Research Ethics Consortia: Human Remains of Questionable Provenance within University Museums

Earlier this academic year, the Center for Bioethics convened two panel discussions to explore the educational, research, and/or clinical use of information and human biological specimens originally obtained via ethically concerning circumstances: one on October 21, 2022, Medical Research in Nazi Germany and another on February 9, 2023, Respecting the Remains of Those Who Were Enslaved. This session represents the Center's third offering to explore the ethical landscape within this space. This discussion welcomes a cadre of guests, each of whom has contributed to Harvard's ongoing work to identify the most pressing concerns relating to the identification and ethical disposition of human remains of questionable provenance within the university museums. The panelists' work falls across a broad spectrum of endeavors relating to this effort including ethnography, archival research, biomedical research and administration, museums and cultural heritage centers, Indigenous communities, archaeological studies and education, and bioethics.
Presenters:
Aja Lans, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Inequality in America Initiative, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
Willy Lensch, PhD
Fellow, Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics
Associate Provost for Research, Office of the Provost, Harvard University
Kelli Mosteller, PhD
Executive Director, Harvard University Native American Program, Harvard University
Christina Warinner, PhD
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
Group Leader of Microbiome Sciences, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Moderator:
Robert D. Truog, MD, MA
Director, HMS Center for Bioethics
Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Legal Medicine
Professor of Anaesthesia (Pediatrics)