Today’s biomedical engineers are advancing many technical areas of bioengineering at a very rapid pace. Impacts of recent and ongoing advances in tissue engineering and microelectronic fabrication are revolutionizing progress in the arenas of personalized medicine, especially with regards to molecular genetics and genomic testing. Technological progress in these areas have significantly improved quality of care and the efficacy of treatment. However, one of the professional conundrums in the area of genomic testing pertains to moral and ethical challenges, especially with regards to newborns and children. The basic dilemma here focuses upon the decisions that parents have to make for their young children, since children cannot make the decision themselves, about how much genetic testing should be carried out, and what can or should be done with the results of that genetic testing. Genomic testing in children is becoming faster, more efficient and less expensive. So, now instead of testing for a few obvious genes for children who are born with birth defects, possible genetic syndromes, or easily diagnosed problems such as hearing loss or deafness, genetic screening immediately on the horizon will be able to screen for mutations in hundreds or thousands of genes routinely. So, for example, what if a newborn is discovered to have a gene that causes an age-related disorder such as Alzheimer’s Disease? Should the parents be told? Should the child be told when they are old enough to know? What is the point of telling the family now, when there are still no preventative or curative treatments of Alzheimer’s? Should it go in the child’s medical record, where future employers, insurance companies or hackers can gain access to it? And you can imagine a number of biomedical scenarios where it is not obvious what to do with genetic information such as this. Another challenging issue is how to obtain the necessary blood samples from a newborn, which has a relatively small blood volume. Umbilical cord blood has been mentioned as a good source, since the umbilical cord is normally cut (sometimes by the proud Father) and discarded with the placenta. However, even this seemingly innocent, harmless procedure has now been called into question as some new evidence suggests that babies do better when the cord blood is allowed to flow into the baby for awhile, precluding a quick cutting of the cord, as has traditionally been done. So, as biomedical engineers work with nurses, doctors, insurance companies and other players in our healthcare system, these issues will come up without clear-cut answers avalable to them.

Alpha Eta Mu Beta (AEMB), the International Biomedical Engineering Honor Society, is committed to promoting ethics in the field of biomedical engineering. This year, AEMB is honored to host Dr. Robert D. Frisina. Dr. Frisina is a Professor and Director of the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and also the director for the Communication Sciences and Disorders lab at the University of South Florida. In addition, Dr. Frisina is the director of the Global Center for Hearing and Speech Research and holds joint appointments as Professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (one of two colleges for the deaf in the world), and at the University of Buffalo Center for Hearing and Deafness. Dr. Frisina’s research is focused on the function and disorders of the auditory system, more specifically in the critical areas of hearing loss and deadness for which there are is no existing cure. More information about Dr. Frisina can be found at his official website (http://www.eng.usf.edu/~rfrisina/).

For more information on Dr. Bassingthwaighte and his research, please visit his official site

For the first time in human history, we are developing the ability to apprehend information directly from the brain. Brain imaging and allied technologies now allow scientists a glimpse into the subjective thoughts and inner dialogues that have always been private and inaccessible to others. By doing so, they are forever changing the very idea of privacy, raising thorny questions about who should have access to our innermost thoughts. In this talk, we explore the implications of brain imaging not only for personal privacy, but also for legal questions such as Fifth Amendment protections.

Alpha Eta Mu Beta (AEMB), the National Biomedical Engineering Honor Society, is committed to promoting ethics in the field of biomedical engineering. This year, AEMB is honored to host Dr. Paul Root Wolpe, Director of the Center of Ethics and a professor in the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Sociology at Emory University. Dr. Wolpe is also the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics and the Raymond F. Schinazi Distinguished Research Chair in Jewish Bioethics. Dr. Wolpe serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience and is the first Senior Bioethicist for NASA, where he is responsible for formulating policy on bioethical issues and safeguarding research subjects. An accomplished professional in the field, Dr. Wolpe has over 125 articles, editorials and book chapters in sociology, medicine and bioethics and has appeared on numerous broadcasts and printed media, both nationally and internationally.

For more information on Dr. Wolpe and his research, please visit his official site

BMES and AEMB have helped put together a special session for the 2012 BMES meeting addressing health care discrepancies facing African Americans. Distinguished panel members include: Atty. Fred Gray, counsel for Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and the survivors of the Tuskegee Syphilis study; Dr. Camara Jones of the Center for Disease Control; and Dr. Gilda Barabino, professor and associate chair of biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and president-elect of the Biomedical Engineering Society. Respondents include Dr. Cato Laurencin, CEO of the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science and Director of the Institute for Regenerative Engineering, and Dr. Raphael Lee, Paul S. and Ailene T. Professor of Surgery, Medicine, Organismal Biology & Anatomy, and Molecular Medicine at the University of Chicago and president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. The session will be chaired by Dr. Jerry Collins, AEMB Board of Directors member and chair of the Ethics Committee of the Biomedical Engineering Society.

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How will recent legislation by the US Congress and decisions by the President impact the biomedical engineering field? How could this affect public health? Moreover, how can you influence policy-making? Find the answers at this informative session co-hosted by Alpha Eta Mu Beta (AEMB), the National Biomedical Engineering Honor Society, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). AIMBE is the leading voice for public policy supporting medical and biological engineering innovation to improve public health. During this session, we will demonstrate how advocacy for the profession and the field can have important personal impact and ensure public policy continues to support our work. Furthermore, you will learn about the different types of government funding, how levels have changed, what impact that will have on our field and what you can do to influence policy-makers.

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