Center for Bioethics and Social Justice: new name, mission, and leadership

Green Spartan helmet with text: Center for Bioethics and Social Justice, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University

The MSU Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences is proud to announce its new name: Center for Bioethics and Social Justice. This name change as of April 1 reflects an updated mission with a focus on social justice-oriented bioethics. The Center has a vision of a health system that is compassionate, respectful, and responsive to people’s needs, so that equity, inclusion, and social justice are available to all.

Photo of Sean Valles
Director Sean A. Valles, PhD

“Without an orientation, bioethics has no built-in real-world goals; it is merely a field of study. Doing social justice-oriented bioethics means we have a goal—advancing social justice in the real world with meaningful applications—as the north star for our journey as an institution,” said Center Director Sean A. Valles, PhD.

The updated name and mission follow the appointment of Valles as director earlier this year, along with the promotion of Karen Kelly-Blake, PhD, to assistant director.

“One key piece of the new name and mission is a rethinking and a recommitting of our identity,” said Valles. “The Center aims to be a hub for collaborations and conversations around the relationship between social justice and health. To do that, we will actively seek to engage with our college and university colleagues, local communities, and organizations in order to learn their concerns about the ways our society makes it hard to live a healthy life, and to begin trying to help.”

Photo of Karen Kelly-Blake
Assistant Director Karen Kelly-Blake, PhD

The Center’s mission is to educate health professionals with skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to contribute to a world in which health practices are equitable, inclusive, and bolstered by conditions of social justice; to research the nature of bioethics and enhance its applications to the pursuit of equitable, inclusive, and just healthy societies; and to engage researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and communities around shared interests in the attainment of a healthier and more just world.

“Building bridges among MSU experts and outward to communities is of value to everyone involved,” added Valles.

The Center began in 1977 with the formation of the Medical Humanities Program. In 1988, the program became the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences. Faculty in the Center are committed to teaching medical students in the College of Human Medicine and developing social context of clinical decisions content for the Shared Discovery Curriculum. Center faculty are also committed to research, scholarship, and public outreach and education—all working toward the goal of creating a more just world.

Visit the Center’s website to learn more about its faculty and outreach activities, such as public seminars, podcast episodes, and monthly blog posts that explore timely bioethics topics.

Related: Announcing Center Director Sean A. Valles and Assistant Director Karen Kelly-Blake

Would you ever consent to have your medical procedure broadcast on social media?

No Easy Answers in Bioethics logoEpisode 10 of No Easy Answers in Bioethics is now available! This episode features Dr. Devan Stahl, Assistant Professor in the Center for Ethics and the Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, and Dr. Christian Vercler, Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan and Co-Chief of the Clinical Ethics Service in the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine. Drs. Stahl and Vercler address a trend known as Snapchat surgeons – plastic surgeons who amass sometimes millions of followers on the social media platform Snapchat by posting uncensored videos of operations they are performing. Together they offer their insight and expertise on the issue, and discuss whether these Snapchat performances are ethical. They also delve into the societal norms and power dynamics at play, and address how to move forward within the profession of plastic surgery in a world where social media seems to be here to stay.

Ways to Listen

This episode was produced and edited by Liz McDaniel in the Center for Ethics. Music: “While We Walk (2004)” by Antony Raijekov via Free Music Archive, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. Full episode transcript available.

About: No Easy Answers in Bioethics is a podcast series from the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences in the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Each month Center for Ethics faculty and their collaborators discuss their ongoing work and research across many areas of bioethics—clinical ethics, evidence-based medicine, health policy, medical education, neuroethics, shared decision-making, and more. Episodes are hosted by H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online.

Leonard Fleck: Using a medical ethicscope

Leonard FleckRead Dr. Fleck’s recent Faculty Voice feature in MSU Today: “Leonard Fleck: Using a medical ethicscope.” Dr. Fleck discusses the importance of educating students about health care policy, and uses an example of a woman in Texas who could not afford a medical procedure that could have prevented her death. Dr. Fleck’s story elicited a strong response from MSU Today Editor Lisa Mulcrone. Read her response, “Out of nowhere.”