"The artificial heart: a case study of social and ethical issues posed by advanced medical technology" Collection

Judith P. Swazey, Ph.D. was president of the Acadia Institute. Her research, writing, and teaching focused on the history of science and medicine and the social, ethical, legal, and policy aspects of contemporary medical research and practice. She has been an adjunct professor at Boston University Schools of Public Health and medicine and is a member of the Institute of Medicine.

The Acadia Institute, located in Bar Harbor, Maine, was founded in 1984 as a center for the study of medicine, science, and society. It advertised itself as an independent, nonprofit organization working at local and national levels on issues concerning the nature and interrelations of medicine, science, and society to help professionals and laypersons: better understand the nature of biomedical research and health care; examine issues and frame questions needed about the increasingly complex relationships among medicine, science, and society; deal more wisely and effectively with the choices and decisions about the content, conduct, and aims of research and health care. The Institute's work involved two broad interdisciplinary program areas: social, ethical, and policy dimensions of biomedical research and health care; the modern development of the biomedical sciences and health care from the perspectives of social and intellectual history. The Institute conducted grant-funded research projects; consulted for public and private agencies and organizations in areas such as health care needs and services, provider relationships, ethics, law, policy development, and program evaluation; developed conferences, workshops, seminars, and other educational programs. [from Institute brochure]

Renee C. Fox, Ph.D., was Annenberg Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor, departments of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Nursing, University of Pennsylvania. She was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine. Her major teaching and research interests included sociology of medicine, medical research, medical education, and medical ethics.