National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care

This is the nation's first bioethics center devoted to engaging the sciences, humanities, law and religious faiths in the exploration of the core moral issues which underlie research and medical treatment of African Americans and other underserved people. The official launching of the Center took place two years after President Clinton's apology to the nation, the survivors of the Syphilis Study, Tuskegee University, and Tuskegee/Macon County for the U.S. Public Health Service medical experiment.

"The launching of this Center marks a turning point in a history plagued by abuse and abandonment, and we have the opportunity to address and ameliorate the terrible legacy of the U.S. Public Health Service Study," said Tuskegee University President, Dr. Benjamin F. Payton. "We are pleased to be able to play such an important role in this critical transition, and to continue the University's longstanding tradition of providing innovative health care solutions from an African American perspective."

From 1932 to 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service conducted a study involving syphilitic African American men from rural Macon County, Alabama. No white men were included in the study. Over the course of 40 years, scientists tracked the progression of the disease in the participants without ever telling them that they had syphilis or informing them of treatment options -- even after penicillin had been proven to be a quick and effective cure. In fact, the participants were actually prevented from receiving treatment. The study halted only after an Associated Press reporter exposed the unethical methods being employed.

In his public apology May 16, 1997, President Clinton called the study "something that was wrong -- deeply, profoundly, morally wrong -- to our African American citizens. I am sorry that your Federal Government orchestrated a study so clearly racist."

The President announced during his apology the award of a $200,000 grant to Tuskegee University to initiate plans for a National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care. Since that date, more than twenty million dollars in grants and pledges have been made to Tuskegee University to help establish and operate the Center. Ten million of these dollars have been given to the Center, to be used over a five year period by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

For many African Americans, the Syphilis Study heightened longstanding suspicions of the U.S. health care system and exacerbated fears of medical exploitation. Today, more than a quarter of a century after the study was halted, apprehensions still linger. Too many African Americans avoid participating in important clinical trials, refrain from donating blood or signing up as potential donors, and even refuse routine medical care, including treatment for HIV.

"The entire history of health care in the United States has been shamefully blighted by a long series of racial inequalities," said Dr. Marian Gray Secundy, the first Director of the Center. "As a result, a legacy of distrust has been handed down from one generation to the next. But this Bioethics Center bears great hope. It takes us to the critical next step in changing the course of history for people of color."

"Tuskegee University serves as an ideal place to house this center, both professionally and symbolically. The center will stand as a testament to those who suffered so unjustly in the name of science." -- Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, making a $14 million grant to the Center

The Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care was established in January 1999. The Bioethics Center was developed as a partial response to the apology of President William J. "Bill" Clinton for the United States Public Health Service Study on Syphilis conducted at Tuskegee, in Macon County, Alabama from 1932 to 1972. The negative legacy of this study has been cited as a contributing hindrance to the full participation of African Americans and others in taking advantage of medical care and scientific research.

Mission

It is the aim of the Tuskegee University National Center to transform the burden of this negative legacy. The Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care works with local, regional, national and international communities, to address ethical and human rights issues in science, technology and health, particularly as they impact people of color.

Goals

• Promote racial and ethnic diversity in the field of bioethics and in public debates about bioethical issues.

• Conduct research and publish scholarship on bioethics and underserved populations.

• Educate students, scholars, media, and the public about bioethical issues of importance to underserved populations.

• Foster effective, respectful, and mutually beneficial community partnerships to address inequities in health and health care, to increase public education about bioethics, and to develop training programs.

• Advocate public policies that improve the health and health care of all Americans, particularly the underserved.

