Gene Editing for Individuals and their Families and Family Caregivers
March 1, 2016
Hosted by Dr. Gordon Atherley
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Guest Information
Episode Description
Dr. Marcy Darnovsky is Executive Director of the Center for Genetics and Society, http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/. She describes her career and the Center’s work. She explains human gene editing, the ways it could be used for medical treatment and research, and the pros and cons. She explains germline gene modification and the Center’s position on its benefits and risks. She highlights policies on human germline modification in influential countries and identifies the main differences. She explains why the prospect of human germline modification is so controversial. She says how well she thinks North American would-be parents and family caregivers understand human gene editing and human germline modification, what more she would like to see done to improve understanding of human gene editing and human germline modification, and what more governments should do to improve information flows to parents, would-be parents and family caregivers, researchers, and the medical profession.
Family Caregivers Unite!
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Variety Channel
Family caregivers are the people who provide care to partners, parents, children, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, neighbors and even co-workers. They are the people who provide care when everyone else has gone home. They are the people who organize the functioning of the home for the person with special needs, and for the family as a whole. They are the coordinators of care, the managers of appointments, the preventers of loneliness, and the makers of decisions even to the point of Power of Attorney. And they are so often people who themselves are burdened with their own health challenges and who may be in only marginally better health than the persons to whom they are providing family caregiving.
Dr. Gordon Atherley
Dr Gordon Atherley holds the British equivalent of the Canadian PhD and MD degrees, and LLD, Honoris Causa, from Canada’s Simon Fraser University. His awards include Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, UK. His medical specialties are occupational medicine and public health.
As first President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, the Canadian equivalent of the US National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, he led the creation of Canada’s electronic information service in occupational health and safety, now used in more than 40 countries.
In academia, he held senior, tenured, full-time positions, including departmental chair, in university faculties of physics, engineering, and medicine. He is the author of a textbook and numerous articles and publications.
Since retiring from medical practice, he’s built up Greyhead Associates, which critically researches the safety, effectiveness and fairness of health services for persons with special needs.
Through Virtual Care International, a company of which he’s President, he’s involved in providing sensible technology to family caregivers to help them with their responsibilities, workloads, and concerns.
Now an activist, he urges family caregivers to unite because, more and more, it’s not just their families who depend on them, it’s also the healthcare system as a whole, as it struggles to meet more and more needs of more and more people.
Episode Directory
April 2016
March 2016
- 3/29/2016: Bullying People living with Mental Health Disabilities Listen Now
- 3/22/2016: A Family Experience of being Bullied Listen Now
- 3/15/2016: Bullying of People living with Mental Health Challenges Listen Now
- 3/8/2016: Divorce when Children live with Disabilities Listen Now
- 3/1/2016: Gene Editing for Individuals and their Families and Family Caregivers Listen Now
