Genetic privacy in a new era

Lainie Friedman Ross, MD, PhD (above, left), of the University of Chicago, addresses the panel at the Policy Forum program “First, Do No Harm: Genetic Privacy in the Age of Genome Sequencing” in Brown Hall Feb. 25. Among other topics, panel participants addressed the ethical implications of genetic privacy and incidental findings that may occur because of genome testing. Participants were (from left) Laura Jean Bierut, MD, professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine; Ellen Wright Clayton, MD, JD, of Vanderbilt University; Vence L. Bonham Jr., JD, of the National Human Genome Research Institute; and Jonathan Green, MD, professor of medicine at the School of Medicine. The panel was moderated by the Brown School’s Sarah Gehlert, PhD, the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity, and Kimberly J. Johnson, PhD, assistant professor. (Below) Brown School students Shannon Elgin (left) and Alyse Bentz talk with Clayton at a reception following the program. The Policy Forum is the Brown School’s signature effort to actively explore issues in social and health policy and to create an innovative model of engagement between academia and civic life. Credit: Sid Hastings/WUSTL Photos (2)