Dr. David Augustin Hodge
Interim Director & Associate Professor
(334) 724-4564
dhodge@tuskegee.edu 

Mr. Kevin Lee
Budget Manager
(334) 725-2347
klee2@tuskegee.edu 

Ms. Belinda Thorpe
Support Operations Coordinator
(334) 724-4557
bthorpe@tuskegee.edu 

Dr. Andrew Zekeri
Department of Psychology, Sociology & Philosophy
(334) 727-8086
azekeri@tuskegee.edu

Dr. Beverly Ebo
Instructor of Orientation
(334) 724-4407
bebo@tuskegee.edu

Dr. Gwendolyn West
gspence45@aol.com 

Visiting Scholars

Dr. David Anderson
Dr. David Baines
Dr. Alicia Best
Dr. Linda S. Behar-Horenstein
Dr. Makini Chisolm-Straker
Dr. Betty Crutcher
Dr. Glenn Ellis
Dr. Margaret A. Gallagher
Dr. Mill Etienne
Dr. Ralph V. Katz
Dr. Vickie M. Mays
Dr. Stephanie Miles-Richardson
Dr. Sandy Maclin
Dr. Charles Moore
Dr. Arvilla Payne-Jackson
Dr. Chukwudi Onwuachi-Saunders
Dr. Alton B. Pollard, III
Dr. Darryl Scriven
Dr. Michele Shedlin
Dr. Eric Suba
Dr. Patricia Matthew-Juarez
Dr. Luther Williams
Dr. Riggins Earl
Dr. Victory Kirksey

In February of 1994 at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library in Charlottesville, VA, a symposium was held entitled "Doing Bad in the Name of Good?: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study and Its Legacy." Resulting from this gathering was the creation of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee which met for the first time on January 18-19, 1996.  

The committee had two goals; (1) to persuade President Clinton to apologize on behalf of the government for the atrocities of the study and (2) to develop a strategy to address the damages of the study to the psyche of African-Americans and others about the ethical behavior of government-led research; rebuilding the reputation of Tuskegee through public education about the study, developing a clearinghouse on the ethics of scientific research and scholarship and assembling training programs for health care providers. 

After intensive discussions, the Committee's final report in May of 1996 urged President Clinton to apologize for the emotional, medical, research and psychological damage of the study. On May 16th at a White House ceremony attended by the men, members of the Legacy Committee and others representing the medical and research communities, the apology was delivered to the surviving participants of the study and families of the deceased.

Committee Members Included:

• Ms. Myrtle Adams 
  Chairman, Macon County Health Care Authority 
• Ms. Patricia Clay 
  Administrator, Macon County Health Care Authority 
• Dr. James A. Ferguson (now deceased)  
  Dean, School of Veterinary Medicine 
  Tuskegee University 
• Dr. John C. Fletcher, Co-Chair 
  Director, Center for Biomedical Ethics 
  Cornfield Professor of Religious Studies 
  University of Virginia 
• Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble, Chair 
  former Associate Professor of History of Medicine and Family Medicine 
  University of Wisconsin Medical School 
  (former Director of the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care)
• Dr. Lee Green 
  Assistant Professor 
  University of Alabama 
• Ms. Barbara Harrell 
  Director, Division of Minority Health 
  Alabama Department of Public Health 
• Dr. Bill Jenkins 
  Epidemiologist 
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
• Dr. James H. Jones 
  Professor of History 
  University of Houston 
• Dr. Ralph Katz 
  Professor 
  Department of Behavioral Sciences and Community Health 
  School of Dental Medicine 
  University of Connecticut Health Center 
• Ms. Joan Echtenkamp Klein 
  Assistant Director for Historical Collections and Services 
  Health Sciences Library 
  University of Virginia Health System 
• Dr. Susan Reverby 
  Luella LaMer Professor for Women's Studies 
  Wellesley College 
• Dr. Rueben Warren 
  Associate Director for Minority Health 
  (became Director of the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care)
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Mr. Anthony Winn 
  Program Analyst 
  Minority Health Professions Foundation 

• About the USPHS Syphilis Study
• Transcript of the Apology
• Coverage of the Apology
• Impact on Health Care
• Bioethics Resources
• Syphilis Study Timeline
• CDC Coverage/Timeline
• Historical Timeline 
• Bioethics Minor Overview
• Legacy Committee Final Report
• Final Report of the Syphilis Study Legacy Committee
• Voices of Our Father Newsletter (Winter 2021)
• Public Health Ethics Manual-Atlas.ti Data
• Public Health Ethics Manual Focus Group

