Events
Hybrid: RCH B102AB, Richards Bldg., 3700 Hamilton Walk (and virtual via Zoom)
Hybrid-Research Ethics and Policy Series (REPS): "What Makes Clinical Research Ethical": A Twenty-Five Year Journey and Look to the Future - Christine Grady, MSN, PhD
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2025-12-09 12:00:00
2025-12-09 13:00:00
America/New_York
Hybrid-Research Ethics and Policy Series (REPS): "What Makes Clinical Research Ethical": A Twenty-Five Year Journey and Look to the Future - Christine Grady, MSN, PhD
"What Makes Clinical Research Ethical": A Twenty-Five Year Journey and Look to the Future
Christine Grady, MSN, PhD
Former Chair, Department of Bioethics,
NIH Clinical Center
Recognizing some uncertainty about the ethics of clinical research and differences in interpretation and implementation of existing guidance, 25 years ago we developed a framework to help investigators, reviewers, and interested others design, implement, and evaluate ethical clinical research. Our framework, consisting initially of 7 and later 8 principles, resonated with many around the globe.
Since then, the framework has been used, debated, and cited in academic publications, national guidelines, presentations, and discussions across a wide spectrum of clinical research. In this presentation, Dr. Grady will discuss the origins of the framework, its contents and elements, how it has been used, some challenges and where more work could be useful.
Dr. Grady has published widely in the biomedical and bioethics literature and authored or edited several books, including The Oxford Textbook of Clinical Research Ethics. Her work is known internationally, and she has lectured widely on ethical issues in clinical research and clinical care, HIV disease, and nursing.
Registration Required. Lunch provided.
Streaming available via Zoom.
Hybrid: RCH B102AB, Richards Bldg., 3700 Hamilton Walk (and virtual via Zoom)
Penn Medical Ethics
1104 Blockley Hall (Note: Virtual attendees can join by accessing this link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95740259034.)
Health Policy Research Seminar: Lauren Nicholas PhD, MPP, Professor of Medicine-Geriatrics, University of Colorado Denver
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2025-12-11 10:00:00
2025-12-11 11:00:00
America/New_York
Health Policy Research Seminar: Lauren Nicholas PhD, MPP, Professor of Medicine-Geriatrics, University of Colorado Denver
Topic: "Reliance on Informal Care in Medicare Advantage versus Traditional Medicare."
About the Talk: Recent studies have found lower use of post-acute care among Medicare Advantage enrollees versus Traditional Medicare. In this paper, we test whether informal caregiving accounts for this difference and estimate potential social costs or savings.
About the Speaker: Lauren Hersch Nicholas is a health economist and professor in the division of geriatric medicine. Her research focuses on the role of public policy in improving health and healthcare quality for the elderly. Her current research combines survey, administrative, and clinical data to study the interaction between healthcare utilization and economic outcomes. Dr. Nicholas's work uses clinical and econometric approaches to answer questions in medical and health economics, particularly for dementia, surgery and end-of-life care. She is a leading expert on the financial symptoms and consequences of dementia, work that has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and other major media outlets.
1104 Blockley Hall (Note: Virtual attendees can join by accessing this link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95740259034.)
Penn Medical Ethics
1104 Blockley Hall (Note: Virtual attendees can join by accessing this link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95740259034.)
Health Policy Research Seminar: LJ Ristovskam, PhD, Assistant Professor of Public Affairs, University of Texas-Austin
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2026-01-08 10:00:00
2026-01-08 11:00:00
America/New_York
Health Policy Research Seminar: LJ Ristovskam, PhD, Assistant Professor of Public Affairs, University of Texas-Austin
Co-sponsored by the Opportunity of Health Lab
Topic: "Informative Ordeals in Healthcare: Prior Authorization of Drugs in Medicaid."
