Bioethics is a hot topic these days as more and more researchers grapple with ethical questions raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IU Center for Bioethics was formed in 2001 and is university-wide and medical school oriented. Its new website provides researchers with classes, talk series, workshops, and resources that would historically have been shared in person, however the pandemic has brought all of these valuable tools online. The new and improved website shares information about what bioethics is, who is involved, the education that is offered around bioethics at IU, and, within the last year, a spotlight on the COVID-19 pandemic and what role bioethics has played in overcoming this challenge.
Peter Schwartz, MD, PhD, is the Director of the IU Center for Bioethics at IU School of Medicine. Schwartz is also a co-leader of the Indiana University Precision Health Initiative psychosocial, behavioral and ethics scientific pillar. He says he hopes this website serves as a “gathering place” for people to talk about ethics.
“Bioethics is prominent in the news right now, and researchers are interested in ethics issues in their research,” says Schwartz. “Our new and improved website went live in late November, and we are finding new ways to engage with the deepest medical issues in healthcare and society.”
If the number of social media followers the IU Center for Bioethics has is any indication of the popularity of the subject, then the center is in good shape. With nearly 2,000 followers on Twitter alone, the center is able to effectively communicate where people are most likely to see its messages. Some of the featured items on the center’s Twitter feed include announcements of talk series, with an original hashtag #IUCBTalks.
The Bioethics group has been funded for the last 12 years by the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI).
Visit the newly renovated Indiana University Center for Bioethics website here.
Follow the Indiana University Center for Bioethics on Twitter and Facebook.
