The Division of Math, Science, and Technology welcomed David Magnus, Ph.D., to Nova Southeastern University, on Thursday, November 12, 2009, as part of the college’s Distinguished Speakers Series.

Magnus spoke on the “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in Contemporary Biomedical Technology,” at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center.

Magnus is a professor of pediatrics and medicine at Stanford University, where he is the director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and co-chair of the ethics committee at the Stanford Hospital. He also serves as vice president and president-elect of the American Bioethics Program Directors, representing the leadership of 60 academic bioethics programs across North America.

Magnus is the principal editor of a 2002 collection of essays titled, Who Owns Life? He is associate editor of the American Journal of Bioethics, the top journal in the bioethics field. He has published in leading journals such as Science, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Reports Stem Cells, and the British Medical Journal, and he has published more than 100 materials on diverse topics such as genetics-genomics, biotechnology, stem-cell research, organ transplantation, research ethics, and clinical ethics.

Magnus received his doctorate in philosophy from Stanford University. Before arriving at Stanford, he was the director of graduate studies at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

He has served as a member of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture’s Advisory Committee on Biotechnology in the 21st Century. Magnus also is a member of the Human Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee at the California Department of Public Health, and he is the vice president and president-elect of the Association of Bioethics Program Directors.

Magnus recently served on the National Research Council Ad Hoc Committee on the Bioconfinement of Genetically Engineered Organisms, and as an expert consultant to the World Bank on food security and biotechnology.

His visit to Nova Southeastern University corresponded with the college's 2009-2010 academic theme of “Good and Evil,” which is bringing together the college's students and faculty to explore the relationship of good and evil within social, scientific, legal, religious, and political contexts. For more information on the Distinguished Speakers Series, contact the Office of the Dean at (954) 262-8236.

Photos from the event are now available in the college's online Photo Gallery.