Heidi Mertes
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heidimertes.bsky.social
Heidi Mertes
@heidimertes.bsky.social
150 followers 130 following 6 posts
Associate prof in Medical Ethics at Ghent University. Bioethics Institute Ghent, bioethics.ugent.be, metamedica.ugent.be.
Bioethics, ethics of reproductive medicine, (reproductive) genetics, disruptive innovation in healthcare (dime.ugent.be)
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
cwiesemann.bsky.social
Can't tell how greatful I am for these last bits of sanity in America:
A Great Unraveling Is Underway www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/o...
Opinion | A Great Unraveling Is Underway (Gift Article)
Trump’s foreign policy philosophy is not “containment” or “engagement,” but “smash and grab.”
www.nytimes.com
March 12, 2025 at 8:33 AM
heidimertes.bsky.social
📢 Metamedica UGent is hosting a free symposium on the topic of epistemic injustice in medical AI.

📆 11 March 2025, 16:00-18:00 CET
🏛 Library Labs, Rozier 44, 9000 Gent or 💻 online

Join us!

✏ details and registration: humanitiesacademie.ugent.be/epistemic-in...
February 25, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
magdalenaskipper.bsky.social
Inexplicably, US administration has launched an unprecedented assault on science, on research institutions & on vital international organizations & initiatives.

An assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere; the global community must unite
🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Trump 2.0: an assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere
US President Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to science and to international institutions. The global research community must take a stand against these attacks.
www.nature.com
February 25, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
dailynous.com
Tom Beauchamp, professor emeritus of philosophy at Georgetown University and a highly influential figure in biomedical ethics, has died.
Tom Beauchamp III (1939-2025) - Daily Nous
Tom L. Beauchamp III, professor emeritus of philosophy at Georgetown University and one of the most influential philosophers of bioethics, has died. Professor Beauchamp was well-known for his work on ...
dailynous.com
February 22, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
elizabethjacobs.bsky.social
A website has been started in response to the orders to take down references to women’s accomplishments in government offices. We are not going to let them erase us this time. womenrefusingtobeerased.org
Women Refusing to Be Erased
Join us to inspire, educate, and uplift women/womxn.
womenrefusingtobeerased.org
February 17, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
martinmckee.bsky.social
🧵 Trump’s USAID funding freeze abruptly halted critical global health research, abandoning participants mid-trial. A gross ethical violation. @bachynski.bsky.social & I explain what happened and why it matters @bmj.com . ⬇️
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
Abandoning research participants is an unconscionable betrayal
In 1964, the Declaration of Helsinki created a set of universal ethical principles to protect human participants in health research.1 Described as “the cornerstone of research ethics,”2 these principl...
www.bmj.com
February 12, 2025 at 12:10 PM
heidimertes.bsky.social
"the scientific community needs to stand its ground" #scientificintegrity
Why Is the Trump Administration Deleting a Paper on Suicide Risk?
Science and health are under assault.
www.theatlantic.com
February 12, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
who.int
Today is International Day of Women & Girls in Science.

Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Her contributions have left an indelible mark on the world of science & health & continue to inspire generations of scientists & innovators. 🔬 #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Marie Curie, Physicist and chemist.
February 11, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
kristofsmeyers.bsky.social
Hallo allemaal, kom donderdag naar Gent want we babbelen een avond vol over landschap, geheugen, geweld en natuur met @noreenmasud.bsky.social
A Conversation with Dr Noreen Masud, Author of A Flat Place | Cultural Memory Studies Initiative
Thursday 13 February, 8 p.m. – 9.30 p.m. Auditorium 3 Suzanne Lilar, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Ghent Entrance is free (no need to register) Dr Noreen Masud (Bristol University) will be interviewed about he...
www.cmsi.ugent.be
February 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
keelinodonoghue.bsky.social
“health, medical, &scientific communities have a vital role in advocating for their patients, defending programmes, & lobbying for policies &institutions that are good for health &wellbeing”

American chaos: standing up for health & medicine @thelancet.bsky.social

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
American chaos: standing up for health and medicine
Withdrawal from WHO and the Paris Agreements. USAID shuttered and aid halted, ceasing health programmes globally. A freeze on US$3 trillion worth of federal grants and loans, jeopardising the function...
www.thelancet.com
February 7, 2025 at 7:01 AM
heidimertes.bsky.social
And here's me thinking that the Declaration of Helsinki is more than a scrap of paper.
It will take decades to rebuild the trust of vulnerable populations in US researchers.
stephanienolen.bsky.social Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · Feb 7
The Trump administration's stop-work order on USAID left thousands of volunteers around the world w/ experimental drugs + medical devices in their bodies – cut off from care by researchers running clinical trials, in violation of the fundamental principles of research www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...
Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order
The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
agawande.bsky.social
“We are witnessing one of the worst and most costly foreign policy blunders in U.S. history.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/o...
Opinion | Samantha Power: Killing U.S.A.I.D. Is a Win for Autocrats Everywhere (Gift Article)
The attacks on the agency are cruel and counterproductive.
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
chanda.blacksky.app
If you are in danger unless you comply with a regime, you are in danger whether you comply or not
January 31, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
cmicomms.bsky.social
📣 Medical editors call for #action against the decisions being taken in the #USA undermining #medicine and #science, and international #coordination to preserve what has been built across borders.

