2017
The eighth annual Ethics Day on December 15 featured several speakers addressing fascinating questions related to ethics in science and government. Justina Fugh, J.D., Senior Ethics Counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), examined ethical issues in EPA employees’ enforcement of actions against Volkswagen for its misrepresentation of vehicle emissions data. Eric Juengst, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, spoke about the ethics of emerging genome editing technologies. Elise Smith, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow working with NIEHS Bioethicist David Resnik, J.D., Ph.D., presented some of her research on collaboration and authorship in science, including some interesting data on sabotage of coworkers’ research projects.
2016
At the seventh annual Ethics Day on December 2, Justine Fugh, J.D., a senior ethics counsel with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Kevin Elliott, Ph.D., a philosopher of science at Michigan State University and member of the NIEHS National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council, gave lectures. Fugh reviewed some of the ethics rules concerning gifts, awards, and seeking employment and Elliott explored the relationship between science and moral and political values.
2015
Oliver Smithies, D. Phil., a 2009 Nobel Prize-winner and distinguished research professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, gave the keynote lecture to a standing-room only crowd at the NIEHS’ Sixth Annual Ethics Day on June 4, 2015. His talk “Ethical Behavior: A Moving Target” was based on his 60+ years of experience as a professional scientist and featured many entertaining and instructive anecdotes.
2014
NIEHS’ Fifth Annual Ethics Day on May 15, 2014 featured a talk by Justina Fugh, J.D., senior counsel for ethics at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and telecast lecture by Kathy Hudson, Ph.D., deputy director for science, outreach, and policy at NIH. Fugh talked about the “Ethical Rules of the Road” and Hudson discussed the NIH’s ethics and policy priorities.
2013
NIEHS Bioethicist David B. Resnik, J.D., Ph.D. gave a talk on “Food Ethics: Public Health vs. Human Freedom” at the NIEHS’ Fourth Annual Ethics Day on May 21, 2013.