About the Talk: Health insurers frequently impose supply-side policies in the form of ‘prior authorization’ to manage healthcare spending. Prior authorization requires providers to fill out paperwork before treatment is eligible for coverage. The stated purpose of these policies is to reduce healthcare spending by encouraging the use of lower-cost treatments of similar quality, and to ensure treatment complies with established guidelines. However, there are concerns that prior authorization may discourage needed care. Using all-payer claims data from Massachusetts in 2009-2013, we estimate the effect of prior authorization on the use of specific drugs in MassHealth, the state Medicaid fee-for-service program. Using difference-in-differences estimation, we compare Medicaid beneficiaries affected by changes in prior authorization requirements to individuals in plans of a major commercial insurer unaffected by these policy changes. We find that prior authorizations lead to large reductions in utilization of drugs that have clear substitutes. These reductions are fully offset by increases in utilization of cheaper but equally effective drugs. However, when clear substitutes are not available, there are reductions in utilization that do not lead to substitution to similar drugs. Prior authorization reduces both high- and low-value use of drugs, suggesting that it is not well targeted.
About the Speaker: Ljubica Ristovska is an Assistant Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 2023. Prior to joining LBJ, she was a postdoctoral associate at the Tobin Center for Economic Policy at the Economics Department at Yale University. Her research focuses on health economics, particularly understanding and improving allocation of treatments in health care, as well as the organization and productivity of health care teams. She also has ongoing work examining socio-economic determinants of health and medical spending.
1104 Blockley Hall (Note: Virtual attendees can join by accessing this link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95740259034.)
Penn Medical Ethics
Hybrid: RCH B102AB, Richards Bldg., 3700 Hamilton Walk (and virtual via Zoom)
Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): "Research Issues Arising in Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias" - Jason Karlawish, MD
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2026-01-13 12:00:00
2026-01-13 13:00:00
America/New_York
Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): "Research Issues Arising in Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias" - Jason Karlawish, MD
Research Issues Arising in Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias
Jason Karlawish, MD
Professor of Medicine, Medical Ethics & Health Policy, and Neurology
Co-Director, Penn Memory Center
University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Jason Karlawish is a professor of medicine, medical ethics and health policy, and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He is board-certified in geriatric medicine. He was educated at Northwestern University, the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, and the University of Chicago.
Dr. Karlawish is a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, Senior Fellow of the Penn Center for Public Health Initiatives, fellow of the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute on Aging, director of the Penn Program on Precision Medicine for the Brain (P3MB), Co-Associate Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and co-director of the Penn Memory Center. He is also director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center’s Outreach, Recruitment and Education Core and the center’s Research Education Component.
His research focuses on aging, neuroethics, and policy. He has investigated issues in dementia drug development, informed consent, quality of life, paradoxical lucidity and theory of mind in dementia, research and treatment decision-making, and voting by persons living with dementia.
More detail to follow.
Registration required; Lunch provided.
Streaming available via Zoom.
Hybrid: RCH B102AB, Richards Bldg., 3700 Hamilton Walk (and virtual via Zoom)
Penn Medical Ethics
Virtual, via Zoom
Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Organ Diversion or Match Run Deviation? Ethical Considerations in Allocation Out of Sequence" - Andrew M. Courtwright, MD, PhD
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2026-01-27 12:00:00
2026-01-27 13:00:00
America/New_York
Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Organ Diversion or Match Run Deviation? Ethical Considerations in Allocation Out of Sequence" - Andrew M. Courtwright, MD, PhD
Organ Diversion or Match Run Deviation? Ethical Considerations in Allocation Out of Sequence
Andrew M. Courtwright, MD, PhD
Clinician, Division of Pulmonary Medicine
Adjunct Professor, University of Utah Department of Philosophy
University of Utah Health
The rise of Allocation Out of Sequence (AOOS) in organ transplantation in the United States has raised significant ethical concerns. By the end of 2024, 20% of kidneys were transplanted out of the standard match sequence, drawing regulatory scrutiny. Critics argue that AOOS amounts to organ diversion: it fails to prevent organ nonuse, does not address underlying inefficiencies in organ allocation, lacks transparency, and worsens transplant-related disparities.
In this talk, Dr. Courtwright discusses the factors contributing to the expansion of AOOS and evaluates the normative arguments for and against its use. Drawing on a constructivist framework, he argues that AOOS violates the expectation that allocation policies be grounded in collective agreement. Dr. Courtwright identifies considerations that should inform Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network policy revisions, emphasizing the need for shared norms to ensure procedural legitimacy.
Virtual, via Zoom
Penn Medical Ethics
To be added to MEHP's events listserv, please contact lisa.bailey@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.