Ethical considerations of neuroscience research and the application of neuroscience research findings for the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL NEUROETHICS SOCIETY The International Neuroethics Society (INS) recently commented on the ethical considerations of neuroscience research and the application of neuroscience research findings for the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, published in the Federal Register Jan. 31, 2014. An interdisciplinary group of scholars, neuroscientists, clinicians involved in the treatment of brain disorders, ethicists, philosophers, lawyers, CEOs and other professionals formed the INS in 2006. The INS doubled its growth in a few short years and has become an international organization with over 375 members. The INS established as its mission ‘to promote the development and responsible application of neuroscience through interdisciplinary and international research, education, outreach and public engagement for the benefit of people of all nations, ethnicities, and cultures’. For details about the INSExecutive Board andGoverningBoard and further information about the society, see the website www.neuroethicssociety.org. The former President, who completed his term of office in Feb. 2014, is Dr Steven E. Hyman, Director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and President-Elect of The Society for Neuroscience (http://www.sfn.org/). The current President is Professor Barbara J. Sahakian, Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at the Department of Psychiatry and the Medical Research Council/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge. She has recently presented at the World Economic Forum 2014 in Davos on achieving better outcomes globally for individuals with mental health disorders and on the effects of poverty on the brain (http://youtu.be/worqvUbYMSA).