The National Center  For                   Bioethics in Tuskegee

By Margaret E. Meier, Smuteye

Last month marked the first anniversary of the public launching of the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University (TU). We wanted to learn more about the center and it’s purpose, so in early May we ventured to Tuskegee to meet with Marian Gray Secundy, Ph.D., director of the new center and professor of bioethics.

We met Dr. Secundy on a warm day in May at the center’s temporary home on Chambliss Street. We sat on the front porch of a charming old house under the shade of oak and sycamore trees. Inside, the office bustled with normal office activities and renovation crews of painters and electricians preparing for the anniversary celebration.

President Clinton launched this center as part of the Nation’s 1997 Presidential Apology for the US Public Health Service Syphilis Study in Macon County. In that study, from 1932 to 1972, the Public Health Service withheld treatment for syphilis to hundreds of poor, black men in Macon County in order to "study" syphilis. The mission of the center, in Dr. Secundy’s words, is "to transform and reverse the Legacy" of that sad chapter in Alabama’s recent history.

The center will move into its permanent home in the old John A. Andrew Hospital building, after a thorough renovation, next year. It is funded at roughly $2 million per year from various grants and Federal funds. They plan to approach their work on five fronts, all of which will focus on both bioethics and diversity in our society:

• Archives and Museum of Science and Health Care. The building will house a museum exploring the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and its impact on the nation, plus display a wide range of other bioethics-related projects conducted at TU. The museum will also include an archive of information for educational and research use.
• Outreach Program. The outreach program will provide education and resources for the national community aimed toward developing a more sensitive and effective health care system, reducing racial disparities in medical treatment, and supporting communities in their efforts to battle biosphere problems such as contaminated drinking water, toxic substances, and other health-impacting pollution.
• Tuskegee University’s Biomedicine Context: Veterinarian Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health. This front incorporates more bioethical education classes into the programs at TU’s veterinarian and other health-related schools.
• Information Technology. The center will establish a World Wide Web site to make educational and research information available globally. They are also building a Virtual Museum of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study to provide electronic access to historic and ethical documents.
• Education. The last front works to incorporate more teaching of ethics, morals and the biological impact of decisions into TU’s curricula. The center wants to attract more minorities into the field of bioethics.

This is a large mission for this 1-year-old organization. Dr. Secundy identified their initial areas of emphasis to include studies in the following areas:

• Human experimentation and informed consent. How do we ethically test new treatments and how do we understand and define informed consent.
• Improving end-of-life care. An upcoming conference (Fall 99) will focus on Perspectives on End-of-Life Care.
• The human genome project, the mapping of human DNA. How will our new understanding of human genes and what they may indicate about our health impact our society?