Genetics: Where are we headed?

Health Progress, Mar/Apr 2001 by Van Schaik, Terry

CHA's members asked the association as a ministry gathered to assume a proactive role in the area of genetics and Its application to health care-to provide education; ethical, religious, and advocacy guidance; and leadership within and outside Catholic health care.

As we received, reviewed, and edited articles this winter and spring for "Genetics and Ethics," the special section of this issue of Health Progress, developments in the Human Genome Project continued at a rapid pace. While news venues from talk shows to leading daily newspapers heralded the advances in our knowledge of the human genetic code, questions increased about how society will use the information and enormous potential these advances bring in ways that are fair, just, and ethical.

During this same period, CHA's members, meeting in a variety of forums, asked the association as a ministry gathered to assume a proactive role in the area of genetics and its application to health care-to provide education; ethical, religious, and advocacy guidance; and leadership within and outside Catholic health care. With the invaluable assistance of our guest editor, Ron Hamel, senior director of ethics at CHA, we are pleased to contribute to the genetics education of our readers. Articles in the section also discuss ethical and religious questions whose urgency will continue to grow as we learn more about human genetics and its application to our lives.

The challenge of leadership development in an era of changing sponsorship roles continues to face the Catholic health ministry. Responding to the need for ongoing dialogue and exploration of this topic, we introduce in this issue the "Ministry Leadership" column, written by Mary Kathryn Grant, CHA's executive director of ministry and leadership development. To make the column optimally useful, we encourage you to submit topics you would like addressed in the column; send us comments on published columns, or author a column on a specific leadership topic. Please contact the editor at hpeditor@chausa.org.

As Catholic health care continues to confront the need to maintain financial stability in a time of increasing costs and reduced funding, we begin a series of articles on returning to revenue growth. Alan M. Zuckerman and Tracy K. Johnson introduce five revenue growth strategies in this issue and will develop each separately in subsequent issues.

NEW COLUMN

Introducing "Ministry Leadership"-a new column devoted to exploring Catholic health care leadership development needs and approaches. We invite interested readers to participate as authors and commentators.