Clinicians have an ethical obligation to promote health equity in their communities. This month, we discuss how clinicians worked to expose the water crisis in Flint, and explore ways that clinicians can combat systemic injustice and promote health equity.

Scott Schweikart joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article: “AMA Code of Medical Ethics’ Opinions Related to Clinicians in Government.”

Dr Jonathan Treem joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article, coauthored with Drs Joel Yager and Jennifer L. Gaudiani: “A Life-Affirming Palliative Care Model for Severe and Enduring Anorexia Nervosa.”

This month, AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Matthew Edwards, a third-year medical student at the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine, interviewed Douglas R. Bacon, MD, MA, on the development of anesthesiology and the "balanced anesthesia" approach.

In the September 2014 issue on physicians as agents of social change, Dr. Audiey Kao, editor-in-chief of Virtual Mentor interviewed Dr. Rajiv Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development or USAID.

Prof Ana Santos Rutschman talks about the impact of intellectual property regimes on domestic and global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Steven Goodman talks about the ethical and scientific implications of breaking the blind of placebo-controlled COVID-19 vaccine trials.

Emergency research that requires exception from informed consent presents challenges in defining and reaching the at-risk community.

Trauma surgeons’ role in gun violence prevention is hampered by restrictions on funding for research with implications for public health interventions.

The adverse health effects of climate change should be the focus of physician advocacy efforts and of conversations between physicians and their patients.