Mangaluru: Yenepoya (Deemed to be University) confers Lifetime Achievement Award to Prof Ruth Mackli

By M Arif Kalkatta
Bellevision Media Network

Mangaluru, 25 Oct: On the occasion of World Bioethics Day on October 19, the Centre for Ethics, Yenepoya (deemed to be) University felicitated and conferred Lifetime Achievement Award to distinguished university Professor Emerita Ruth Macklin in recognition of her contribution to the field of global research in bioethics.

 

Ruth Macklin is a Bioethics faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA. She is a prolific writer, an inspiring teacher and has a vast experience as member, advisor and consultant at various prestigious organizations including World Health Organization, United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is also the recipient of several awards including the prestigious Hasting’s Center’s Henry Beecher Award.

 

 

Yenepoya (deemed to be University) was privileged to confer the Lifetime Achievement award to Prof Ruth Macklin on this day. The award was conferred by registrar Prof  Dr Gangadhar Somayyaji KS, in the presence of dignitaries director finance Farhad Yenepoya, Yenepoya Medical College principal Dr Moosabba M S, former vice chancellor of Kannur and Calicut University Prof Abdul Rehman and Islamic Academy of Education secretary Prof Dr Akhther Hussein.

 

After the presentation of the award, Prof Ruth Macklin spoke on ‘Vulnerable populations in the context of research’ which was followed by an interactive session with students and faculty. Prof Macklin informed the audience that rather than simply referring to vulnerable people using labels, it was better to consider the context and situations in which people might be rendered vulnerable. She also suggested that many of the guidelines – with the exception of the recently revised Council for International Organizations in Medical Sciences (CIOMS) guidelines - have failed to provide clear, actionable directions to identify, protect vulnerable populations and mitigate exploitation. Simply excluding vulnerable people from research, is to deny them the benefits of research. Prof Macklin has championed the cause of people living with HIV, and in large measure, the recruitment of this vulnerable section of society in research, is due to her untirng efforts to get them their due benefits emerging from research.

 

Prof Macklin was visiting the Centre for Ethics, Yenepoya (deemed to be University), where she is a faculty on the Yenepoya University-Fogarty International Center Research Ethics Master’s Program for India. This is a unique Master’s Program in the country, being offered only by Yenepoya (deemed to be University), supported by an educational research grant from National Institutes of Health, USA.