Lisa M. Lee, former executive director of President Obama’s Bioethics Commission and current associate vice president for scholarly integrity and research compliance at Virginia Tech, will provide commentary on The Perils of Partnership: Industry Influence, Institutional Integrity, and Public Health, a recent book by Jonathan H. Marks.
The event, “Author Meets Critics,” will be held on Thursday, October 17, at 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in 110 Henderson on Penn State’s University Park campus. Presented by the Rock Ethics Institute, the program will also feature: Marks, director of the Penn State Bioethics Program and affiliate faculty in law, philosophy, public policy, and international affairs; and Leland Glenna, Penn State professor of rural sociology. Penn State’s Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts Clarence Lang will offer opening remarks, and Ted Toadvine, the Nancy Tuana Director of the Rock Ethics Institute and associate professor of philosophy, will serve as moderator.
Marks will share insights from his book about the dangers of government agencies trying to address the opioid crisis, the obesity epidemic, and other public health challenges by partnering with the very corporations responsible for creating or exacerbating these problems. He will also offer a novel framework for addressing the systemic ethical challenges posed by public-private partnerships. Both Lee and Glenna will offer responses. Audience members will have the opportunity to participate during a question-and-answer session. A reception, as well as a book sale and signing, will follow the discussion.
This event has been organized by the Rock Ethics Institute. Co-sponsors include the Bioethics Program, the Department of Philosophy, the School of Public Policy, the College of the Liberal Arts, the College of Health and Human Development, the School of International Affairs, and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.