The IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics is a non-partisan, non-governmental organization (NGO) providing thoughtful, timely research and analyses of bioethical challenges facing the global community.

The Center helps inform local, state, national and international policy debates about global issues in medical and biotechnological sciences through collaboration with NGOs and UN departments, bodies and agencies. The Center also sponsors scholarly endeavors dedicated to preventive medicine and seeks partnerships with health care professionals and other NGO’s to provide educational venues and opportunities for confronting various medical issues facing developing world countries.

The Center’s mission is carried out by providing a forum for convening scholars, government and international organization officials, health care professionals, and community leaders to develop innovative solutions to global problems, including:

• organ and human trafficking
• end-of-life care and decision-making
• reproductive and sexual rights
• stem cell research and therapeutic applications
• neuroscience
• infectious diseases and human epidemics.

The Center leverages the knowledge and experience of experts and other professionals in government, academia, and private industry as well as its own Advisory Board.

With offices at 777 UN Plaza, overlooking the United Nations headquarters in New York, the Center is a branch of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). IHEU is a union of more than 100 organizations from 40 nations, with special consultative status with the United Nations in New York, Geneva and Vienna, and a general consultative status at UNICEF in New York and the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. IHEU also maintains operational relations with UNESCO in Paris.