The Future of Bioethics
Supervisor: Dr. Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics, Columbia University.
Project Background
Bioethics plays a critical role in guiding biomedical research, clinical care, health policy, and public trust in science. Yet, recent federal changes have weakened advisory bodies, reduced funding streams, and threatened the infrastructure that supports bioethics research, training, and oversight. These disruptions are not only administrative or financial: they raise moral questions about which forms of expertise society values and how science remains accountable to the public.
Without strong bioethical oversight, emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, genomics, biotechnology, and health research risk advancing without sufficient attention to justice, transparency, and human dignity. The Future of Bioethics seeks to identify which areas of bioethics have been defunded, deprioritized, or placed at risk, and to develop recommendations for sustaining the field.
Methodology
This summer, I will support the project by helping review documents related to federal actions, funding reductions, advisory committee changes, and institutional restructuring. I will also help synthesize evidence from surveys, interviews, and stakeholder discussions to understand how these changes are affecting bioethics professionals, researchers, educators, and trainees.
I will develop reports and policy briefs that will inform recommendations and help institutions, funders, and policymakers protect bioethics research, training, and policy engagement.
Objectives
I hope to better understand how ethical frameworks are built, challenged, and defended within institutions. As a Laidlaw Scholar, I am excited to learn under Dr. Lee’s direction and contribute to a project that helps ensure health sciences research remains innovative, trustworthy, and centered on human dignity.