GLP-1 in Children and Adolescents: Navigating the Ethical Landscape

Date: Friday 8 May 2026

Time: 3.00 to 6.00pm (SGT)

Mode: Online via Zoom

Session Description

GLP-1 receptor agonists are emerging as a potential treatment for obesity and related conditions in children and adolescents. While these therapies offer promise, they also raise complex ethical questions around safety, consent, equity, and long-term impact.
This webinar will explore the ethical considerations of prescribing GLP-1 medications to younger populations, balancing clinical benefits with moral responsibilities

CME Points

MME CME Points for doctors: Under Review
CPE point is pending approval for nurses and pharmacists.

Programme

Time	Activity	Speaker & Chair
3.00pm – 3.10pm	Welcome and Introduction	Prof Julian Savulescu
3.10pm – 3.35pm	GLP-1 in Children and Adolescents: Uses and Abuses	Prof Lee Yung Seng
3.40pm – 4.05pm	Obesity Interventions: Is there a Role for GLP-1 drugs in Children and Adolescents?	Dr Keri McCrickerd
4.10pm – 4.35pm	Ethics of GLP-1 Use in Children and Adolescents: Autonomy, Agency and Stigma	Dr Nanette Ryan
4.40pm – 5.05pm	Justice and Access of GLP-1 drugs in Children and Adolescents: Who, When and How?	Professor Peter Singer
5.10pm – 5.50pm	Q & A	Moderated by Professor Julian Savulescu
5.55pm – 6.00pm	Closing Remarks	Emeritus Professor Roy Joseph

Speakers

Prof Lee is a practicing senior consultant paediatrician of the paediatric endocrinology service at the Khoo Teck Puat-National University Children’s Medical Institute, National University Hospital, and also a tenured professor of the Yong Long Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. He was the president (2020-2022) of the Asia Pacific Paediatric Endocrine Society (APPES), and the president (2021-2023) of the College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Academy of Medicine, Singapore.

His clinical and research interest is in obesity, diabetes, and growth. His research is focused on obesity, insulin resistance, and mediators of obesity related morbidities. His research approach to elucidate the biological susceptibility to human obesity and related morbidities is three pronged, by studying the 1) genetics, 2) In-utero and early life developmental factors (developmental origins of health and disease), and 3) role of gut microbiome. He has also research interest in engineering probiotics to confer health benefits and disease treatment. His other clinical research also encompasses various paediatric endocrine disorders. He has more than 250 publications in local and international journals (as of 2024).

In the recent years, Prof Lee has focused his efforts on the developing programmes and strategies to advance child and maternal health, promoting healthy living for families, and improving health equity through his leadership role at the National University Centre for Women and Children.

Peter Singer has been bestowed the tag of “world’s most influential living philosopher” by journalists. He was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1946, and educated at the University of Melbourne and the University of Oxford. After teaching in England, the United States and Australia, he has, since 1999, been Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. He first became well-known internationally after the publication of Animal Liberation in 1975. Some of his other well-known books are: Practical Ethics, The Expanding Circle, How Are We to Live?, Rethinking Life and Death, Pushing Time Away, The Life You Can Save, The Point of View of the Universe (co-authored with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek), Ethics in the Real World, and Why Vegan?

Dr Keri McCrickerd is a behavioural scientist and Chartered Psychologist with over 15 years of experience leading interdisciplinary research and translational initiatives at the intersection of health behaviour, psychology, nutrition, early childhood development. Her work focuses on designing, implementing, and evaluating data-informed strategies that promote child health and development, with particular emphasis on caregiving environments across diverse contexts.

She currently serve as Deputy Director of the Centre for Holistic Initiatives for Learning and Development (CHILD) at the National University of Singapore, where she provides strategic and operational leadership for transdisciplinary teams working across academia, healthcare, and community partners.

Dr Nanette Ryan is a research fellow at CBmE, and a member of the Paediatrics Ethics and Advocacy Committee (PEACe) that operates within the National University Children’s Medical Institute, Singapore. Her primary research interests lie at the intersection of ethics and childhood development.
She held previous appointments at Singapore Management University, Singapore, Monash University, Australia, Georgetown University, USA, and Western University, Canada. She was also a visiting scholar at the Institute of Philosophy, Leibniz Universitӓt Hannover, Germany.
She received her PhD in philosophy in December 2022 from Georgetown University.

Moderator

Professor Julian Savulescu is an award-winning ethicist, medical doctor and moral philosopher. He trained in neuroscience, medicine, and philosophy. He is currently and has been Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford since 2002. He currently also holds Chen Su Lan Centennial Professor in Medical Ethics, and Head of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (from August 2022).

In 2003, he founded the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and was responsible for attracting a significant donation from the Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education to evolve the Centre into the Uehiro Oxford Institute and to provide scholarships in practical ethics St Cross College, Oxford.

He co-directs the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities and is Co-PI on ANTITHESES – A Discovery Platform for Transformative Inclusivity in Ethics and Humanities Research funded by Wellcome Trust (2025-2030). He is a Distinguished Visiting Professorial Fellow at Murdoch Children’s Research institute (MCRI) and Distinguished International Visiting Professor in Law at Melbourne Law School since 2017.

He was editor of the BMJ’s Journal of Medical Ethics for over 10 years and achieved the highest impact factor in the journal’s history.
He leads teams of >30 researchers and has held over £23 million in awards and donations under his direct leadership, as part of awards worth over £32 million.
According to Google Scholar, he has an overall h index of 96, with over 38,110 citations in total and 501 publications cited at least 10 times (accurate as of September 2025).

He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, Monash University Distinguished Alumnus, received an honorary doctorate from Bucharest.

Clinical Ethics, Neonatology and Paediatrics is the sphere of the experience and expertise of Emeritus Professor Roy Joseph. At the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, he directs the newly established Paediatric Ethics Programme.
Dr Roy is Emeritus Consultant in the Department of Neonatology, National University Hospital and chairs the Paediatric Ethics and Advocacy Center in the Department of Paediatrics. Roy also chairs the National Medical Ethics Committee, the Health Ethics Capability Committee and the Institutional Review Board (HBR) at the Singapore Institute of Technology. He is a member of the Bioethics Advisory Committee.
His current research interests are in harnessing technology for improving education in ethics and professionalism and understanding the local empirical basis of Ethical End of life Care and Clinical Innovation. Past research activities aimed at improving medical education, preventing mental and developmental retardation through providing a safe transition into the extrauterine environment and in universal newborn screening for selected congenital conditions.

Contact

For any query, please email to Karen Teo (medtysk@nus.edu.sg)