacting with the healthcare system. These include high levels of stress, stigma, and dangerous or unstable employment.

Full monthly list of publications by Berman Institute authors

The moral imperative to approve pregnant women’s participation in randomized clinical trials for pregnancy and newborn complications,”Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine
Author: Dan Kabonge Kaye

Patient Preferences for Use of Archived Biospecimens from Oncology Trials When Adequacy of Informed Consent Is Unclear,” The Oncologist
Authors: Jeffrey Peppercorn, Nora K. Horick, Julia Rabin, et al, including our Debra Mathews

Ethics in the Setting of Clinical Equipoise: Achilles Tendon Rupture in a Patient with Obesity,” The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
Authors: Lauren Elizabeth Claus, Casey Jo Humbyrd

Challenges to ethical obligations and humanitarian principles in conflict settings: a systematic review,” Journal of International Humanitarian Action
Authors: Grant Broussard, Leonard S. Rubenstein, Courtland Robinson, Wasim Maziak, Sappho Z. Gilbert, Matthew DeCamp

Advancing an Integrative Framework to Evaluate Sustainability in National Dietary Guidelines,” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Authors: Selena Ahmed, Shauna Downs, Jessica Fanzo

Predictors of Overdose Death Among High-Risk Emergency Department Patients With Substance-Related Encounters: A Data Linkage Cohort Study,” Annals of Emergency Medicine
Authors: Noa Krawczyk, Matthew Eisenberg, Kristin E. Schneider, Tom M. Richards, Casey Lyons, Kate Jackson, Lindsey Ferris, Jonathan P. Weiner, Brendan Saloner

Perceptions on using interactive voice response surveys for non-communicable disease risk factors in Uganda: a qualitative exploration,”mHealth
Authors: Elizeus Rutebemberwa, Juliana Namutundu, Dustin G. Gibson, Alain B. Labrique, Joseph Ali, George W. Pariyo, Adnan A. Hyder

Considering Ethics Along the Data Value Chain for Nutrition,” Sight and Life Magazine
Author: Jessica Fanzo

Caught in the Web — U.S. Immigration and Compound Disadvantage,”New England Journal of Medicine
Authors: Zackary D. Berger, Daniel S. Goldberg

Reported Participation Benefits in International HIV Prevention Research with People Who Inject Drugs,” Ethics & Human Research
Authors: Jeremy Sugarman, Ilana Trumble, Erica Hamilton, et al

Contingent Knowledge and Looping Effects — A 66-Year-Old Man with PSA-Detected Prostate Cancer and Regrets,” New England Journal of Medicine
Authors: Robert Aronowitz, Jeremy A. Greene

Responsibility in healthcare: what’s the point?” Journal of Medical Ethics
Author: Hanna Pickard

Effect of airtime incentives on response and cooperation rates in non-communicable disease interactive voice response surveys: randomised controlled trials in Bangladesh and Uganda,” BMJ Global Health
Authors: Dustin G Gibson, Adaeze C. Wosu, George William Pariyo, Saifuddin Ahmed, Joseph Ali, Alain B Labrique, Iqbal Ansary Khan, Elizeus Rutebemberwa, Meerjady Sabrina Flora, Adnan A Hyder

BI In the News

Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH, appeared on The Doctors to talk about cases of employers requiring employees to undergo unproven stem cell-based interventions. Prof. Kahn spoke to Tom Hall on WYPR’s Midday on ultra-expensive medicine. He also was interviewed in DOME about his service on the International Commission on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing.

Travis Rieder, PhD, wrote for the Fall Issue of Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine, Nature, and Psychology Today, on his personal struggle with opioids and pain management and the importance of ethical prescribing. Professor Rieder wrote the lead essay, titled “America’s Opioid Problem: Addiction, Pain, and Public Policy,” for the August issue of CATO Unbound.

He was interviewed about the book by drug historian Emily Dufton for the New Books Network podcast, and by the Washington Journal on C-SPAN. Professor Rieder also spoke to NPR about educating doctors on responsible opioid prescribing.

Marielle Gross, MD, MBE, co-authored a post for The Health Care Blog on The Health Data Goldilocks Dilemma.

Zackary Berger, MD, PhD wrote for Hopkins Medicine’s The Closler Blog on the necessity of being a physician-advocate.

Yoram Unguru, MD, MS, MA, was featured in a two-part podcast, The Etherist, on drug shortages in pediatric oncology. [Episode 1, Episode 2]

Jeremy Greene, MD, PhD, co-authored a case study for the New England Journal of Medicine on changing medical knowledge and medicine’s “looping” effect. The perspective received coverage in Medscape.

Outreach

October 21
Washington, DC
Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH
, will moderate a panel titled “Human Genome Editing:  Navigating Ethics and Global Governance” at the National Academy of Medicine Annual Meeting, The Evolution of Technology in Biomedical Science: Promises and Challenges.

