print-only banner
The White House Skip Main Navigation
  
In Focus
News
More News more news

News by Date

Appointments

Federal Facts

West Wing

 Home > News & Policies > January 2002

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 16, 2002

President Names Members of Bioethics Council
Statement by the Press Secretary

President Bush today named 17 leading scientists, doctors, ethicists, social scientists, lawyers, and theologians to serve on the President's Council on Bioethics. The Council will be chaired by Dr. Leon Kass, a prominent bioethicist from the University of Chicago who was previously named. As biomedical science continues to develop at a rapid pace, our society must confront increasingly difficult ethical questions. The Council will keep the President and our nation apprised of new developments and provide a forum for discussion and evaluation of these profound issues.

The Council will consider a range of bioethical matters connected with specific biomedical and technological activities, such as embryo and stem cell research, assisted reproduction, cloning, uses of knowledge and techniques derived from human genetics or the neurosciences, and end-of-life issues. The Council may also study broader ethical and social issues, such as the protection of human subjects in research and the appropriate uses of biomedical technologies.

The Council's paramount objective will be to develop a deep understanding of the issues that it considers and to advise the President of the complex and often competing moral positions associated with biomedical innovation. The President has assembled a diverse group of individuals to address these matters, who will bring a variety of perspectives to these challenging issues. Council members have been chosen not only for their specialized knowledge, but also for their thoughtfulness and their devotion to serious ethical inquiry. With their assistance and guidance, the President will continue to forge a policy on bioethical issues that reflects his strong support of science and technology, as well as his deep respect for human life and human dignity.

The Council will hold its first meeting on January 17-18, 2002, in Washington, D.C. Council members include:

Leon R. Kass, M.D. Chair. Addie Clark Harding Professor, College and the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, and Hertog Fellow, American Enterprise Institute. Professor Kass, a nationally renowned bioethicist, has written extensively on biology and human affairs. His works include Toward a More Natural Science (1984), The Hungry Soul (1994), and The Ethics of Human Clonng (1998, with James Q. Wilson).

Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University California San Francisco. Professor Blackburn, a distinguished cell biologist whose research is on chromosome telomere structure, holds a number of awards and prizes, including the California Scientist of the Year Award (1999) and the American Association for Cancer Research-G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award (2000). She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991) and a member of the Institute of Medicine (2000). She has also served as President of the American Society for Cell Biology (1998).

Stephen Carter, J.D. William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Yale Law School. Professor Carter teaches constitutional law and law and religion. His recent books include God's Name in Vain (2000), Civility (1998), and Integrity (1996).

Rebecca Dresser, J.D., M.S. Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law. Professor Dresser has written extensively on bioethical issues, and she serves on the editorial boards of IRB: Ethics and Human Research and the American Journal of Bioethics Her book, When Science Offers Salvation: Patient Advocacy and Research Ethics, was published last spring.

Daniel Foster, M.D. Donald W. Seldin Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. Dr. Foster, whose research is in intermediary metabolism, has received the Banting Medal, the Joslin Medal, the Tinsley R. Harrison Medal and the Robert H. Williams Distinguished Chair of Medicine Award for his work. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Francis Fukuyama, Ph.D. Bernard Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. Professor Fukuyama has written widely on the human and political implications of modern technological society. His books include The End of History and the Last Man (1993), The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order (2000), and a new book on biotechnology that will appear shortly.

Michael Gazzaniga, Ph.D. Director, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College. Professor Gazzaniga conducts research on how the brain enables the mind. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Neurological Association. His publications include The New Cognitive Neurosciences (2000) and The Mind's Past (1998).

Robert P. George, J.D., D. Phil. McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University, and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. A lawyer and constitutional scholar, Professor George is the author of Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality (1995) and In Defense of Natural Law (1999). He is a member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Jurisprudence and the board of directors of the Philosophy Education Society.

Alfonso Gomez-Lobo, Ph.D. Ryan Family Professor of Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy, Georgetown University. Professor Gomez-Lobo specializes in Greek philosophy, Greek historiography, the history of ethics, and contemporary natural law theory. He is the recipient of several awards, including a research fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation. His latest book, Morality and the Human Goods, will appear shortly.

Mary Ann Glendon, J.D., L.LM. Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University. Professor Glendon teaches and writes on international human rights, comparative law, and constitutional law issues. The National Law Journal named her one of the "Fifty Most Influential Women Lawyers in America" in 1998.

William B. Hurlbut, M.D. Consulting Professor in Human Biology, Stanford University. Dr. Hurlbut's main areas of interest involve the ethical issues associated with advancing biotechnology and neuroscience, and the integration of philosophy of biology with theology. Most recently, he has worked with the Center for International Security and Cooperation on a project formulating policy on Chemical and Biological Warfare and with NASA on projects in astrobiology.

Charles Krauthammer, M.D. National Columnist, The Washington Post. Dr. Krauthammer, who received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and practiced psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital for several years, writes a nationally syndicated editorial page column for The Washington Post Writers Group. He won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. He has written many newspaper and magazine articles on bioethical topics, including stem cell research, cloning, euthanasia, and assisted suicide.

William F. May, Ph.D. Cary M. Maguire Professor of Ethics Emeritus, Southern Methodist University. Professor May, a distinguished and widely respected medical ethicist, was until last June head of the Maguire Center of Ethics at SMU. He is also a founding fellow of the Hastings Center for Bioethics. His numerous books include Beleaguered Rulers: The Public Obligation of the Professional (2001) and The Physician's Covenant : Images of the Healer in Medical Ethics (1983); and The Patient's Ordeal (1991).

Paul McHugh, M.D. Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Psychiatrist-in-chief of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. McHugh, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, is currently Co-Chairman, Ethics Committee of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He also serves on the board of The American Scholar. His writings include Genes, Brain, and Behavior (1990) and essays on assisted suicide and the misuse of psychiatry.

Gilbert Meilaender, Ph.D. Richard & Phyllis Duesenberg Professor of Christian Ethics at Valparaiso University. Professor Meilaender is an editor for the Journal of Religious Ethics and the Religious Studies Review . He takes a special interest in bioethics and is a Fellow of the Hastings Center. His books include Body, Soul, and Bioethics (1995) and Bioethics: A Primer for Christians (1997).

Janet D. Rowley, M.D., D.Sc. Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and Human Genetics, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago. Dr. Rowely is internationally renowned for her studies of chromosome abnormalities in human leukemia and lymphoma. She is the recipient of the National Medal of Science (1999) and the Albert Lasker Clinical Medicine Research Prize (1998), the most distinguished American honor for clinical medical research.

Michael J. Sandel, Ph.D. Professor of Government, Harvard University. Professor Sandel, who was a Rhodes Scholar, teaches contemporary political philosophy and the history of political thought. Sandel's books include Democracy's Discontent: America In Search of a Public Philosophy (1996) and Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (1982). He has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

James Q. Wilson, Ph.D. The James A. Collins Professor of Management and Public Policy Emeritus at the University of California Los Angeles. Professor Wilson, one of the nation's most respected political scientists, has written extensively on human nature and ethics. His publications include The Moral Sense (1997) and Moral Judgement: Does the Abuse Excuse Threaten Our Legal System? (1998).

###