Early Diagnosis: Handling Knowing Public Webinar

This will be an online event (7pm-8pm) for members of the public. The team from the University of St Andrews will be sharing information and inviting discussion.

TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE

Recent advances in artificial intelligence, biomarker research, genomic sequencing, and big data analytics are revolutionising diagnosis, enabling more accurate life and health expectancy predictions. These advancements raise all sorts of challenging issues. Early diagnosis raises the possibility that a potential parent might have specific, personalised, information suggesting they’ll be unable to nurture their child until they become self-sufficient. Early diagnosis introduces the possibility of rejecting a job applicant because of their likelihood of developing a mental disorder in the future. State pensions disproportionately benefit the long-lived so perhaps the pension eligibility age should be personalised based on the individual’s life expectancy.

How might we handle this sort of increasingly accurate knowledge?  Our prior family experiences might help. It might be that wisdom in our communities comes from a religious tradition. There are perhaps philosophical perspectives that we would draw upon. Studies in psychology could be another resource.

This webinar is an opportunity to learn about new advances in early diagnosis and to share in discussions about where we might turn to handle this new knowledge about our own future health.

The event is part of a collaboration between the School of Medicine (the Mackenzie Institute for Early Diagnosis), the department of Philosophy and the School of Divinity of the University of St Andrews.

Programme

What is early diagnosis? Prof. Peter Donnelly
Why does it matter? Dr Morven Shearer
How might we handle knowing? Dr Eric Stoddart
Scenarios for discussion – led by Dr Ben Sachs-Cobbe