Leon R. Kass, M.D., Ph.D., will deliver the WSU School of Medicine Dean's Distinguished Lecture Monday, Jan. 31. Dr. Kass is chairman of President George Bush's Council on Bioethics and the Addie Clark Harding Professor in the College and the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.

The lecture, "Ageless Bodies, Happy Souls: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness," will be at 4 p.m. in Blue Auditorium and will include a question-and-answer session. A reception will follow.

Professor Kass has been chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics since 2001. He is a founding member of the Hastings Center, a highly influential bioethics think tank, and a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. He is an internationally celebrated philosopher, lecturer and author.

His widely reprinted essays in biomedical ethics have dealt with issues raised by in vitro fertilization, cloning, genetic screening and genetic technology, organ transplantation, aging research, euthanasia and assisted suicide, and the moral nature of the medical profession.

 

Two representatives of search firm Witt/Kieffer were on campus last week to start work on determining what kind of person would be best suited to become the next WSU School of Medicine dean.

At an open meeting in Scott Hall, Anne Zenzer and Dr. Richard von Rueden, Witt/Kieffer representatives who will be leading the search, fielded questions about the search and discussed qualities important in a dean to the WSU School of Medicine community.

One of the recurring themes expressed, Ms. Zenzer said, was a dean with a strong research emphasis.

"It is the duty of the dean to essentially move the bottom line to get us up in NIH funding," said Linda Hazlett, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.

Several students who attended the meeting said they would like a dean who is visible and engaged.

"There's a solid desire to have a dean that is approachable," said Brendan Burns, Year II. "If there's a problem with the administration, we'd like to have a way to present that."

During their trip, Ms. Zenzer and Dr. von Rueden also interviewed many key decision-makers and constituents, which included WSU Provost Nancy Barrett, members of the WSU School of Medicine Dean Search Committee, faculty, alumni and DMC partners among them. Using this input, the firm will develop a position description, which once it is approved by the WSU search committee, will be circulated widely to generate interest.

"This will be the roadmap for the kind of person we're looking for in terms of experience level and personality traits," Ms. Zenzer said.

If the search proceeds at a relatively normal pace, a new dean could be selected within several months.

In the interim, however, Gary Abrams, chair of the search committee, said it will be up to the School of Medicine to sell itself to potential candidates. He urged those present not to underestimate the school.

"Let's never sell ourselves short," he said. "I'll take the top third of Wayne State students and I'll put them up against the top third of students anywhere in the country. They'd compete as well as Harvard students and probably be better doctors."

Throughout the search process, please visit the Dean Search Committee website at http://www.med.wayne.edu/admin/deansearch/index.asp for further information and updates. All nominations for the position, including those from the WSU School of Medicine faculty, are welcome. Please forward them to Anne Zenzer, of Witt/Kieffer, at annez@wittkieffer.com.

 

 

An open meeting to provide input for the WSU School of Medicine dean's position description will be held today, Jan. 19, at 4:30 p.m. in Scott Hall's Blue Auditorium. All faculty, students and staff are invited.

Dr. Gary Abrams, chair of the Search Committee for the Dean of the WSU School of Medicine, recently announced that Provost Nancy Barrett and the committee have selected Witt/Kieffer to assist with the search. Witt/Kieffer is one of the nation's largest and most experienced search firms that specializes in the education and not-for-profit sectors.

Two representatives of Witt/Kieffer, Anne Zenzer and Dr. Richard von Rueden, are visiting Wayne State University this week to meet with Provost Barrett, members of the search committee and representatives of other key constituencies to generate a position description and specifications, Dr. Abrams said. Ms. Zenzer and Dr. von Rueden will be on hand for the open meeting as well.

For more information on Witt/Kieffer, please visit http://www.wittkieffer.com/education/. To follow updates on the search for a new WSU School of Medicine dean, please continue to read future issues of Prognosis and visit a new website dedicated to the search at http://www.med.wayne.edu/admin/deansearch/index.asp.

 

An open meeting to provide input for the WSU School of Medicine dean's position description will be held next Wednesday, Jan. 19, at 4:30 p.m. in Scott Hall's Blue Auditorium. All faculty, students and staff are invited.

Dr. Gary Abrams, chair of the Search Committee for the Dean of the WSU School of Medicine, recently announced that Provost Nancy Barrett and the committee have selected Witt/Kieffer to assist with the search. Witt/Kieffer is one of the nation's largest and most experienced search firms that specializes in the education and not-for-profit sectors.

