PHILADELPHIA – Arthur L. Caplan, Ph.D., the Emmanuel and Robert Hart Director of the Center for Bioethics and the Sydney D Caplan Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania has been selected to receive the Patricia Price Browne Prize in Biomedical Ethics, administered by the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. The $10,000 prize, given every two years, was established to honor the Oklahoma City community leader Patricia Price Browne, by selecting an individual who “demonstrates the highest standards in the medical or professional ethics fields.”
Dr. Caplan is among the nation’s pre-eminent scholars and commentators in the field of biomedical ethics, having authored or edited twenty-nine books and over 500 papers in refereed journals. His most recent book is the Penn Guide to Bioethics (Springer, 2009).
“Dr. Caplan has provided a consistently high level of research and analysis relating to the ethical quandaries posed by today’s relentless advances of medical science and technology,” said Terrence Stull, MD. Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center on behalf of the selection committee. “On the biomedical hot-button topics that generate sensational headlines, Dr. Caplan provides a reasoned, measured, and wise perspective that the public can rely upon.”
Dr. Caplan has served on a number of national and international committees including as the Chair, National Cancer Institute Biobanking Ethics Working Group; the Chair of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations on Human Cloning; the Chair of the Advisory Committee to the Department of Health and Human Services on Blood Safety and Availability; a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses; the special advisory committee to the International Olympic Committee on genetics and gene therapy; and most recently was the Co-Director of the Joint Council of Europe/United Nations Study on Trafficking in Organs and Body Parts.
Caplan writes a regular column on bioethics for MSNBC.com. He is a frequent guest and commentator on various media outlets.
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