News by Subject Policy & Ethics

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and UW Health have developed a tool that incorporates a person's age and socioeconomic status to prioritize vaccine distribution among people who otherwise share similar risks due to their jobs.

Patients are sometimes asked to share their personal health information for research purposes. Informed consent and trust are critical components in a patient's decision to participate in research. Researchers at the University of Florida conducted a three-arm randomized controlled trial to compare the effects on patient experiences of three electronic consent (e-consent) designs that asked them to share PHI for research purposes.

The rapid spread of scientific misinformation on social media platforms throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is discussed in this Viewpoint, which also proposes strategies to counteract its adverse effects including surveillance of digital data and partnering with trusted messengers to engage the public and advance scientifically sound public health measures.

College football players may underestimate their risk of injury and concussion, according to a new study published today in JAMA Network Open. Christine Baugh, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and member of the CU Center for Bioethics and Humanities, is the corresponding author of the article, "Accuracy of US College Football Players' Estimates of Their Risk of Concussion or Injury."

Setting a course for responsible testing of powerful gene drive technology, a multidisciplinary coalition of gene drive organism developers, ecologists and conservation biologists has joined experts in social science, ethics and policy in a policy article published in Science. The group describes core commitments that ensure that gene drive organism field trials are safely implemented, transparent, publicly accountable and scientifically, politically and socially robust.

The use of genetic data has much potential for marketing purposes, but also poses serious threats.

The replication crisis potentially threatens to undermine the public's trust in science. A new, twelve-article feature in the open access Harvard Data Science Review provides an interdisciplinary perspective on this crucial issue.

Appealing to patient autonomy, bioethicists argue for making oral contraceptives, HIV-prevention medicines, statins, and many other prescription drugs available over the counter.