The Journal of Healthcare, Science and The Humanities is an official journal of the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care 

Published Volumes

Click here to download the 2022 Special Issue on HIV/AIDS and the Black Community

The 2022 Special Issue is focused on exploring factors that drive the disproportionate impact of HIV on Black communities and the solutions that must be adopted to eliminate these health disparities. The Special Issue features articles and commentaries that explore the social, cultural and economic factors associated with advocacy, public policy and health outcomes related to HIV/AIDS in the Black community, including an opening commentary from Harold Phillips, Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has disproportionately affected Black people since the beginning of the epidemic, and that disparity has deepened over time. In 2019, Black people represented 42% of all new HIV diagnoses, 40% of all people living with HIV, and 42% of HIV-related deaths despite comprising only 13% of the U.S. population. These disparities are even more pronounced when you examine data on sub-populations within the Black community, including gay and bisexual men, transgender individuals, rural populations, and Black women. Underlying and driving these inequalities are systemic factors including, but not limited to, poverty, access to affordable healthcare, access to stable housing and transportation, medical mistrust, anti-Black racism, mass incarceration, stigma, and discrimination. Today, the nation's annual new HIV infections have declined from their peak in the mid-1980s, and advances in science, medicine, healthcare delivery and advocacy have enabled people with HIV and those at risk for HIV to live longer, healthier lives. However, in order to achieve the goal of ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. by 2030, it is critical that resources, programs and policies are directed towards ending the HIV epidemic within Black communities. The Special Issue was sponsored by Gilead Sciences, Inc. and was developed with input from community stakeholders and in partnership with Gilead Sciences. The views expressed are solely those of the authors through the peer-review process.

Click here to download the 2020 Fall Journal

The Fall 2019 edition of the Journal of Healthcare, Science and the Humanities includes selected articles from the Annual Public Health Ethics Forum (PHEF) co-sponsored by the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, Tuskegee University (National Bioethics Center), and the Office of Minority Health and Health Equity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other peer-reviewed articles and commentaries address a broad array of issues from the lens of a transdisciplinary group of contributors. The first PHEF in 2015, was co-sponsored by the National Bioethics Center, CDC, and the Master of Public Health Program, Morehouse School of Medicine honoring the 100 Year Anniversary of the death of Booker T. Washington, Founding President of Tuskegee Institute (aka. Tuskegee University). Since then, every year the National Bioethics Center and CDC have co-hosted the PHEF focusing on public health ethics considerations targeting specific vulnerable population groups. In 2019, the PHEF focused on children and youth. The Program Agenda is included in this edition. The keynote address, transformed into a publishable manuscript, an extraordinary youth panel with students from Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia and Tuskegee, Alabama, and the agenda from 2019 PHEF is included in this edition, so the reader will have a sense of the depth and breadth of the session. Other articles included in this edition have all been peer-reviewed.

Click here to download the 2019 Summer Journal

This edition of the Journal of the Healthcare, Science and the Humanities includes selected articles from the Public Health Ethics Intensive Course (PHEI). The PHEI was a part of the Commemoration of the 21st Anniversary of 1997 Presidential Apology by William J. Clinton for the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee, conducted between1932 to 1972. The Commemoration Events also highlighted the 1999 opening of the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care (National Bioethics Center). The overall theme for the year’s activities was “Ethics Across Generations” The theme alludes to the importance of intergenerational trust and trustworthiness that must continue particularly, in times, such as these. There were energy, excitement, and optimism among the young people who attended the activities, and the wisdom, experience, faith, as well as optimism, among the elders was palpable. The Public Health Ethics Intensive (PHEI) course attracted cross-section presenters from several different disciples working in a variety of professional areas.

