UNESCO Chair Director speaks at OncoGen opening

Dr. Alberto García Gómez, Director of the UNESCO Chair, offered reflections on the ethical dimension of medical research during the opening ceremony of the OncoGen (Centre for Gene and Cellular Therapies in the Treatment of Cancer).

While in Romania, García signed a “memorandum of understanding” between the UNESCO Chair and the University of Timișoara. García will also continue his work as a member of the Ethical Advisory Board in the European Union funded Reborne project regarding scientific research on the use of adult stem cells.

For more information on the UNESCO Chair’s collaboration with Reborn, see the previous story “Reborne Workshop on Ethical, Legal, and Regulatory Issues.”

A full program of the opening ceremony is found below:

 

OPENING CEREMONY OF THE
CENTRE FOR GENE
AND CELLULAR THERAPIES IN THE TREATMENT OF CANCER – ONCOGEN
Emergency
Clinical County Hospital ”Pius Brînzeu” Timișoara

23 October 2015

 

Programme

 

10:30-10:45 Ribbon cutting ceremony

SCJUT Directors, Officials, Project managers

10:45-11:30

 

Official opening of the Center – official addresses

1.         Project Manager: Prof. Dr. Virgil Paunescu

2.         Presidential Administration: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Diana Loreta Paun

3.         Ministry of Health: State Secretary Vulcănescu Răzvan Teohari

4.         European Parliament: MEP Ing. Maria Grapini

5.         National Authority for Scientific Research: Ec. Sanda Hilgen

6.         OncoGen Scientific Board: Prof. Dr. Torsten Tonn

7.         University of Medicine and Pharamacy Victor Babes Timisoara: Rector, Prof. Dr. Marius Raica

8.         Prefecture: Ec. Eugen Dogariu

9.         County Council: Titu Bojin

10.        Timisoara Mayor: Prof. Dr. Nicolae Robu

11.        West Regional Development Agency: Raluca Cibu Buzac

12.        County Hospital Director: Prof. Dr. Marius Craina

11:30-12:30 Visit of the OncoGen Centre
12:30-13:00 Press Conference

OncoGen Conference Room

12:30-13:30 Lunch break
13:30-16:30 Round table OncoGen towards Horizon 2020

OncoGen Conference Room

13:30-15:00 European research priorities in advanced therapies
Advanced therapies within Europe

Dr. Paula Salmikangas, Chair of the Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT) at European Medicines Agency (EMA), London, UK

Romanian vision for supporting the development of Advanced Therapies

Dr. Simona Badoi, ANM, Romanian CAT representative

Building bridges in Translational Medicine, EATRIS experience

Dr. Giovanni Migliaccio, the Scientific Director of EATRIS (European Infrastructure for Translational Medicine), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

New trends in cell based therapies of cancer

Prof. Dr. Torsten Tonn, Director of the Institute for Transfusion Medicine, North-East Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Germany, Member of the Scientific Advisory Board UMF Victor Babes Timisoara

PACT Vienna support for regenerative medicine

Prof. Dr. Michael Comer, Chairman PACT (Platform for Advanced Cellular Therapies), Vienna, Austria

15:00-15:20 Coffee break
15:20-16:30 The interdisciplinary approach in research
Horizon 2020 strategy addressing Personalised Medicine

Prof. Dr. Carmen Panaitescu, University of Medicine and Pharamacy Victor Babes Timisoara

OncoGen strategy for excellence in research

Prof. Dr. Virgil Paunescu, OncoGen Project Manager

Ethics dimension of medical research

Prof. Dr. Alberto García Gómez, UNESCO (Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights), Rome, Italy

Concluding remarks

Prof_V_Paunescu2

Neurobioethics Research Group begins 7th year

The Neurobioetics Research Group (Gruppo di Neurobioetica-GDN) opened its 7th year with its first meeting of the 2015-2016 school year on October 23, 2015. The meeting reviewed the many activities of the previous school year 2014-2015. In addition to the monthly workshop meetings, several members of the GdN participated in meetings and conferences at national and international level. The meeting can be seen online here. You can read the full report of the group here.

In addition to its work in Italy, the GdN has been involved at the international level, particularly with conferences in conventions, conferences and university courses in Mexico, Chile and Spain. GdN members also expect to work in in Portugal and Brazil in 2015-2016.

Furthermore, the GdN “twin” research group BINCA, founded a number of years ago in the Anáhuac University of Mexico City, continues its work in the country of Mexico.

The GdN will dedicate the year to exploring the nature, definition, and status of the field of “neuroesthetics” from an interdisciplinary perspective. In particular, the group is planning for its convention during the March 2016 Dana Foundation Brain Awareness Week, in cooperation with the S.I.S.P.I.(Scuola di Specializzazione con la Procedura Immaginativa).

The next seminar will be held Friday, November 27 at 17:00.

Intellectual Charity in the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights

by Michael Baggot

 

In a recent Huffington Post blog entry, the Wexner Scholar at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary Mark Weingarten recounts his experience at the summer course on Human Ecology co-sponsored by the Chair. Despite his cultural, religious, and age differences from many of the course’s participants, the young rabbinical student quickly found it easy to dialogue with his companions on the importance of promoting the vision of human ecology articulated in the Pope’s most recent encyclical Laudato Si’. For instance, he found in an England priest devoted to child protection and foster care a distinctly dressed companion in the common quest to create a more humane society open to the positive influence of faith in a world often characterized by individualism and skepticism.

