Kansas City @ The Crossroads

Kansas City @ the Crossroads participants include, (left to right):
Jerry Menikoff, M.D., J.D., Director of the Institute for Bioethics, Law & Public Policy at the University of Kansas School of Medicine; Bishop Robert Finn, Coadjutor Bishop, Diocese of Kansas City & St. Joseph; Myra Christopher, CEO, Center for Practical Bioethics; Bill Duncan, Ph.D., President, Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute; Robert Onder, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine; Crossroads moderator Nick Haines, KCPT-TV; Jeff McCaffrey, patient advocate and member of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures; Mary Pilcher Cook, State Representative, Kansas (District 18); Maureen Dudgeon, M.D., Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences; Jerry Johnston, Pastor, First Family Church; William Harris, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at UMKC School of Medicine, Co-director of the Lipid and Diabetes Research Center at Saint Luke’s Hospital; and Vern Barnet, Kansas City Interfaith Council and ordained minister in the Unitarian Universalist Church.

There’s more than one line of demarcation in the Kansas City area. The state line determines the two letters after the city in one’s address, where the state taxes are mailed, which direction you head to get into downtown, and, most likely, whether you bleed crimson and blue or black and gold.

But in the bioscience debate, the line separating the various factions may be more dramatic. Opinions, even core beliefs, separate the two (or more) camps more definitively than any dotted line on a map ever could. Which begs a question: can two sides, so seemingly opposed, agree on enough to form a public policy that covers the common ground, encompasses both poles and accomplishes anything of significance?

Thus was the topic of this month’s Kansas City @ the Crossroads, co-sponsored by Ingram’s Magazine and KCPT-TV. Panelists and spectators gathered at Ingram’s headquarters for a lively discussion on life sciences. The question posed was this: Given the highly public stem cell debate in Missouri and the evolution debate in Kansas, can this area carve out a distinctive biosciences strategy that respects the sentiments of its more traditional citizens?

Common Ground in Lieu of Consensus The Exploration of Stem Cell Research
Kansas City @ the Crossroads participants include, (left to right): Jerry Menikoff, M.D., J.D., Director of the Institute for Bioethics, Law & Public Policy at the University of Kansas School of Medicine; Bishop Robert Finn, Coadjutor Bishop, Diocese of Kansas City & St. Joseph; Myra Christopher, CEO, Center for Practical Bioethics; Bill Duncan, Ph.D., President, Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute; Robert Onder, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine; Crossroads moderator Nick Haines, KCPT-TV; Jeff McCaffrey, patient advocate and member of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures; Mary Pilcher Cook, State Representative, Kansas (District 18); Maureen Dudgeon, M.D., Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences; Jerry Johnston, Pastor, First Family Church; William Harris, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at UMKC School of Medicine, Co-director of the Lipid and Diabetes Research Center at Saint Luke’s Hospital; and Vern Barnet, Kansas City Interfaith Council and ordained minister in the Unitarian Universalist Church. There’s more than one line of demarcation in the Kansas City area. The state line determines the two letters after the city in one’s address, where the state taxes are mailed, which direction you head to get into downtown, and, most likely, whether you bleed crimson and blue or black and gold. But in the bioscience debate, the line separating the various factions may be more dramatic. Opinions, even core beliefs, separate the two (or more) camps more definitively than any dotted line on a map ever could. Which begs a question: can two sides, so seemingly opposed, agree on enough to form a public policy that covers the common ground, encompasses both poles and accomplishes anything of significance? Thus was the topic of this month’s Kansas City @ the Crossroads, co-sponsored by Ingram’s Magazine and KCPT-TV. Panelists and spectators gathered at Ingram’s headquarters for a lively discussion on life sciences. The question posed was this: Given the highly public stem cell debate in Missouri and the evolution debate in Kansas, can this area carve out a distinctive biosciences strategy that respects the sentiments of its more traditional citizens?