Click here to download the 2018 Fall Journal

The December edition of the Journal of Healthcare, Science and the Humanities usually includes selected articles from the Annual Public Health Ethics Forum co-sponsored by the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, Tuskegee University (National BioethicsCenter) and the Office of Minority Health and Health Equity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other peer-reviewed articles, a commentary, and reflections from an elders’ panel are included to commemorate National Minority Health Month, which occurs in April every year. Since 2015, the National Bioethics Center and the CDC have cohosted this forum. This year the forum focused on elders and was held in September during Senior Citizens Month instead of April, which limited the time needed to translate and transform the excellent presentations into peer-reviewed articles.

Click here to download the 2018 Spring Journal 

The Spring 2018 Journal of Healthcare, Sciences, and the Humanities is primarily derived from peer-reviewed articles on the Public Health Ethics Intensive Course topic, “Untold Stories of Healing for Social Justice.” Here, scholars from several different domains, respond to unique areas like the environment, ethics, science, education, racism, faith, and collaboration, raising questions about context and social justice.

Click here to download the 2017 Fall Journal.

This 2017 Fall edition of the Journal of Healthcare, Science and the Humanities includes selected articles from the May 2017 Public Health Ethics Symposium entitled, “Optimal Health for Her Whole Life.” The symposium was held on May 19, 2017, on the main campus of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA. The symposium was intentionally scheduled in May, Women’s Health Month, and focused on the health of women and girls.

Click here to download the 2017 Spring JHSH

The 2017 Spring edition of The Journal for Healthcare, Science, and the Humanities (JHSH) includes peer-reviewed articles focused on the theme, “Healing the Family through Social Justice” which derived from lectures presented at the 2016 Public Health Ethics Intensive. In addition, a critique is offered within the context of the intersectionality of health equity for people of color, impoverished communities, corporate profits, and ethics.

Click Here to Download the Fall 2016 Journal

The Fall 2016 Journal of Healthcare Science and the Humanities offers scholarly work in Spanish and English. The focus is “Making Latino/Hispanic Health Count: Advancing a Public Health Ethics Framework on Data Collection for Social Justice.”

Click Here to Download the Spring 2016 Journal

The Spring 2016 Journal of Healthcare, Science, and the Humanities provides peer-reviewed articles derived from lectures presented within the thematic context “Assuring Ethics from Generation to Generation” at the 2015 Commemoration of the National Apology for the United States Syphilis Study and the Public Health Ethics Intensive Course at Tuskegee University.

Emergency Preparedness and Pandemics: Ethical Faith-Health Leadership, Supporting Vulnerable Populations

(An HBCU response to COVID-19, et al.)   

• Respecting and Protecting the Beloved Community, Especially Susceptible and Vulnerable Populations, 

  • Rueben C. Warren, DDS, MPH, DrPH, MDiv (bio), 

  • Bailus Walker Jr., Ph.D., MPH, 

  • Sandy D. Maclin Jr., MDiv, DMin, 

  • Stephanie Miles-Richardson, DVM, Ph.D., 

  • Willi Tarver, MPH, MLIS

  • Crystal M. James, JD, MPH.

  • Click the link

• Emergency Preparedness for a Pandemic Influenza: Ethical Challenges for Black Ministers and the Public Health Community, 

  • Riggins R. Earl Jr., Ph.D.

  • Click the link

• Preparing for an Influenza Pandemic: Are Some People More Equal than Others?

  • Philip M. Rosoff, MD, MA

  • Matthew DeCamp, MD, Ph.D.

  • Click the link

• The Impact of Disparities in Health on Pandemic Preparedness

  • David Satcher, MD, Ph.D.

  • Click the link

• Local Public Health Responses to the Threat of Pandemic Flu: Equitable Protection and Communities at Disproportionate Risk

  • Adewale Troutman, MD, MPH, MA, CPH

  • Nandi Marshall, MPH, CHES (bio)

  • Click the link

• Story Telling and Managing Trauma: Health and Spirituality at Work

  • Edward P. Wimberly, Ph.D. 

