(Garrison, NY) Gilbert S. Omenn, MD, PhD, a leading cancer and translational science researcher and science policy expert, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Hastings Center.
Omenn is professor of Internal Medicine, Human Genetics, and Public Health at the University of Michigan. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Amgen Inc., a California-based company that develops innovative human therapeutics. Previously, Omenn served as executive vice-president for medical affairs and as chief executive officer of the University of Michigan Health System from 1997-2002. A past president of The American Association for the Advancement of Science, he also served as associate director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and associate director, Office of Management and Budget, in the Executive Office of the President in the Carter administration.
David Roscoe, chairman of The Hastings Center Board of Directors, said of Omenn, “He is a proven leader whose distinguished career in research, health, and science will bring a valuable perspective to work of the Center.” “Dr. Omenn’s wisdom and experience will be welcome additions to the Center’s research into a wide range of bioethical issues that affect people’s everyday lives – from birth to death,” said Thomas H. Murray, president of The Hastings Center and one of its research scholars.
Omenn’s research interests include cancer proteomics, chemoprevention of cancers, public health genetics, computational biology, science-based risk analysis, and health policy. He is principal investigator of the Michigan Proteomics Alliance for Cancer Research program and leader of the international Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) Human Plasma Proteome Project. He was principal investigator of the Beta-Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET) of preventive agents against lung cancer and heart disease, director of the Center for Health Promotion in Older Adults, and creator of a university-wide initiative called Public Health Genetics in Ethical, Legal, and Policy Context while at the University of Washington.
“I am proud to have been a participant in Hastings Center programs and working groups since the early 1970s and a Fellow for many years,” Omenn said. “I admire the creativity and sensitivity of Hastings reports and the capacity demonstrated by its leaders and Fellows to catch the wave of emerging issues.”
The world’s first bioethics research institute, The Hastings Center was established in 1969 to examine issues in medicine and the life sciences and their impact on individuals and society. The Hastings Center uses a unique interdisciplinary process to analyze complex issues in bioethics from several different perspectives— legal, medical, biological, philosophical, economic, and personal—in order to seek common ground. Many aspects of medical practice—from the safety of research to reproductive choices to genetics to the care of the dying— have been shaped by Hastings Center research. Its two peer-reviewed journals, the Hastings Center Report and IRB: Ethics & Human Research, publish the leading thinking in the field.
The Hastings Center is a nonpartisan bioethics research institution dedicated to bioethics and the public interest since 1969. The Center is a pioneer in collaborative interdisciplinary research and dialogue on the ethical and social impact of advances in health care and the life sciences. The Center draws on a worldwide network of experts to frame and examine issues that inform professional practice, public conversation, and social policy. Learn more about The Hastings Center at www.thehastingscenter.org
