The Dusty Old Bioethics Blog

At last we've found a few minutes to take apart the bits of the bioethics blog's archives and store them in an accessible place.  That is what this is: an archive.  The blog posts that are not signed in this archive were authored by yours truly, Glenn McGee, as Editor-in-Chief.  Everyone else had to identify that they weren't the editor.  Back then it made sense.  To a contemporary reader, it will probably appear that the "unsigned entries" are sort of like the editorial content of the neocon bioethics "journal" New Atlantis: too acerbic for anyone to claim authorship.  But really this was just our blog convention: the editor didn't sign posts, and it was explained in the "about this blog" page. 

The real blog.bioethics.net is very much alive and well at, well, that address: http://blog.bioethics.net, and the Editors of The American Journal of Bioethics are now multiplying, as that journal has spawned AJOB Neuroscience (The American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience) and AJOB Primary Research (The American Journal of Bioethics Primary Research).   The current form of the blog is authored by Executive Editor of The American Journal of Bioethics, Dr. Summer Johnson, who is also Director of Graduate Studies at the Center for Practical Bioethics.

If you've found this site, enjoy some of the early years of our experiment in a blog by the editors of a biomedical journal...the "finding a voice" years.  From the tracing of the Korean stem cell scandal to celebrations of some of the heroes in bioethics (professionals and non-professionals alike), there is a lot here.   But keep in mind that this is the dusty old bioethics blog archive.  The daily updated blog is here.  Thanks,
Glenn McGee, PhD
Editor-in-Chief, The American Journal of Bioethics, and
John B. Francis Endowed Chair in Bioethics, Center for Practical Bioethics  

See The Wizard

John Kwon has been the often quiet voice behind the design of The American Journal of Bioethics' website for years. John is the most amazing graphic/web design person with whom I've ever worked since I started the first philosophy website back in 1994. In the four years that John has been with my team, he has helped make bioethics.net the most visited site in bioethics (it was the first as well), and that site in turn has helped propel the journal and numerous other projects (e.g., bioethics for high school students, bioethics for beginners, and my favorite recent project (ok, well, so I was the PI on this and maybe I am biased...), the bioethics 'studio' project, today called Penn Studio). You'd never know it from a casual conversation with him - he's much too modest - but John is the guy behind the curtain. It is about time someone pushed him into the spotlight he's created. - GM

Face Transplantation

The New York Times has devoted an essay in its health section today to The American Journal of Bioethics Target Article on Face Transplantation. The story has, Taylor & Francis tells us, been front page news in - get this - more than 800 newspapers worldwide. The Times piece, though, is the first significant mass media editorial on face transplantation and it puts a bioethics journal squarely into the mix. We're pretty happy about that. It is all the more rewarding that the exchange comes from our friends at Hastings Center!

AJOB 4:3 Double Issue is Up

The special issue contains three target articles; one, on face transplantation, made virtually every newspaper in America last Sunday. Others include The Limitations of Vulnerability by Levine et al, and Improving Fairness in Coverage Decisions by Wynia et al. Lots of other stuff. And it doesn't REALLY cost $370 a year ... just $66 ... no matter what your first renewal notice said!