for $500,000. In 2009, Caplan helped develop the first flu vaccine mandate at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and, later, New York state's policy to require health care workers to "vaccinate or mask". Also in 2009, he called for tightening restrictions on fertility clinics and IVF and has written extensively in favor of embryonic stem cell research. In 2012, Caplan came to New York University's School of Medicine as the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics and the founding director of the Division of Bioethics. In May 2015, Caplan launched, with pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, a pilot project for the equitable distribution of experimental drugs outside ongoing clinical trials. He created the Compassionate Use Advisory Committee (CompAC), a panel of bioethicists, physicians, and patient advocates, to respond to appeals from terminally ill patients for a cancer drug in development by J&J. It is believed to be the first of its kind in the pharmaceuticals industry. Recent activity has included spearheading a movement to relax restrictions on blood donations by gay men and urging postponement of the Rio Summer Olympics because of the Zika virus threat. In early May 2020, the United States Conference of Mayors announced the Mayors Advisory Panel on Sports, Recreation & Health, with Caplan as a co-chair, to "advise mayors and sports and recreation officials on safe policies and practices as cities reopen from the COVID-19 pandemic", and in November 2020 he joined the NCAA COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group. MarketWatch featured Caplan in an article on the life of a bioethicist during the COVID-19 pandemic on August 4, 2020. Much of his time from 2020 to present has been focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. He has spoken and written extensively on vaccine-related topics, including the ethics of placebo-controlled trials during the pandemic, what is owed to vaccine trial participants after a vaccine has been authorized, COVID-19 vaccination of transplant candidates, and more specialized topics such understanding attitudes toward the disease and vaccines among a Haredi-Orthodox Jewish community. He was one of the more vocal proponents of controversial challenge studies for SARS-CoV2 vaccines. Caplan has been criticized by some classical philosophers for his "hands-on philosophy", and by some colleagues for his enthusiastic engagement with the media. In response, he said: "To me, the whole point of doing ethics is to change people, to change behavior. Why else do it?" In 2022, Caplan advocated