Denison University hosts Arthur Caplan, the Emmanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss "Should We Try to Clone a Human Being?" This convocation, set for 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday (April 13) in Slayter Auditorium, is free and open to the public. Caplan's visit is sponsored by the Lilly Lecture Fund for Vocation and the Ronneberg Lecture Fund.

Caplan serves as chair of the department of medical ethics and director for bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor's degree at Brandeis University and a doctorate at Columbia University. Prior to coming to the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, Caplan taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University, and served as associate director of the Hastings Center from 1984-1987.

The author or editor of 25 books and more than 500 papers in refereed journals of medicine, science, philosophy, bioethics and health policy, Caplan regularly writes a column on bioethics for MSNBC.com and is a frequent guest and commentator on National Public Radio, Nightline, CNN, MSNBC, Fox, CBS, the New York Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and many other media outlets.

Caplan has served on a number of national and international committees including serving as the chair of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations on Human Cloning, chair of the Advisory Committee to the Department of Health and Human Services on Blood Safety and Availability, a member of the Presidential Advisory Board on Gulf War Illness, the special advisory committee to the International Olympic Committee on genetic and gene therapy, the American Chemistry Council and the special advisory panel to the National Institutes of Mental Health on human experimentation on vulnerable subjects. He is also a member of Dupont's biotechnology advisory panel and has worked as a consultant with many corporations and consumer organizations.

Caplan is the recipient of numerous awards including the McGovern Medal of the American Medical Writers Association and 2001 Person of the Year from USA Today. He was named one of the 50 most influential people in American health care by Modern Health Care magazine. He holds six honorary degrees from colleges and medical schools and is a fellow at the Hasting Center, the New York Academy of Medicine, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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