The Hastings Center

Recent advances in genetic screening have made the science fiction allure of choosing our children’s traits ever more possible. Many parents-to-be already screen human embryos derived from in vitro fertilization (IVF) to avoid passing along harmful genetic diseases. However, with the falling cost of genetic sequencing, along with increased understanding of the genetic basis of many characteristics,...

Hastings Center CEO Vardit Ravitsky will give a keynote lecture entitled "Polygenic Embryo Screening: ethical and societal challenges" to the German Academy of Ethics in Medicine (AEM) at its annual spring online conference on current perspectives in medical and health ethics research.

University of Minnesota presents: Ten states and the District of Columbia currently have statutes on the books or a court decision that authorizes medical aid in dying (often called MAID) for adults who are terminally ill. Many additional states, including Minnesota, are debating similar legislation. First legalized in 1997 under the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, these state...

The 2024 Voice AI Symposium will be a groundbreaking 2-day event and unique opportunity to connect with stakeholders invested in artificial intelligence and voice biomarkers. This year's symposium will serve as a nexus for dialogue, collaboration, awareness, and engagement across diverse sectors and members of the community about the use voice of artificial intelligence in...

National Institutes of Health invitation: Global Course entitled “Demystifying Medicine,” with Hastings Center CEO Vardit Ravitsky discussing AI with Holden Thorp, editor of Science. Watch here: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=54049

Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky will present at the 17th World Congress of Bioethics (WCB). The 2024 theme is “Religion, Culture, and Global Bioethics.” A central aim will be exploring the intricate relationship between these fundamental elements. Although WCB 2024 will address the interplay of religion, culture, and bioethics, we emphasize that everyone is welcome,...

Hastings Center's Presidential Scholar Lucas Matthews will present “Geneticization of Education: on Consumer Interpretation of DTC Genetic Reports for Educational Outcomes” in a session with Anya Prince, Kristine Kuczynski, and Daphne Martschenko titled “Identifying and Combating the Threat and Enhancing the Promise of Social and Behavioral Genomics” at the Sixth ELSI Congress (ELSICon) at Columbia...

ELSIcon2024: The 6th ELSI Congress will take place at Columbia University in New York City from June 10-12, 2024. Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky will be a plenary speaker. She will discuss “AI and Data Diversity.” The 6th ELSI Congress welcomes all with an interest in the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of genomic research....

Hastings Center Presidential Advisor Lucas Matthews organized a symposium entitled: “Harmful Mutation: Addressing Misuse, Misapplication, Misinterpretation of Genetics” for the 2024 BGA Annual Meeting, taking place in London. The title of his presentation is “The Moralistic Fallacy Fallacy.” Other presenters include: Daphne Martschenko, Arbel Harpak, Jedidiah Carlson, Eric Turkheimer, and Aaron Panofsky.

Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky will speak about A Model Policy for The Ethics of International Bioethics Conferencing at the Oxford Conference on Global Health and Bioethics