  • Click the link

• Preparing for an Influenza Pandemic: Policy Implications for Rural Latino Populations

  • Eulalia Witrago, MPH

  • Miguel A. Perez, Ph.D. 

  • Click the link

• Pandemic Influenza Conference: Discussion and Conclusion

  • Rueben C. Warren, DDS, MPH, DrPH, M Div

  • Darryl Scriven, Ph.D.

  • Click the link

• Preface

  • John E. Maupin Jr., DDS, MBA 

  • Click the link

Our Purpose

To empower high school youth in rural Macon County Alabama to pursue theological leadership vocations in various sectors of religious life through the Tuskegee University and Macon County Bridge Builders Program.

Program Goals

The Tuskegee University and Macon County Bridge Builder Program is designed to deepen the faith of young people by helping them to think theologically about their lives as well as the challenges faced by the global community. The program will include: a Pre-program phase (January 2016 to May 2016), a 3-year Program phase (June 2016 to December 2019), and a 7-year Post-program phase( August  2019 to May 2026) The Pre-program phase will entail selecting the 50 high school students and conducting educational sessions with teachers, parents, and clergy about their program roles and responsibilities.  The Bridge Builders Program is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.

• To assess the perception of Macon County high school students about the relevance of religion, spirituality, and theology in their lives and their future.

• To facilitate the matriculation of high school students through high school, college, and selected seminaries.

• To design social support systems to assure and reinforce theological and praxis experiences during high school and continuing through college and seminary.

• To document the “lessons learned” related to the barriers and opportunities associated with spiritual formation and future engagement in theological leadership for African American youth living in Macon County and similar rural counties throughout the Alabama Black Belt.

Eligibility

• Tuskegee University & Macon County Bridge Builders Program currently receiving applications for new participants
• Eligible applicants must be Macon County residents
• 9th – 12th graders (limited space based on grade)
• Selection based on commitment to program goals
• complete application & medical form and return to bwilliams@tuskegee.edu
• Letters to parents flyer click here
• Applications due  flyer click here
• Bridge Builder flyer click here

 
About the Program Director

Dr. David Hodge Sr.

• Ph.D., D.Min., M.Ed., M.T.S.
• Director (Interim), Lead Ethicist and  Research Professor at The National Center of Bioethics in Research and Health Care 
• Visiting Faculty-in-Residence, Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School 
• Adjunct Professor in the Department of Communications, Philosophy and Modern Languages, Tuskegee University, 
• Editor of the Journal of Healthcare, Science, and the Humanities, 
• Board of Directors, Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R)

dhodge@tuskegee.edu​

Dr. Hodge was the Associate Director for Education and Associate Professor at the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University.

Senior Associate Editor for the Journal of Healthcare, Science, and Humanities, and the Director of the Bioethics Honors Program.

He has written three books, God of Our Silent Tears: Women of the Bible Healing Women of Today, In the Midst of My Tears: The Bible Speaks to Abandonment, Betrayal, Rejection, and Loss, and God of Our Silent Tears a Five-Week Journey.

Dr. Hodge is presently in the research and writing stage of two books: Pragmatic Bioethics and Intersectionality: Public Health Ethics, Bioethics and Marginalization (Springer’s Press), and Jesus, Trust and Virtue Ethics: A Philosophical Theology of Trustworthiness (Scholar’s Press).

He came to Tuskegee University from a sister HBCU, Florida Memorial University, where he gave leadership to the religion and philosophy department for almost two decades.

In 2016 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he served as a part-time professor in philosophy at Georgia State University and as a guest lecturer in Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

From 2011 to 2016 he taught moral theory and bioethics at Nova Southeastern University and he has taught logic, philosophy, ethics, and religion at St. Thomas University, Barry University, Miami Dade College, and Broward College.

His University of Miami Ph.D. dissertation Jesus the Virtue Ethicist: A Meta-ethical Anticipation of Moral Sentimentalism, Empathy, and Care has had a significant amount of readership worldwide.

Dr. Hodge’s work continues to intersect the role of virtue, empathy, and care in our existential concerns.