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700.641.01
Germs, Genes, Patients, and Populations

Course Status
Cancelled

Location
East Baltimore
Term
4th Term
Department
Berman Institute (Bioethics)
Credit(s)
3
Academic Year
2017 - 2018
Instruction Method
TBD
Class Time(s)
Wednesday, 3:30 - 6:20pm
Auditors Allowed
Yes, with instructor consent
Available to Undergraduate
No
Grading Restriction
Letter Grade or Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Contact Name
Frequency Schedule
Every Other Year
Description
What are the ethical, legal, social, and policy issues at the intersection of infectious disease and genomics? How are individualistic conceptions of autonomy, privacy and liberty being challenged in an “omic” era of microbial multiplicity? Can precision medicine and population health be reconciled?
Explores past, present, and future ethical, legal, social and policy issues at the intersection of infectious disease and genomics. Challenges individualistic assumptions in bioethical models with frameworks that consider the interactions between hosts, vectors, pathogens, and environments. Examines a variety of diseases and modes of transmission, exploring their morally relevant differences and similarities. Discusses cutting-edge topics such as personalized vaccines, host genomic factors, and the microbiome, as well as enduring bioethical concerns about social responsibility, stigma, and the challenge of balancing individual interests and protections against risks of harms to others and to public health.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
  1. Assess historical approaches to managing infectious disease surveillance, prevention, and outbreaks in light of genomic advances
  2. Identify ethical, legal, social, and policy issues at the intersection of genomics and infectious disease
  3. Analyze the benefits and shortcomings of various policy approaches to infectious disease management in light of ethics and genomics considerations
  4. Evaluate how genomic information and its uses could inform infectious disease management in the future
Enrollment Restriction
Enrollment priority given to MBE students. Students who have taken 700.624 BIOETHICS AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: ETHICAL, LEGAL, AND HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES, may not take this course for credit.
Special Comments

Course meets in Deering Hall; LLC Room