meetings

DR.

DR. GUTMANN:  We’re going to dive right into the part of the Commission’s work that the Commission Members themselves and the International Task Force are avidly working on, which is what concerns many people in the public. And that –

DR. GUTMANN:  Great. So, I would like to invite our Executive Director Val Bonham to give us a brief update on where we are and what the Commission has been doing between the last meeting and this meeting. Welcome, Val. I think it’s on, but why don’t you test it and begin? No, it’s not on.
  DR. WAGNER:  Push the gray button and see what happens.
  DR. GUTMANN:  Try again. Nope.
  DR. WAGNER:  I can’t tell how to – here we go. Now we have sound.

          UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION FOR THE STUDY OF
 BIOETHICAL ISSUES

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 MEETING FIVE

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 WEDNESDAY
 MAY 18, 2011

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        The Commission met in the Warwick New York Hotel, 65 W. 54th Street, New York, NY 10019, at 9:00 a.m., AMY GUTMANN, Chair, presiding.

COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT:

DR. GUTMANN:
Let me just say thank you to all of our speakers, all the members of the public who participated in this. You have shared your time, your energy, your expertise and we have received a lot of valuable comments.

DR. WAGNER:
Okay. Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to this session.

Let me announce for those in the audience that we have set aside 45 minutes or so for comment, beginning at 12:35. So what we will do is go through this panel and then we will have a roundtable discussion without audience input. Okay? But please do write down or remember your questions for that session that will begin at 12:35 where we will focus on audience interest.

DR. WAGNER:
Thanks, Amy. And thanks so much for that background, Val. We appreciate the report you received.

DR. GUTMANN:
Good morning everybody. I’m Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania and Chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. On behalf of myself and Vice Chair Jim Wagner, who is President of Emory University, I would like to welcome you to day two of our Fourth Meeting here in the nation’s capital.