Bioethics study focuses on comprehension of informed consent for research

While Vanderbilt University School of Medicine student Jon Alverio was on rotation with the Vanderbilt Health Palliative Care team, he witnessed the confusion patients often have as they try to complete an advance directive for health care, and he decided to do something about it.

Precision medicine research — which involves the consolidation of massive amounts of complex data and the widespread sharing of those data for a variety of research studies — offers the prospect of both benefit and harm.

During last week’s Flulapalooza, the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, the Palliative Care Service, the Office for Strategy and Innovation and the Office for Health Sciences Education hosted a booth with information about advance directives for health care.

Noted bioethicist Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Sept. 27.

Joanne Lynn, M.D., a geriatrician and health services researcher, will present the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Sept. 22.

Experts in medicine and the law at the University of Minnesota and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) are leading a national effort to analyze and recommend improvements in genomic law.