The MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago announced that its 2024 MacLean Center Prize in Clinical Ethics and Health Outcomes will be awarded to Mildred Z. Solomon, EdD, Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Fellowship in Bioethics at the HMS Center for Bioethics. Dr. Solomon is also President Emerita of The Hastings Center, the oldest, independent, nonpartisan, interdisciplinary research institute to focus on ethical issues in health, science and biomedical technologies.

The MacLean Prize celebrates individuals who have made transformative contributions to the field of clinical medical ethics through scholarship, practice, leadership, and policy development. It is one of the most significant prizes in the field of bioethics and one of the most generous, with a $50,000 financial component. 

Dr. Solomon is a bioethicist and social science researcher who conducts both normative and empirical ethics research. In addition to her leadership of The Hastings Center, Dr. Solomon's own scholarship has addressed the ethics of end-of-life care for both adults and children, organ transplantation, research ethics, particularly related to oversight of comparative effectiveness and implementation science, as well as professionalism and responsible conduct of research. In her role as director of the HMS Fellowship in Bioethics, over a 23 year period, she has prepared more than 225 health care professionals to develop their skills in bioethics. Many of her fellows have gone on to play major leadership roles in bioethics.

For many years, Dr. Solomon was a member of the Global Health Advisory Committee of the Open Society Foundations' Public Health and Human Rights Programs. She has served on the US Health and Human Services secretary's Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation and on committees of the World Economic Forum Global Futures Council and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

While serving as the Hastings Center President, Dr. Solomon launched numerous new research initiatives—among them a major program on the wise use of emerging technologies—which enabled scholars to define new research priorities and secure support from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and private foundations. In addition to encouraging and enabling the Center to do public engagement, Dr. Solomon encouraged research on public engagement. A 2021 report, Democracy in Crisis: Civic Learning and the Reconstruction of Common Purpose, recommended ways to enhance civic engagement on controversial issues in health and science policy. Another report identified the best methods for encouraging public deliberation on the use of genetic technologies, while another special report analyzed how best to respond to growing distrust in science.

Under Dr. Solomon's leadership, the Hastings Center broadened its focus to examine underlying social and economic factors, like housing needs and social isolation, that affect aging populations. This shift meant taking up the question of what a just society owes its oldest members. In 2020, Dr. Solomon made it a priority for The Hastings Center to advance health equity. She established an initiative that sparked a two-day Health Equity Summit in 2023 that brought together policymakers, medical professionals, and other experts to discuss solutions to address health and justice challenges. The summit was a collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation. The Hastings Center also launched two programs to strengthen involvement in bioethics by students from groups historically underrepresented in the field. In addition, the Hastings Center Report published a report on anti-Black racism and health that calls on the field of bioethics to lead efforts to remedy racial injustice and health inequities. As a crucial part of this commitment to diversity, the Hastings Center also expanded its work on disability. She is committed to ensuring increased diversity in the field of medical ethics.

"Dr. Solomon's commitment to medical ethics in her research, leadership, and mentorship makes her the perfect choice for the MacLean Center Prize for Clinical Medical Ethics and Health Outcomes," said surgeon and bioethicist, Dr. Peter Angelos, who heads the MacLean Center.

The Prize, Angelos explained, was inaugurated in 2011, when Dr. Mark Seigler was head of the Center, with the first award given to John Wennberg, MD, PhD. Other awardees include Peter Singer, Paul Farmer, Bernard Lo, Susan Tolle and Christine Grady to name a few.

Dr. Solomon will receive the MacLean Center Prize in person at the 36th Annual MacLean Center Conference on November 8 and 9, 2024 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago where she will also present a keynote address. Visit the MacLean Conference website if interested in attending.