Matthew Vandivier Sims Memorial Lecture

The Matthew Vandivier Sims Memorial Lectures were created to foster discussion in one of two areas: issues in responsible communication between patients, families, professional care givers, and counselors; or issues in biomedical ethics.

The series was established in honor of Matthew Vandivier Sims, who died in infancy. It is a collaboration between the Matthew Vandivier Sims Memorial Lecture Fund and the Poynter Center.

2008 Sims Lecture

Can we balance human rights and ethics in biomedical issues? John Arras addressed these issues in the Matthew Vandivier Sims Memorial Lecture. Arras is the Porterfield Professor of Biomedical Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia, where he created and directs the Undergraduate Program in Bioethics.

In an age of pandemics, international drug trials, and genetic technology, health has gone global, and so must bioethics. In search of an ethical framework that transcends national boundaries, some have claimed that human rights should be the new lingua franca of bioethics. Although human rights provide a powerful framework for the defense of human dignity, Professor Arras will look at questions that remain about their application and adequacy as a framework for the new global bioethics.

Research interests of Professor Arras include death and dying, physician-assisted suicide, research ethics, AIDS research and availability of treatment across the world, and ethical issues that would accompany an avian flu pandemic. He is an advisor to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes for Health. He has been a Fellow and Board member at the Hastings Center.

Professor Arras has written widely and authored and edited numerous books and articles. Recent edited works include Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine (7th edition) with Bonnie Steinbock and Alex John London and Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research: Readings and Commentary with Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Robert A. Crouch, Christine Grady, and Jonathan D. Moreno.

The audiostream of the 2008 Lecture is available online at broadcast.iu.edu, using RealPlayer 8 Basic (a free program).

John Arras, Richard Miller, and Damon Sims