Events
Hybrid: 11-102AB 3600 Civic Ctr Blvd (and virtual via Zoom)
Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): "Hoping for a Phoenix: Building a Better NIH on the Rubble" - Robert Cook-Deegan, MD
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2026-04-14 12:00:00
2026-04-14 13:00:00
America/New_York
Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): "Hoping for a Phoenix: Building a Better NIH on the Rubble" - Robert Cook-Deegan, MD
Hoping for a Phoenix: Building a Better NIH on the Rubble
Robert Cook-Deegan, MD
Professor
School for the Future of Innovation in Society
Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes
Arizona State University
The National Institute of Health (and a National Cancer Institute) went into World War II as a small government lab, a bit player in biomedical research dominated by the Carnegie Corporation, Rockefeller Foundation, and academic-industry collaborations in endocrinology and biochemistry. During the War, biomedical research went Big, with massive efforts to develop vaccines, antimalarials, penicillin and corticosteroids. The National Institutes of Health as we know it emerged with the release of penicillin contract left-overs that initiated the extramural grants program. Year after year, with a few exceptions, Congress piled money on a growing base. A vibrant political coalition fueled meteoric growth. Institutes proliferated, and NIH became the Gigantor of global biomedical research, spawning Nobel Prizes and sometimes finding cures. Its peer review system sustained broad areas of research, and fueled the molecular biology revolution. But NIH also began to ossify as layers of procedure accumulated. Mary Lasker lamented NIH’s focus on scientific curiosity even as patients died, and tried to pull NCI out of NIH. Grant proposals became phone books; peer review favored conservative projects sure of success at the expense of wildcatting. Private philanthropies and a new ARPA-H filled some gaps. But decades of calls for structural reform and simplification of paperwork led to little. The advent of a federal Administration suspicious of elites and tin-eared regarding health research wrought havoc, exposing vulnerabilities that had worried scientists about federal dependency even as World War II ended. Those fears came home to roost in 2025. Yet after a tumultuous year of grant cuts and staff reductions the budget remains stable. Is there an opportunity for improvement, not by beheading and decimating, but by rethinking and true reform? Let’s explore the possibilities.
Registration required; Lunch provided
Streaming available via Zoom.
Hybrid: 11-102AB 3600 Civic Ctr Blvd (and virtual via Zoom)
Penn Medical Ethics
3600 Civic Center Blvd., Rm 8-031
MEHP Special Lecture: "Kinks in the Triple Helix" - Robert Cook-Deegan, MD
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2026-04-15 09:00:00
2026-04-15 10:00:00
America/New_York
MEHP Special Lecture: "Kinks in the Triple Helix" - Robert Cook-Deegan, MD
Kinks in the Triple Helix
Robert Cook-Deegan, MD
Professor - School for the Future of Innovation in Society
Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes
Arizona State University
Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff proposed the triple helical model of innovation (government, industry, and academe) three decades ago. Previously, Vannevar Bush attributed victory in World War II to successful partnerships among the three strands and proposed that creation of new knowledge through research was a crucial government responsibility. Biomedical research subsequently grew by several orders of magnitude, driven by public investment, transformation of the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, and the emergence of biotechnology. Yet, key kinks in the triple helix have never been fully untangled: who owns what, who should capture the returns from new goods and services, who receives credit for their creation and development, how does the public ultimately benefit from the research “investments” made with their tax dollars, and what ownership stake, if any, do individuals have in their genes, genomes, and even malignant cancers? This talk explores concrete cases, enduring legal and policy dilemmas, and current proposals shaping how discoveries move from bench to bedside.
Registration Required: Breakfast Provided
3600 Civic Center Blvd., Rm 8-031
Penn Medical Ethics
3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8-304
Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Measuring Implementation of Abortion Law, Globally" - Patricia Skuster, JD, MPP
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2026-04-21 12:00:00
2026-04-21 13:00:00
America/New_York
Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Measuring Implementation of Abortion Law, Globally" - Patricia Skuster, JD, MPP
Measuring Implementation of Abortion Law, Globally
Patricia Skuster, JD, MPP
Associate Director of Accreditation
Core MPH teaching faculty, Master’s in Public Health Program
University of Pennsylvania
The World Health Organization issues guidelines on abortion care, which include recommendations on abortion law and policy. WHO monitors adherence to its guidelines through tracking the abortion laws and policies of every WHO member state.
