Given that ethics is often defined as the study of moral judgments, it might be surprising that a UC San Diego professor speaks of ethics not as an abstract, scholarly pursuit but as very basic, practical, daily choices.

"Being ethical really means making a host of decisions every day," says Michael Kalichman, "using moral, legal and professional guidelines to do what's right. Ethics is a daily part of, and not separate from, science and scholarship."

As the founders, in 2003, of the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology, Kalichman and his colleague Lawrence Hinman of the University of San Diego (USD) are persuasive and influential enough to have expanded the center into a first-of-a-kind collaboration among UC San Diego, USD, and San Diego State University (SDSU).

The multi-university effort is evidence, according to UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, that scholars, scientists and administrators recognize the key role of ethics in research and higher education. "Ethical decision-making is our responsibility as leaders and educators," she said. "Our commitment to the Center for Ethics underscores that sense of shared responsibility."

Arthur Ellis, Vice Chancellor for Research at UC San Diego, agrees. "Ethics is an absolutely integral part of the research enterprise," he said. "The establishment of the Ethics Center is a bold step that positions this trio of institutions to engage effectively with the many individuals and organizations that have a stake in understanding and managing the ethical dimensions of research."

SDSU is represented in the collaborative effort by Dr. Tom Scott, a renowned neurophysiologist, and Dr. Stuart Henry, director of SDSU's School of Public Administration and Urban Studies and an internationally recognized criminologist focused on the ethics of organizational decision-making.

Each of the educational institutions has made a five-year commitment of $40,000 to fund the Ethics Center's programs and outreach.

Kalichman and Hinman are charged with addressing the most pertinent and vexing issues facing scientists and scholars, and helping them navigate the rocky waters swirling around medical and scientific endeavors, stem-cell research among them.

An outspoken advocate of down-to-earth applications of ethical practices, Kalichman also leads the new San Diego Consortium for Research Ethics, another multi-institutional effort (established in July 2006) that includes UC San Diego, Burnham Institute, the Salk Institute, and the Scripps Research Institute, as a result of the four institutions' formal stem-cell research partnership, the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine (announced in March 2006).

As with the Ethics Center, each participating institution contributes monetarily to the committee's work -- $18,000 per year from each institute, initially - and all benefit from the Consortium's scheduled training, forums, and ethical reviews of research.

Kalichman and Hinman have already organized a number of ethics-related events in San Diego. In addition to three conferences on ethics, they have put together panel presentations on the Terri Schiavo case, computer privacy, and a two-hour program on the KPBS program These Days entitled "Surfing the Web: Who's Watching? Who's Censoring?"

The scholars have also co-authored numerous op-ed pieces - both regional and national -- on ethics and science and, with Evan Snyder of the Burnham Institute, have co-edited an issue of Stem Cell Reviews on ethical issues relating to the search for alternative sources of pluripotent stem cells.

Kalichman, who also serves as co-chair of UC San Diego's Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee, is working closely with Larry Goldstein, director of UC San Diego's Stem Cell Program, to ensure that no aspect of that promising and controversial research is without an ethical focus.

"Again," says Kalichman, "ethics is not something separate from the work being done, but an integral part of the work. Everyone involved in investigating this exciting frontier of medicine and science is keenly aware of the ethical issues being raised, and we understand the moral dimension of the research."

A professor of pathology as well, Kalichman's focus goes well beyond stem-cell research to every avenue of science and technology. To ensure that the Ethics Center provides full value to all of its institutional constituents, Kalichman and his colleagues hold regularly scheduled meetings, events, and focus groups to determine the community's needs, and frequently seek the advice and counsel of area religious, healthcare, business and civic leaders.

They also benchmark themselves against other ethics centers nationwide. Kalichman and Hinman recently attended the Ethics Center Colloquium of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics to confer with fellow directors about the best approach for their San Diego model. Hinman has presented at the colloquium several times and is a member of the board for the association, as well.

For all of the necessary bureaucratic infrastructure, and acronym-heavy committees, however, Kalichman insists that he and his colleagues at SDSU and USD, as well as his Torrey Mesa partners, remain focused on the individual researcher faced with daily decisions about what's right and what's wrong.

"Acknowledgement of the role of ethics, real-life examples of ethical choices, consistent and continuous training, regular feedback from friends and fellow researchers, these kinds of actions create a culture of ethics," Kalichman says. "The necessary dimension of ethics gives powerful depth to the excitement and satisfaction of medical and scientific discovery. Helping to add that dimension is the Ethics Center's real goal."

The other partners in the novel multi-university organization echo his words.
Hinman, who also serves as director of USD's Values Institute, says that the core idea in all presentations, meetings, colloquia and seminars about ethics in science and technology is that "ethics is not a decorative façade on the edifice of a scientist's research, but rather part of that work's very structure - not something you consider as an afterthought, but as a vital component of your work, without which your research is incomplete."

SDSU's Scott summons similar eloquence. "Science and ethics both strive to improve our lives," he says. "Like an alloy that is stronger and more valuable than individual components, science and ethics both gain power from their union."