October 10
Stanford, CA
Anne Barnhill, PhD, presented a paper (co-authored with Matteo Bonotti), “Healthy Eating and the Demands of Justice” at a workshop on food justice at Stanford University.

October 7
Bethesda, MD
Marielle Gross, MD, MBE
, spoke at the NIH Inter-Institute Bioethics Interest Group on “De-identification as Exploitation: Challenges to Research on De-identified Data from Respect for Persons, Beneficence and Justice.”

October 5
Baltimore, MD
Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH
, presented at the Henrietta Lacks Memorial Lecture event hosted by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. His talk is titled “Ethics, Gene Editing, and Cell Lines – Looking ahead.”

October 4-5
New Haven, CT
Gail Geller, ScD, MHS
, and Jeremy Sugarman, MD, MPH, MA, spoke at the 2019 Yale-Oxford BioXphi Summit, an event focused on experimental philosophical bioethics – a subject at the intersection of empirical bioethics and philosophy.

October 3-4
St. Petersburg, FL
Rebecca Seltzer, MD, MHS
, and Nicholas Jabre, MD, MS, were invited to teach the bioethics component of L.E.A.D., a leadership development program for pediatric residents, at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

October 3 & October 10
Baltimore, MD
Joe Carrese, MD, MPH, FACP
, participated in the Journeys in Medicine Symposium on The Interface of Immigration and Patient Care at Johns Hopkins Medicine. The Symposium was sponsored by the JHM Office of Diversity and Inclusion, in partnership with Centro Sol and Hopkins Familia Employee Resource Group.

October 2
West Lafayette, IL
Anne Barnhill, PhD
, presented a paper (co-authored with Nicole Civita), “Food Waste: Ethical Issues and Complexities” at Purdue University ‘s conference “The Ethics of Eating:  Personal and Global Choices.”

October 2
Baltimore, MD
Debra Mathews, PhD, MA
, participated in a panel discussion at the Parkway Theater on ethical issues in gene editing following a screening of the movie Gattaca.

September 30
Parkville, MD
Travis Rieder, PhD
, spoke at the Parkville Branch of the Baltimore County Public Library about his book, In Pain.

September 25
Baltimore, MD
Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH
, presented at the DaVinci Event at the Maryland Science Center. His presentation was titled “From Avoiding Disease to Designing Life:  Ethics and the Future of Human Genome Editing.”

September 24
Baltimore, MD
Travis Rieder, PhD
, spoke as part of the Special Lecture Series hosted by NIDA at Johns Hopkins Bayview.

September 23
Ellicott City, MD
Travis Rieder, PhD
, spoke about his book, In Pain, at the Miller Branch of the Howard County Library.

September 21
Tampere, Finland
Anne Barnhill, PhD
, presented a paper (co-authored with Nicole Civita) on market-based change of the food system at the European Society for Food and Agricultural Ethics annual meeting.

September 19
Syracuse, NY
Travis Rieder, PhD
, gave the Public Health and Preventative Medicine Grand Rounds and spoke at the Consortium for Culture and Medicine Seminar at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

September 12
Baltimore, MD
Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH
, served on a panel to discuss The Ethics of Gene Editing at the Annual Thomas E. Allen, M.D., Ethics Lecture hosted by MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society and The Center for a Healthy Maryland.

September 12
New York, NY
Travis Rieder, PhD
, lectured at the NYU College of Global Public Health on his personal and professional struggle with opioids.

September 12
Baltimore, MD
Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH
, gave a talk at the Johns Hopkins Legacy Society Annual Luncheon titled “Ethics and Reproductive Technologies:  Past, Present, and Future.”

September 11
Andrews Air Force Base, MD
Travis Rieder, PhD
, gave the keynote speech at the 3rd Annual Substance Use Disorder Symposium at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, presented by the National Capital Region Medical Directorate. His talk was titled “In Pain-A Bioethicist’s Personal Struggle with Opioids.”

September 9
Boston, MA
Cynda Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN
, participated in a panel discussion of “Pursuing Organizational Changes to Improve Clinician Well-being and Increase Capacity to Care” at the Compassion in Action Healthcare Conference hosted by The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare.

August 14-15
Las Vegas, NV
Travis Rieder, PhD
, spoke at the Clark County Medical Society on The Opioid Dilemma: Treating Pain During an Overdose Epidemic.

August 7-10
Oslo, Norway
Cynda Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN
, served as chair of a plenary panel on “Clinical ethics – At the edge of medicine and philosophy” at the 33rd European Conference on Philosophy of Medicine and Health Care. She also gave a presentation titled “Unraveling the interplay of mental illness and treatment decision making: Implications for clinical ethics.”

August 2
Charleston, WV
Travis Rieder, PhD
, spoke at the West Virginia Substance Use Disorder Symposium.