Rachel Adams interviewed by the Spectator and Columbia News

Director of the Future of Disability Studies, and the Precision Medicine: Ethics Politics and Culture working groups, Rachel Adams was featured in two articles in which she discussed the ways she has updated her courses to adapt to current pandemic-related issues. She discussed her course "Comics, Health, and Embodiment" in Columbia News, and her "Advanced Topics in Medical Humanities" course in Spectator.

Maya Sabatello featured in the Research Ethics & Compliance – Film Discussions series

Maya Sabatello, Director of the Precision Medicine Working Group, will be featured in the Research Ethics & Compliance – Film Discussions series. Professor Sabatello, Arthur Caplan, and moderator Shawna Benston will be discussing “Gattaca,” a science fiction film concerning genetics, eugenics, reproductive technologies, and genetic discrimination. This event is co-sponsored by The Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture Project. This event will be held online via Zoom. Register here.

New Blog Post from CSSD Precision Medicine Graduate Fellow

On December 4, 2019, Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture working group hosted a lecture by Shirley Sun, Associate Professor of Sociology with joint courtesy appointments at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and the School of Biological Sciences at NTU. Sun discussed the racialization of precision medicine in her talk, “Should you be worried about racialization of precision medicine? Insights from Asia and North America.” Using comparative analysis of provider perspectives on the categorization of genomics data based on race in Singapore, Canada, and the United States, Sun explained the dilemmas facing physicians as a result of racialized precision medicine.

To learn more about the lecture, read the blog post here.

Call for Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture 2019-2020 Graduate Fellowship Applications

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture
2019-2020 Graduate Fellowship

Columbia University’s working group on Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture (PMEPC) is seeking graduate fellows for the 2019-2020 academic year. Graduate students from any of Columbia’s schools whose work is related to any aspect of precision medicine are invited and encouraged to apply. 

Project Description:

Precision Medicine—an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person—raises a myriad of cultural, political, and historical questions that the humanities are uniquely positioned to address. As part of its overall Precision Medicine Initiative, and specifically, it’s Precision Medicine & Society arm, Columbia has initiated a broad based exploration of questions that precision medicine raises in law, ethics, the social sciences, and the humanities, which establishes the University as the center for scholarship relating to precision medicine and society. The Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics and Culture Project is the first of its kind to bring Columbia faculty from the humanities, social sciences, law, and medicine into dialogue with leading scholars from the United States and abroad to discuss how social scientific and humanistic questions might enhance our understanding of the ethical, social, legal, and political implications of precision medicine research, and to inform social scientists and humanists about evidence, evaluation, and research outcomes from serious interdisciplinary engagement with this emerging medical field. 

The working group provides an excellent opportunity to engage in interdisciplinary discussion, networking, and other work related to recent developments and the future of precision medicine and society. The project is co-directed by Maya Sabatello, LLB, PhD (Columbia University Irving Medical Center) and Gil Eyal, PhD (Columbia’s Department of Sociology).

Fellowship Requirements:

Graduate fellows will be expected to attend all meetings (4 public events followed by 4 working group meetings led by visiting scholars during the academic year); read circulated materials prior to the meetings and take part in conversation; provide an oral response to one of the scheduled speakers; write a short blog about that event; assist with promotion and publicity for meetings on Columbia’s campuses; and otherwise support and facilitate the work of the group. In addition, graduate fellows will work with the PMEPC’s directors to develop a manuscript on a topic related to precision medicine and society and present on it to the working group and the Precision Medicine & Society Steering Committee. 

The schedule for the public events is enclosed. The working group meetings will take place in the morning following the public event.

Fellows will receive a $2,500 stipend for the year. Only Columbia graduate students are eligible. Applicants with disabilities and applicants belonging to minority groups are encouraged to apply. 

