Recently, I have been touching on bioethics, or rather ethics in medical/healthcare research. Yesterday, I participated in a lunch talk, “Why the World Needs Bioethics and Why Bioethics Needs the World,” hosted by the Master of Health Research Ethics (MOHRE) at the University of Malaya (UM) Faculty of Medicine. The lecturer was Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, a professor at the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University. He spoke in American English, which I know and am familiar with very well, so it was easy to understand him, even though I still struggle with Malaysian English after two years….

Dr. Kahn spoke about an incident in which he received a great number of negative comments after speaking on the unfamiliar topic of “ethics in research” at a big public event in Minnesota in the past. He concluded, saying, “I received a lot of critical comments, but I was rather happy that I could reach such a wide range of ordinary people.” This is the kind of attitude as a good academician’s, the opposite of the “ivory tower” thing. In a way, it is very American. I learned a lot. Thanks, Prof.

ここ最近、bioethics/生命倫理というか、医学/ヘルスケア研究における倫理について触れることが多いのですが、昨日も、所属するUM（University of Malaya）医学部のMaster of Health Research Ethics (MOHRE)が主催するlunch talk、”Why the World Needs Bioethics and Why Bioethics Needs the World”にオンラインで参加しました。講師は、Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins Universityの教授、Jeffrey Kahn博士。勝手知ったる米国英語なので、マレーシア英語に未だに苦戦する私にとっては、べらぼうに聞き取りやすかった…。

Kahn博士が、昔ミネソタでのある一般向けイベントに登壇して「研究における倫理」という聞きなれないテーマで話した後、すごい数のネガティブ意見をもらった出来事を話し、「たくさんの批判的意見をもらったけど、むしろそれだけ広く『普通の人にリーチできた』ことがとても嬉しかった…『私にも関係することだ』と思ってもらった訳だからね」と嬉しそうだったのが印象的でした。「象牙の塔」の対極にある、優れたアカデミシャンの態度ですね。ある意味、アメリカらしい。