June 8, 2006

U-M bioethicist receives national honor

Scott Kim, M.D., Ph.D., named Greenwall Faculty Scholar in Bioethics

ANN ARBOR, MI – How should medical decisions be made by — and for — people with Alzheimer’s disease, severe mental illnesses, or other conditions that interfere with their ability to give permission for treatment? Should such people take part in clinical trials of new therapies, especially ones that could pose a risk to them?

Such questions regarding the “decisionally impaired” form the core of research by University of Michigan psychiatrist and bioethicist Scott Kim, M.D., Ph.D.

Now, Kim has been recognized for his outstanding work in this area, with a prestigious national honor that will give him more opportunity to study such societally important issues. He has been named one of the nation’s three Greenwall Faculty Scholars in Bioethics for 2006 by the Greenwall Foundation of New York, NY.

The award, which is given each year to three young university faculty members from around the United States, seeks to help develop the careers of bioethicists whose work will have an impact on public policy or clinical practice. It provides funding to help the scholar carry out original research that will help resolve important policy and clinical dilemmas at the intersection of ethics and the life sciences.

Kim’s work, which is also supported by National Institutes of Health grants, focuses on such issues as informed consent, surrogate consent, assessment of decision-making capacity, ethics of high risk research, and policies regarding people whose decision-making capacity is impaired.

Kim is an assistant professor of psychiatry in the U-M Medical School, a core member of the U-M Bioethics Program and an investigator in the U-M Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine.  He is a trained philosopher as well as a practicing psychiatrist.

His research may help guide policymakers as they struggle to create a national standard for how and when surrogates can decide to consent for research studies on behalf of adults who have lost their ability to give informed consent. Currently, federal law allows surrogates, but lets states set the conditions for such decisions, and there is wide variation among states.

“Scott Kim is a talented and accomplished researcher doing important work in research ethics. I'm very pleased that the Greenwall Foundation selected him for this prestigious award,” says Susan Dorr Goold, M.D., director of the Bioethics Program.

To read more about some of Dr. Kim's recent research, follow this link.

Written by Kara Gavin

E-mail this information to a friend

Recent Press Releases