President Shapiro honored for leadership on ethical issues

The Council of Scientific Society Presidents has awarded its 2000 Leadership Citation to Princeton University President Harold T. Shapiro, honoring him for "stellar leadership toward resolution of the most complex ethical issues."

The Council said Shapiro's courage in taking on some of the most contentious social and ethical issues of the 1990s, including those raised by gene transplantation, mammalian cloning and stem cell research, "led to defining for the first time ways of resolution for disparate institutions unprepared to meet sudden and threatening challenges to their established beliefs and historical behaviors."

The citation continued: "He produced rational, calm and thoughtful responses from national and international populations that were suddenly beset with angst and fear. He turned these unexpected scientific revolutions into positive pathways across all domains of human endeavor, producing an enriched multitude of institutions and understandings."

The award was presented May 7 at the Council's national meeting in Washington, D.C., during which Shapiro gave an address on "Resolution of Social-Ethical Issues Raised by New Bioscience."

Shapiro, who received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton in 1964, was appointed by President Clinton to chair the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, which issued the report Cloning Human Beings in 1997. From 1990-1992, he was a member of President Bush's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Contact: Justin Harmon (609) 258-3601