#IDSky #Clinmicro #MedSky #Episky #publichealth #vaccines

www.cmi-comms.com/article/S295...
From medical editors: A call to the global infectious diseases and clinical microbiology community
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.Robert F. Kennedy, Senior
www.cmi-comms.com
February 5, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
annaalexandrova.bsky.social
A rare and wonderful sight of a great UK philosophy job. Please spread widely to colleagues worldwide.

Area of Specialization: Ethics and/or Political Philosophy
Would be an advantage to be able to teach Ethics of AI
Tenure-track
Application deadline: 10th March 2025

#philsky
Lecturer in Philosophy (2078) - Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck
cis7.bbk.ac.uk
February 5, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
who.int
This morning’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this last major health facility in North #Gaza out of service. Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid.
This morning’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this last major health facility in North #Gaza out of service. Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid. 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including those on ventilators, reportedly remain in the hospital. The patients in moderate to severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed and non-functional Indonesian Hospital. @WHO is deeply concerned for their safety. This raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital comes after escalating restrictions on access for WHO and partners, and repeated attacks on or near the facility since early October. Such hostilities and the raids are undoing all our efforts and support to keep the facility minimal functional. The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of health care. This horror must end and health care must be protected. Ceasefire!
December 27, 2024 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
bermaninstitute.bsky.social
America’s IVF Failure: One out of every 50 babies born in the U.S. was conceived via IVF. Why is the industry so poorly regulated? | The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
America’s IVF Failure
One out of every 50 babies born in the U.S. was conceived via IVF. Why is the industry so poorly regulated?
www.theatlantic.com
May 6, 2024 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
irisvanrooij.bsky.social
📢 Vacancy for Lecturer with background in critical (e.g. feminist, queer, postcolonial) theory & methods, interested in teaching AI students critical perspectives on AI. We encourage candidates from historically underrepresented backgrounds to apply 🌈

www.ru.nl/en/working-a...
Lecturer in Critical Intersectional Perspectives on AI | Radboud University
Working as a lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences? Check our vacancy here!
www.ru.nl
April 11, 2024 at 8:51 PM
heidimertes.bsky.social
Marcia Inhorn: "In this book, I aim to answer Heidi Mertes's important question." Very flattered (for receiving too much credit) and happy that judgemental stereotyping of women freezing eggs is on its way out! #eggfreezing #internationalwomensday
March 8, 2024 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
bermaninstitute.bsky.social
Alabama Supreme Court ruling could end IVF treatments in state: The state’s high court ruled Friday that frozen embryos outside the womb are children. 19thnews.org/2024/02/ivf-...
Alabama Supreme Court ruling could end IVF treatments in state
The state’s high court ruled Friday that frozen embryos outside the womb are children.
19thnews.org
February 20, 2024 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
robinmarty.com
Reminder: "embryo" refers to any point in development from fertilization to 8 weeks development. But those used in IVF are pre-implantation, meaning they are only a few DAYS old. Every news story should be obligated to show what development we are REALLY talking about.
grayscale photo of round blastocyst at 5 days which looks like a weirdly scaled discoball and not a teeny weeny bitty baby. Picture reads "THIS is what the Alabama Supreme Court is calling 'an extrauterine child' and 'minor'" Also should be noted this picture is massively blown up because we are talking head of a pin size right now.
February 20, 2024 at 4:58 PM
heidimertes.bsky.social
Very exited to be hosting a Brocher workshop this week on "Shifting responsibilities in healthcare due to disruptive innovation: ethical, legal, and social implications", as part of our ERC-funded DIME project. Updated programme through the link on our project website: www.dime.ugent.be/news/
News – DIME
www.dime.ugent.be
January 9, 2024 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Heidi Mertes
owenschaefer.bsky.social
Bioethicists on the market? Do consider applying for a post-doc here at NUS CBmE, we've just opened a new call for a job working on AI Ethics. We've got a great and growing team, feel free to send me any related queries: careers.nus.edu.sg/NUS/job/YONG...
November 16, 2023 at 7:33 AM
heidimertes.bsky.social
As I'm new on this platform, perhaps I should introduce myself. I'm a Belgian bioethicist with a track record in the field of reproductive medicine, reproductive genetics, embryo research, fertility awareness, parenthood. Currently PI of ERC StG on disruptive innovation in healthcare: dime.ugent.be
DIME – dime-project ugent
dime.ugent.be
October 28, 2023 at 5:12 PM