Medical Ethics Division News
July - October 2009
Honors and Appointments
Dr. Joseph J. Fins Elected President-Elect of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities
Nicholas D. Schiff, MD, Granted Tenure
Dr. Nicholas D. Schiff has been awarded tenure at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Schiff is Associate Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience and Associate Professor of Public Health in the Division of Medical Ethics. He has done extensive work in the area of neurological disorders of consciousness. His research bridges basic neuroscience and clinical investigative studies of the pathophysiology of impaired consciousness, the neurophysiological mechanisms of arousal regulation, and the effects of deep brain electrical stimulation techniques on forebrain integration. Dr. Schiff collaborates with Dr. Fins on many studies aimed at helping brain-injured patients.
Welcome New Faculty
Heather X. Cereste, MD, MPH, is a Physician Ethicist and Assistant Professor of Public Health and Medicine in the Division of Medical Ethics. She is also a Hospitalist Physician in the Division of Hospitalist Medicine of the Department of Medicine. Dr. Cereste received her medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine . She completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at Maine Medical Center and St. Lukes-Roosevelt Medical Center, and she trained in Geriatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She also completed certificate programs in Health Care Ethics from the University of Washington School of Medicine and in Bioethics and Medical Humanities from Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Cereste is board certified in geriatrics and internal medicine. From 2006 to2009, she served as a Major in the United States Air Force. Her academic appointment was as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (Bethesda, MD) at the Wilford Hall Medical Center Campus in San Antonio, Texas. She was also an Attending Internist/Geriatrician at Wilford Hall, as well as a Consulting Physician and Ethicist, the Clinical Team Chief of the Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic, the Acting Director of the Internal Medicine Inpatient Service, and the Director of Geriatric Medicine Service. Dr. Cereste spent six months as an Attending Physician at the Air Force Expeditionary Trauma Hospital Intensive Care Unit in Balad, Iraq. In this position she gave lifesaving care to wounded coalition forces and Iraqi civilians, prepared and coordinated care of wounded with flight surgeons to evacuate patients from airplanes, volunteered in the OR as a surgical assistant, and obtained additional training in trauma medicine and neurosurgery.
Lectures, Presentations, and Events
Dr. Joseph Fins Speaks at IXth National Spanish Bioethics Congress
Joseph J. Fins, MD, FACP, Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Medicine in Psychiatry, was the featured international speaker at the IXth National Spanish Bioethics Congress held October 22-24 in Murcia, Spain. Dr. Fins presented his remarks in Spanish. One talk was on research ethics from a North American perspective and another on the nascent concept of bioethicist as clinical investigator, reflecting on his own role as a co-investigator on the study of deep brain stimulation in the minimally conscious state. The Congress was attended by 300 Spanish bioethicists and leading figures in the field such as Dr. Diego Gracia Guillen - pictured with Dr. Fins- Professor and Chairman of the History of Medicine and Bioethics at The Complutense University in Madrid.
Dr. de Melo-Martín Presents on Varied Topics in Medical Ethics
Inmaculada de Melo-Martín, PhD, MS, Associate Professor of Public Health in the Division of Medical Ethics, gave a talk called “Informed Consent: It Ain’t Just a Form,” at a Research Community Forum of the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The forum, which was held September 11, 2009, at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, focused on specific applications and interpretations of federal regulations protecting human subjects in biomedical and behavioral research. It was jointly sponsored by OHRP, CUNY, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the Research Foundation of CUNY.
Dr. de Melo Martín spoke on “Defending Human Enhancement Technologies: What Are We Missing?” at the 2009 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, titled “Converging Technologies, Changing Societies,” held at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, July 7-10, 2009. She also gave a presentation called “Evidence for Use: The Case of the HPV Vaccine,” with Dr. Kristen Intemann of Montana State University , at The Second Biennial Conference of the Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 18-20, 2009.
Dr. Victor Sidel Gives Two Presentations in Kansas City
Victor W. Sidel, MD, Distinguished University Professor of Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor of Public Health in the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College, gave a talk on Social Injustice and Public Health for two departments (Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine) of the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City on October 19, 2009. Dr. Sidel outlined many of the ideas discussed in his book of the same name. (Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel, ed. Oxford University Press, 2006; paperback edition, 2009). He described the many ways that social injustice is evidenced by inequalities in access to preventive health care and treatment and the effects of un- or under-insurance, and he proposed a solution including equitable organization and financing of medical care as well as the alleviation of related forms of social injustice.
Dr. Sidel also gave the keynote presentation at a forum, “Healthcare/Warfare: We Pay. Who Profits?” held October 18, 2009, at the Community Christian Church in Kansas City. His talk was titled “Healthcare vs. Warfare.” Dr. Sidel is one of the founders of Physicians for the Social Responsibility and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), and he was co-president in the 1990s of IPPNW, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. Dr. Sidel is also the co-editor of War and Public Health (Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel, ed. Oxford University Press, 1997; second edition, 2008).
Publications
Book Chapter Co-authored by Dr. de Melo-Martín
Inmaculada de Melo-Martín, PhD, MS, Associate Professor of Public Health in the Division of Medical Ethics, contributed a book chapter with co-author M. Gillis, titled “Ethical Issues in Human Stem Cell Research: Embryos and Beyond.” The chapter appears on pages 323 to 334 of Technology and Values: Essential Readings , edited by C. Hanks (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).
Faculty Promotions
John W. Barnhill, MD, has been promoted to Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Professor of Clinical Public Health in the Division of Medical Ethics. Dr. Barnhill is Chief of the Psychiatric Consultation-Liaison Service at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He is Chair of Weill Cornell Medical College's General Faculty Council and is involved in a variety of hospital, medical college, departmental, and national committees, most of which have to do with education and medical ethics. In addition to teaching medical students and psychiatric residents at Weill Cornell, Dr. Barnhill is site director of the psychosomatic medicine fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and is a lecturer in psychoanalysis at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Dr. Barnhill received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his psychiatry residency at Payne Whitney Clinic, NYPH/Weill Cornell Medical Center and then did psychoanalytic training at Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.
Media and Publicity
Dr. Joseph Fins on NPR’s Talk of the Nation
Joseph J. Fins, MD, FACP, Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Medicine in Psychiatry, was a guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation with host Lynn Neary on August 10, 2009. Dr. Fins and the other guests discussed advanced care planning issues in light of the health care debates.
Announcement
2009-2010 Medical Ethics Seminar Series
The Division of Medical Ethics presents its 2009-2010 Seminar Series, “Ethics, Technology, and Dignity: An Introduction to Twentieth Century Philosophers.” This series is designed for general informed readers whose interests are primarily in bioethics, clinical practice, public health, and law. No prior background in philosophy is required or assumed. The Program Co-Directors/Facilitators are Inmaculada de Melo-Martin, PhD, MS, Associate Professor of Public Health, and Wayne Shelton, PhD, MSW, Associate Professor at the Alden March Bioethics Institute of Albany Medical College and Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health in the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College.
