September 14, 2006 (7:30PM)
Michelin Theatre, Discovery Centre,1593 Barrington St.
Click here for directions to the Discovery Centre
Come early. Seating is limited

 

View the Event Poster

Medical research has been highly successful in generating treatments and cures for many illnesses, helping countless numbers of people to get better care or even prolong their life. However, there can be a price to pay. This interactive and provocative public presentation will reveal some of the ethical issues surrounding patient involvement in medical research, and explore the many promises and pitfalls this research presents. Dr. Bernstein will speak to various key questions that every patient who is involved in medical research should ask.

 
Mark Bernstein (MD, MHSc, FRCSC) is Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network. He is Co-Director of the Toronto Gamma Knife. His main areas of clinical interest are neuro-oncology (brain tumours) and advancing surgery in the developing world. He has spent time operating and teaching in Indonesia and India, and will be going to China in the spring of 2007 to help set up a new neurosurgical unit. He is a committed educator and has won numerous teaching awards.  In 2003 he completed a Masters of Health Science in Bioethics at the University of Toronto. His main interests in the field of bioethics are surgical innovation, priority setting, research ethics, medical error and patient safety, ethical issues in novel resource utilization, and ethical issues in surgical education. He has published over 170 scientific papers, 30 book chapters, a Textbook of Neuro-Oncology, and 90 “popular” articles many of which attempt to bridge the gap between the medical profession and the public.

For an interesting topical article, see Elliot C. "Dept. of medical ethics: 'Guinea Pigging'--Healthy human subjects for drug-safety trials are in demand. But is it a living?" New Yorker. 2008 Jan 7; 36-41.