Regina Apostolorum’s shared commitment to intellectual charity finds a uniquely multicultural and inter-religious dimension in the UNESCO Chair, which has facilitated since its 2009 foundation enriching encounters akin to Weingarten’s brief summer experience. Jointed hosted by the Bioethics faculty of Reginia Apostolorum and the Law faculty of the European University of Rome, the Chair dedicates intellectual resources to creating constructive dialogue on society’s most pressing issues among peoples of all backgrounds in order to contribute to a civilization of justice and love. The Chair seeks to create a forum of diverse bioethics thought leaders. Collaborating in a spirit of respect and friendship, it hopes to deliver a common framework to guide the application of bioethical principles in the light of the UNESCO Declaration. In this manner, it can inform and enlighten ethical, legal and public opinions, decisions and actions relative to medicine, life sciences, and human rights and responsibilities.

The intellectual charity at the root of the institute’s spirit of respect and friendship in collaborative work has found concrete expression in a series of international workshops on Bioethics, Multiculturalism, and Religion. In Jerusalem, Rome, Hong Kong, and Mexico scholars from seven faith traditions have gathered to analyze key bioethical themes. The intellectual charity driving these events has overcome all conflict between the apparently warring values of rigorous academic research and warm familial relations. Since the days include not only the presentation of prepared papers, but also ample time allotted to the open discussion of these works, there is a lively interchange that could easily degenerate into combative chaos without the exercise of virtue. Thanks to the intellectual charity that reigns, participants have spent the past years growing in mutual understanding and appreciation for their respective faith traditions, while also enjoying the confidence to challenge their companions to an ever more profound comprehension of the truth toward which all participants strive as companions. The sometimes fiery debates that ensue after certain presentations enable the speakers to revise their work before the final papers are published together by the prestigious company Springer. Again, when participants identify disagreements inevitable among such a culturally and religiously diverse body, they always do so with the utmost respect toward their fellow scholar and friend.

Further evidence of the force of this intellectual charity is in the informal exchanges that continue during the year. It is not uncommon for a professor of Buddhism in Hong Kong to email a Catholic priest question regarding the Magisterium’s view on a recent medical development. Nor is it uncommon for a Catholic lawyer from Spain to contact an expert in Hinduism in Houston regarding collaboration on an article. Intellectual charity sustains these relationships across the globe and strengthens the humility that enables individuals of differing worldviews to learn from each other and grow in the common quest for truth. Thus, the Chair’s international mission of “fostering the art of convergence and cooperation in global ethics” remains one of the university’s manifold manners of living its commitment to intellectual charity.

“Man, Society, and Peace” in Monaco

by Gianfranco Bellissimo

translated by Michael Baggot

 

The international conference “Man, Society, and Peace” organized by the association “Human Rights for Life, Justice, and Peace,” with the collaboration of the university Regina Apostolorum the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights, was held October 3, 2015 in the city of Monaco.

The day, which was held in the headquarters of the Oceanographic Museum of the city and under the  patronage of SA.S. the Sovereign Prince Albert II of Mónaco, is a initiative that aims to “extend peace and respect for human dignity, starting from Monaco.” Significant scientific, social, political, and ecclesiastical speakers included:

  • S.E. Mr. Michel Roger (Minister of State of Monaco)
  • Ms. Isabelle Bonnal (Director of Education of Monaco)
  • S.E. Msgr. Bernard Barsi (Archbishop of Monaco)
  • Dr. Alexandra Henrion-Caude (Director of Research in INSERM, France)
  • Prof. Evandro Agazzi (President of the International Academy of Philosoph, Switzerland)
  • Prof. Don Briel (University of St. Thomas, United States)
  • Prof. Paola Bernardini (University of Notre Dame, USA)
  • Msgr. Bernard Munono (Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace)

The meeting was organized in four round tables discussions, which were moderated by two professors of the Faculty of Bioethics: Fr. Gonzalo Miranda, LC (Professor of the Faculty) and Prof. Alberto García (Director of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights). The conversation between the various speakers sought to answer, in each of the round tables, four basic questions: 1) What does science says about man? 2) How should we educate others in knowledge, conscience, and responsibility? 3) How can policy be a service to humanity? 4) What is the contribution which religions can make to the cause of peace in a multicultural world?

“We are all responsible for promoting dialogue and peace; but there are a few social moments that can and must have a special protaginism. These include the four considered during the meeting:  science, the university, politics and religion,” said Miranda.

“The Principality of Monaco is a political and social reality especially significant in spreading the message that the conference wants to convey: it has always lived a kind of vocation to dialogue and acceptance, coming from its very identity,” continued Miranda.

“Our globalized world needs men and women with competence and virtue act for dialogue between different cultures and the different branches of knowledge. Creative people are able to find convergence in the ideas, talent and resources that are linked to the common good and work with dedication, optimism and mutual respect for one another and for diversity. There is no person, community or cultural tradition which cannot contribute in any way to the construction of our society, sometimes crushed or disappointed. Now is the time of transcendence, to go out of ourselves and seek the other, the others. Today is the time to make a commitment of solidarity in favor of others, not of nostalgia and sterile complaints,” commented García.

_DEB4684