One of the most interdisciplinary branches of Duke's genomics initiative found its leader earlier this month, with the selection of Dr. Robert Cook-Deegan as director of the Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy.
Cook-Deegan, author of The Gene Wars: Science, Politics, and the Human Genome, currently directs the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship program at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is also a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Investigator at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics.
GELP is one of five centers under the $200 million umbrella genomics institute at Duke. The center aims to cultivate research and discussion about the ethical and policy boundaries for emerging genomic therapies, such as the use of stem cells and human cell cloning.
"His combination of excellent scholarship in an exciting, relevant area in the gene wars and more generally, what you might call the political economy and public policy in this area," makes him a salient choice, said Provost Peter Lange.
Cook-Deegan said that in addition to the issues that have already been discussed in human genomics, he would like for GELP to include all kinds of ethical and policy issues relating to genetics, including vaccine development, resources in Asia and Africa and bioterrorism. "We'll see how this goes," he said. "[These] are some of the issues connected to [human genetics] that are not something that have been identified with the Human Genome Project, but I think are relevant to genomics in general."
Cook-Deegan said that the greatest challenge for GELP will be narrowing down the number of projects it can pursue.
"When I was looking at this job, I floated the idea with others at academic institutions. A lot of them are very negative about doing these interdisciplinary centers," Cook-Deegan said. "I'm hoping it is true that Duke is unusual in sporting this interdisciplinary work because it's the only way this center is going to work."
Another new hire this spring is also expected to contribute to GELP. Allen Buchanan, a professor of philosophy at the University of Arizona, will join the Sanford Institute of Public Policy. An expert in bioethics and political philosophy, Buchanan has worked on government committees looking at medical ethics.
"The hirings of both Cook-Deegan and Buchanan are extraordinarily complimentary and may help us to become one of the leading place to work on bioethics," said Dr. Jeremy Sugarman, director of the Center for the Study of Medical Ethics and Humanities in the Medical Center and chair of the GELP search committee. "[Last] Thursday was a great day when they both said yes."
In addition, Lange said the search for the director of the entire Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy was well-advanced and that the University is in discussions with a particular candidate to come for a second visit to Duke. Last fall, Duke had expressed interest in Dr. Rusty Williams, a leading genetic scientist at Chrion Corp., until Williams decided against moving to Durham.
Three other centers also still have director vacancies: the Center for Human Disease Models, the Center for Genome Technology and the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. "We won't have all of them in place [by fall]," Lange said. "We might have two additional ones as well as the institute director, but we might not."
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