Bioethics medical and law expert to speak at WFU

Rebecca DresserRebecca Dresser, Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor of Law at Washington University School of Law and professor of ethics and medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, will present a lecture titled “Special Respect and Public Deliberation: Two Neglected Elements of the Stem Cell Debate” May 8 at 3 p.m. at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

The event, part of the university’s year-long seminar series “Curing and Caring: The Present State and Future of Bioethics in America,” will be held in the Sticht Center’s ground floor auditorium. It is free and open to the public and refreshements will be served.

Dresser, a graduate of Harvard Law School, will address the debate on the moral status of embryos as either persons or property and its effect on stem cell research. She will also discuss the pros and cons of the public discussion of stem cell research ethics and policy.

Dresser is a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics. The council advises President Bush on ethical issues related to biomedical innovation such as embryo and stem cell research, assisted reproduction, cloning, human genetics, neurosciences and end-of-life issues.

From 1997 through 2001, Dresser was a member of the Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Advisory Council of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, a division of the National Institutes of Health. Dresser was also the Legal Consultant to the Committee on Bioethics of the American Academy of Pediatrics from 1987 through 1994.

Dresser’s book, “When Science Offers Salvation: Patient Advocacy and Research Ethics,” was published in 2001 by Oxford University Press.

For more information, call 336-716-3589.

Categories: Events, Research, Speakers