The current executive director of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission soon will be joining the faculty at IU as director of the IU Center for Bioethics.

Eric M. Meslin, PhD, a nationally recognized bioethicist, will guide the University's program and fill an important role in its development of the Indiana Genomics Initiative.

Dr. Meslin also will be assistant dean for bioethics and a professor in the Department of Medicine at IUSM. He begins his new duties Aug. 1. Dr. Meslin recently responded to questions posed to him by Indiana University Medicine.

Why did you choose IU and what makes this institution unique?
Indiana University is widely regarded for many of its academic programs and its commitment to research. But more than that, it already has a number of active and very well respected bioethics scholars in Indianapolis and in Bloomington - in the law school, medical genetics, medicine, nursing, and philosophy, for example.

How can the IU Center for Bioethics help the INGEN effort?
Just as the federally sponsored Human Genome Project has benefited from the study of the ethical, legal and social implications of genomic research, the IU Center for Bioethics will contribute its resources and expertise to the INGEN effort in several ways. We intend to recruit core faculty to an ethics, genomics and public policy program and coordinate closely with the other science cores of INGEN so that the IU Center for Bioethics will provide opportunities for interdisciplinary scholarship. We will identify, study and broadly disseminate our research findings domestically and internationally, with the goal of assisting policymakers and others. In addition, I would like the general public to be informed about these issues, for example through public lectures and seminars.

What is the biggest misperception the public has about genomics?
One of the greatest successes in the history of humanity - sequencing the entire human genome - has led many to believe that cures for both common and rare diseases are imminent. While the speed with which more tailored and efficient biopharmaceuticals appear on the market is certainly going to increase, there is still a lot we don't know about how genes work, or, for example, what role the environment plays in determining susceptibility to illness.

What kinds of social, ethical and legal issues loom before genetics researchers and society?
Some of the issues have been with us all along but are now only becoming more urgent. For example, as we probe deeper and deeper into the human genome, society must face some pretty profound questions about who controls access to that information, and how people should be protected against discrimination from its misuse. Researchers will face some continuing challenges in designing ethically and scientifically sound studies. In the long run, the genetic revolution also will have a profound impact on health care, requiring changes in the way health care is provided and maybe even the way health and disease are defined.