As part of this work, Patty Skuster is currently leading a project with WHO to measure implementation of abortion law, globally. The project includes the formation of a theoretical framework for measuring implementation of law, creation of 50 implementation indicators, collection of data for each WHO member state, and the development of composite indicators for comparison between countries and over time. In this talk, Skuster will also describe preceding work on causal modeling of the effect of abortion law on health outcomes, and challenges in bridging theories of policy implementation with identification of suitable metrics.
3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8-304
Penn Medical Ethics
3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8-304
Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Listening From the Inside: Partnering With Incarcerated Men to Navigate Health and Dignity"- Rose Onyeali, MD, MSHP
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2026-04-28 12:00:00
2026-04-28 13:00:00
America/New_York
Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Listening From the Inside: Partnering With Incarcerated Men to Navigate Health and Dignity"- Rose Onyeali, MD, MSHP
Listening From the Inside: Partnering With Incarcerated Men to Navigate Health and Dignity
Rose Onyeali, MD, MSHP
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics)
Perelman School of Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
While in medical school, Dr. Onyeali led the community outreach program for SNMA. She moved to Philadelphia to complete her residency in Internal Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where she was an active member of the hospital’s Ethics Committee, co-founded the Women in Medicine program for the Internal Medicine Residency, and actively contributed to the Jefferson Alliance for Minority Health.
During her fellowship, she observed gaps in the health care transitions of older incarcerated adults into the community, which led to her research interest in transitions of care of incarcerated adults with cognitive and functional impairment.
More detail to follow.
3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8-304
Penn Medical Ethics
Virtual via Zoom
MEHP Special Lecture: "The EMA's Approach to Supporting Rare Disease Drug Development" - Caroline Pothet
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2026-05-05 12:00:00
2026-05-05 13:00:00
America/New_York
MEHP Special Lecture: "The EMA's Approach to Supporting Rare Disease Drug Development" - Caroline Pothet
The EMA's Approach to Supporting Rare Disease Drug Development
Caroline Pothet
Head of Office, Advanced Therapies and Haemato-Oncology
European Medicines Agency (EMA)
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) supports rare disease drug development through a coordinated framework intended to reduces barriers and accelerates medicine development.
This presentation will outline how early scientific dialogue, tailored evidence‑generation strategies, and flexible regulatory pathways help developers advance innovative approaches for the benefit of patients. Key tools include orphan designation, early interaction tools, the PRIME scheme for medicines addressing high unmet need, scientific advice and risk-based approaches to trial design, evidence generation and data requirements.
The EMA also strengthens development through patient involvement, multi‑stakeholder collaboration, and international partnerships that promote regulatory convergence. By combining scientific rigour with proportional flexibility, the EMA enables more efficient development of high‑quality therapies for rare conditions. The session will highlight current practices and opportunities for developers engaging with the Agency.
Caroline Pothet is a pharmacist with a master’s degree in Drug Development and Global Registration of Medicines from Paris University. Before joining the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2020, she spent 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry in regulatory policy, regulatory affairs and clinical development, covering all stages of development and major submission types (incl. clinical trial applications, paediatric plans, request for scientific advice, orphan designation and marketing applications). From 2010 to 2020, she led regulatory strategy and clinical programme designs in oncology and immuno‑inflammation. Working closely with multidisciplinary teams, she deepened her expertise in clinical and methodological aspects of drug development in these therapeutic areas.
At EMA, Caroline initially supported the Committee for Advanced Therapies, Scientific Advice, and the Oncology and Haematology Office. She now heads the Office for Advanced Therapies and Haemato‑Oncology. She also leads the REVAMP project on optimising assessment reports, supports the Oncology and Haematology Working Parties, and contributes to the Clinical Data Submission Programme.
Virtual via Zoom
Penn Medical Ethics
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