Two representatives of Witt/Kieffer, Anne Zenzer and Dr. Richard von Rueden, will visit Wayne State University next week to meet with Provost Barrett, members of the search committee and representatives of other key constituencies to generate a position description and specifications, Dr. Abrams said. Ms. Zenzer and Dr. von Rueden will be on hand for the open meeting as well.

For more information on Witt/Kieffer, please visit http://www.wittkieffer.com/education/. To follow updates on the search for a new WSU School of Medicine dean, please continue to read future issues of Prognosis and watch for a new website dedicated to the search to be linked to the School's homepage at www.med.wayne.edu.

 

President Bush appointed Dr. Kass to Council on Bioethics in 2001

Leon R. Kass, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of President George Bush's Council on Bioethics and the Addie Clark Harding Professor in the College and the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, will deliver the Dean's Distinguished Lecture at Scott Hall on Monday, Jan. 31.

Dr. Kass, who is also a Hertog Fellow in Social Thought at the American Enterprise Institute, will speak on "Ageless Bodies, Happy Souls: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness." The lecture will be at 4 p.m. in Blue Auditorium followed by a question-and-answer session as well as a reception.

A native of Chicago, Dr. Kass was educated at the University of Chicago, where he earned his bachelor's and medical degrees in 1958 and 1962, respectively. He completed a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Harvard in 1967 before going on to conduct research in molecular biology at the National Institutes of Health while serving in the U.S. Public Health Service.

Dr. Kass has been engaged for more than 30 years with ethical and philosophical issues raised by biomedical advance and, more recently, with broader moral and cultural issues. From 1970 to 1972, Dr. Kass served as executive secretary of the Committee on the Life Sciences and Social Policy of the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, whose report, "Assessing Biomedical Technologies," provided one of the first overviews of the emerging moral and social questions posed by biomedical advance.

He taught at St. John's College, in Annapolis, Md., and served as the Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Research Professor in Bioethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University before returning in 1976 to the University of Chicago, where he has since been an award-winning teacher deeply involved in undergraduate education and committed to the study of classic text.

Dr. Kass has authored numerous articles and books, including "The Ethics of Human Cloning," with James Q. Wilson in 1998; "Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics" in 2002; and "The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis" in 2003.

His widely reprinted essays in biomedical ethics have dealt with issues raised by in vitro fertilization, cloning, genetic screening and genetic technology, organ transplantation, aging research, euthanasia and assisted suicide, and the moral nature of the medical profession.

In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Dr. Kass Chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics.

 

Dr. Leon Kass to speak
at Dean's Distinguished Lecture

President Bush appointed Dr. Kass to
Council on Bioethics in 2001

Leon R. Kass, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of President George Bush's Council on Bioethics and the Addie Clark Harding Professor in the College and the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, will deliver the Dean's Distinguished Lecture at Scott Hall on Monday, Jan. 31.

Dr. Kass, who is also a Hertog Fellow in Social Thought at the American Enterprise Institute, will speak on "Ageless Bodies, Happy Souls: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness." The lecture will be at 4 p.m. in Blue Auditorium followed by a question-and-answer session as well as a reception.

A native of Chicago, Dr. Kass was educated at the University of Chicago, where he earned his bachelor's and medical degrees in 1958 and 1962, respectively. He completed a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Harvard in 1967 before going on to conduct research in molecular biology at the National Institutes of Health while serving in the U.S. Public Health Service.

Dr. Kass has been engaged for more than 30 years with ethical and philosophical issues raised by biomedical advance and, more recently, with broader moral and cultural issues. From 1970 to 1972, Dr. Kass served as executive secretary of the Committee on the Life Sciences and Social Policy of the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, whose report, "Assessing Biomedical Technologies," provided one of the first overviews of the emerging moral and social questions posed by biomedical advance.

He taught at St. John's College, in Annapolis, Md., and served as the Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Research Professor in Bioethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University before returning in 1976 to the University of Chicago, where he has since been an award-winning teacher deeply involved in undergraduate education and committed to the study of classic text.

Dr. Kass has authored numerous articles and books, including "The Ethics of Human Cloning," with James Q. Wilson in 1998; "Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics" in 2002; and "The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis" in 2003.

His widely reprinted essays in biomedical ethics have dealt with issues raised by in vitro fertilization, cloning, genetic screening and genetic technology, organ transplantation, aging research, euthanasia and assisted suicide, and the moral nature of the medical profession.

In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Dr. Kass Chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics.