Life Sciences and Society Initiative

1. Life Sciences and Society Initiative Dr. Cynthia P. Schneider Georgetown University Former Ambassador to the Netherlands May 2003

2. Life Sciences and Society: Vision Statement • If the last fifty years belong to information technology, the next belong to the life sciences. Government policy will effect how the scientific breakthroughs impact society. Georgetown University’s resources in public policy, bioethics, law, international affairs, health care, and medicine, together with its Jesuit heritage position it to play a unique role in the policy debates that will shape the future.

3. Goal • The goal of the “Life Science and Society Initiative” is to influence national and international policy to reap the full potential of today’s and tomorrow’s scientific innovations.

4. Life Sciences and Society Initiative: Who and What • A unique combination of policy, law, ethics, international affairs, science, medicine, and health care • An “in house think tank” at Georgetown University, supplemented by outside expertise • October 20-21, 2003 International Life Sciences Summit (speakers include Craig Venter, Ralph Snyderman, Nancy Ann DeParle, Carl Peck, Carl Feldbaum, Leroy Walters, Juan Enriquez)

5. What Need Does the Life Sciences and Society Initiative Fill? • Key short term and long term issues will be determined by legislation at the federal, state, and local levels. • With the closing of the Office of Technology Assessment, there is no ready source of information for Capitol Hill at a time when science and technology have a more significant place in the legislative agenda than ever before.

6. What will the Life Sciences and Society Initiative Offer? • Neutral, respected venue to convene closed and open, domestic and international meetings on long and short term issues, with follow up research. • Full range of perspectives and expertise on any given issue, from a member of President Bush’s Bioethics Council, to a Jesuit who has published in favor of embryonic stem cell research, to a former FDA Administrator. • Ready source of information on the life sciences for Capitol Hill, state and local governments, private sector, NGOs, and general public

7. Issues • Genomics and Individualized Medicine • Bioterrorism and Biopreparedness • Biotechnology and Agriculture • Biotechnology and International Affairs • Biotechnology and the Environment • Biotechnology and Sustainable Development • Biotechnology and the Developing World • The Future of the Pharmaceutical Industry and Drug Development • Balancing Scientific, Public, and Private Enterprise Demands in the Life Sciences

8. Questions • How will the innovations of genomics be integrated into U.S. health care delivery systems to make the dream of individualized medicine a reality? • How can these changes in health care be distributed equitably? • How can the promise of biotechnology for agricultural productivity and innovation best be realized in the U.S.? In the developing world? • How to solve the conflicting needs of the for profit private sector with the potential of biotechnology to solve problems of hunger and disease in the developing world? • How to contain and resolve transatlantic conflicts over biotechnology? • How to balance social/religious/cultural concerns with potential benefits of life science developments, i.e. In the case of embryonic stem cell research?

9. Partnerships under Discussion • Centers for Disease Control • Department of Health and Human Services • Department of Homeland Security • Rand Corporation • The Center for the Advancement of Genomics (Craig Venter) • University of Maryland • Imaging Sciences and Information Systems (GU) • SAIS (John Hopkins School of International Affairs) • Brookings Institution

10. Accomplishments • Conference on Smallpox Preparedness and Adverse Effects Management, March 3, 2003 • Attendees included representatives from CDC, HHS, Fort Dietrick, organized labor, the German government, and Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, and the S.F. Bay area • Follow up included media appearances and meetings with the administration on issues of compensation, adverse effects management and negative impact on public health infrastructure • Post-conference publication in preparation, to be published as Congressional White Paper • Article in preparation for the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics

11. Accomplishments • Conference on MIPS (Multiple Idiopathic Physical Symptoms), June 12, 2003 • Critical missing link in bio-preparedness; • Assistant Secretary Jerry Hauer keynote speaker; urged Georgetown Life Sciences and Society to continue to work on issue; offered funding; • Interim Report funded by CDC in preparation; • Future meetings to be funded by CDC in planning stage;

12. Bioterrorism: Future Projects • National Bio-preparedness Plan, in collaboration with Rand Corporation and ISIS Center at Georgetown; • BioShield and the Challenges of Building a BioDefense Industry -- meeting with small group of PHARMA CEOs plus Administration officials to discuss how to make BioShield legislation effective and how to give big PHARMA the incentives to participate; • Eight ongoing panels with more than 60 participants evolved out of first two conferences, and continue to work on biodefense recommendations.

13. The International Life Science Summit East • Life Science, Healthcare & Society: New Choices, New ConsequencesGeorgetown University, Washington, D.C., Oct.20-21 • LIFE SCIENCE POLICY - "Who Decides What?” “Who Pays What" and “Why”?. • HEALTHCARE - " Getting From 'Depersonalized' to 'Personalized' Medicine" and “Drug Development: The Challenges of Turning Research into Reality” • SOCIETY - "How Do the Life Sciences Impact the Global Environment?"

14. The International Life Science Summit East Sessions and Speakers “Who Decides What: Decisions and their Consequences” (Dr. Rita Colwell [inv.], Nancy Ann DeParle) “Two Visions of Healthcare’s Future: Personalized and Preventive Medicine” (Craig Venter, Ralph Synderman, and Juan Enriquez) “Drug Development: the Challenges of Turning Research into Reality” (Carl Feldbaum, Carl Peck) “The Potential Role of the Life Sciences in Solving World Problems (Claire Fraser, Leroy Walters, Ismael Serageldin [invited], Ingo Potrykus.

15. Genesis • Cynthia Schneider – biotechnology outreach as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands • “Biotechnology: the Science and the Impact”, international conference, The Hague, January 2000. Distinguished speakers included John Pierce. • “Biotechnology and the Environment”, conference co-sponsored by the EU Ministry of the Environment, Brussels, December 2000. • Speeches on biotechnology with an emphasis on agricultural and international dimensions given in Egypt, France, The Netherlands, and the U.S.