Information technology—computational science, software engineering, artificial intelligence, and so on—presents a large suite of interesting and difficult ethical, legal, and social challenges. IDSC, in conjunction with UM’s Ethics Programs and Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, has an opportunity to not only establish UM leadership in data science but also to demonstrate global leadership in identifying, addressing, and resolving these challenges.

Collaborations have fledged across-the-curriculum contributions to teaching and learning, including innovations in incorporating data ethics into UM’s Responsible Conduct of Research training. These relationships have stimulated research and scholarship in topics ranging from appropriate uses and users of intelligent machines, to privacy challenges raised by data collection and analysis, surveillance, and secondary use. UM has contributed to several national and international efforts to develop guidance on, and improve public understanding of, AI/Machine Learning systems.

Data Ethics and Society will be the first program of its kind to both magnify IDSC’s influence and signal UM’s commitment to integrate ethical, legal, and social issues into its most innovative scientific and pedagogic initiatives.

Kenneth W. Goodman, PhD, FACMI, FACE
Director, IDSC Data Ethics and Society

Ken Goodman is the Founder and Director of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy and Director of the University’s Ethics Programs. The Institute has been designated a World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Ethics and Global Health Policy, one of 14 in the world and the only one in the United States.

Dr. Goodman is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami with appointments in the Department of Philosophy, Department of Health Informatics, Department of Public Health Sciences, and School of Nursing.

He is past Chair of the Ethics Committee of AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association), for which organization he co-founded the Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues Working Group. He has been elected as a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics (FACMI), the American College of Epidemiology (FACE), and The Hastings Center.