To apply, please submit your CV and a one-page letter describing your research interests, skills and how the PMEPC’s Graduate Fellowship will advance your professional trajectory to Daniel Wojtkiewicz (dnw2116@columbia.edu) by Sep. 23, 2019. Questions about this fellowship and the project more generally can be sent to the directors’, Maya and Gil as well. Successful applicants will be notified by Oct. 7, 2019.

Rachel Adams named as 2019 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow

On April 9, 2019, the Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation approved the awarding of Guggenheim Fellowships to a diverse group of 168 scholars, artists, writers, and scientists. Appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise, the successful candidates were chosen from a group of almost 3,000 applicants in the Foundation’s ninety-fifth competition.

Rachel Adams, former CSSD Director and co-director of CSSD working group, Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics and Culture, was among 168 scholars, artists, writers, and scientists in United States and Canada selected for the 2019 Guggenheim Fellowships.

CSSD sends a heartfelt congratulation to Rachel Adams on the award of this prestigious Fellowship.

Since its establishment in 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has granted more than $360 million in Fellowships to over 18,000 individuals, among whom are scores of Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, poets laureate, members of the various national academies, and winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Turing Award, National Book Award, and other significant, internationally recognized honors.

Rachel Adams Reviews Three New Memoirs

Rachel Adams, co-director of the Precision Medicine working group and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia, has reviewed three new memoirs on illness and recovery in an article entitled, “Who is Sick and Who is Well.” It appeared in the publication Public Books and was commissioned by Nicholas Dames.

The full article can be read here.

Professor Cinnamon Bloss Speaks with Precision Medicine Working Group

Professor Cinnamon Bloss, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego, gave a talk to the Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics and Culture working group on February 15, 2018. In her presentation she focused on the challenges that stem from the rise of technological innovation and the spread of the practice of Precision Medicine. In particular, she examined how the field of bioethics must adapt in terms privacy for patients and how this will affect trust and patient participation. A complete recap of her talk, written by Precision Medicine graduate fellow Moran Levy, can be found here on the blog of the Center for the Study of Social Difference.

Blog Post Now Available for CSSD Precision Medicine Event The Genomic Revolution, Genetics Counselors, and “Doing Ethics”

On January 22, CSSD/PM&S project Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture welcomed Dr. Susan Markens (CUNY-Lehman College) for its first talk of the semester, titled The Genomic Revolution, Genetics Counselors, and Doing Ethics.

Dr. Markens' talk presented data primarily derived from forty-two qualitative interviews and was based on her research about the perspectives of genetic counselors towards the increasing availability and use of genetic science and testing.

The Precision Medicine lecture series represents a broad-based exploration of questions that precision medicine raises in law, ethics, the social sciences, economics, and the humanities.

Click here to read more about Dr. Markens talk on ethics and genetic counseling.

New blog post from Precision Medicine working group about research of Dr. Kadija Ferryman

Kadija Ferryman’s talk on November 30, 2017 for the Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture CSSD working group drew from her post-doctoral project, “Fairness in Precision Medicine,” a study on which she is co-PI with danah boyd at the Data and Society Institute.

You can read the full post, written by Precision Medicine graduate fellows Larry Au and Jade H. Tan, here.

Former CSSD Director Rachel Adams working toward Masters in Genetic Counseling

Former CSSD Director Rachel Adams working toward Masters in Genetic Counseling

Former Director of the Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD) Rachel Adams, who is currently a Faculty Director of the CSSD Precision Medicine project (co-directed by Maya Sabatello, LLB, PhD, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons), is taking her interdisciplinary research interests to the next level:

"I'm starting an experiment of unknown duration and outcome. I'm a mid-career American literature professor who has decided to learn science. More specifically, I'm taking the prerequisites for a Masters' program in genetic counseling, which I hope to complete at some undetermined time in the future." - Rachel Adams, Director of CSSD's Precision Medicine project

Adams will be documenting her experience working toward a new Masters degree in genetic counseling - you can follow her progress on Medium here.