bioethics.com

A Social Justice Framework for Neurodivergent Adults: Shifting to a Supported Engagement Model
2026-03-12 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago) | Online
Speakers: Kayhan Parsi & Nanette Elster

The Ethics of Access and Outcomes: Maternity Care in Rural US Communities
2026-03-07 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Online
This presentation will tackle core concepts related to safety during childbirth: access to and outcomes of care, with a focus on rural U.S. communities. It will present research findings on declining access to obstetric care in rural communities, what happens when rural communities lose obstetric services, and why hospitals close obstetric units. It will also consider the path forward, describing strategies to ensure that rural maternity care is safe, viable, and accessible.

U.S. Immigration Detention: Bioethical Transgressions and Imperatives
2026-03-05 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Online
While issues related to immigration detention are often in the news, less discussed are the specific bioethical breaches that have occurred since its inception and worsened as the number of people detained has skyrocketed. This talk will discuss the current state of U.S. immigration detention, specific areas where bioethical principles and norms have been most grossly violated, and the areas that most need light shone on them in order to improve the care of those detained.

The Conscience of Care: Navigating Health in the Culture Wars
2026-03-05 09:00 - 10:00 (America/New_York) | Online
Dov Fox, DPhil, JD, LLM will engage pressing challenges for biomedicine against the backdrop of our rapidly shifting legal, economic, social, and healthcare environments. More details coming soon! This event is co-hosted by the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School and the Petrie Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. Support provided by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.

Williams Lecture: Bioethical Responsibilities in the Era of Global Warming
2026-03-04 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Online
J. Richard Williams Lectureship Series
Established in 2013, this lecture series honors J. Richard Williams, Sr., MD, a Tulane graduate and dedicated Selma physician known for his compassion, service, and published cancer research. Reflecting his lifelong commitment to patient-centered care, the series highlights the importance of trust and empathy in the patient–physician relationship.

The Future of Research Ethics: Threats & Opportunities
2026-03-04 09:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Online
The history of research ethics shows that ensuring the ethical and responsible conduct of research requires investment of time, personnel, and resources. Major shifts under way now raise questions about the future of research ethics — how to ensure needed safeguards while taking advantage of potential opportunities. Speakers will consider the impact of significant changes in federal ethics personnel and research funding, including debate about overhead (“indirect cost”) recovery on grants, which at many institutions supports crucial ethics oversight. This conference will consider how to preserve key safeguards while making improvements.
Join national experts from multiple disciplines and perspectives to consider a wide range of questions: what is the current state of research ethics, how can we strengthen Institutional Review Boards and research oversight, what steps will best support research integrity and trustworthy science, what strategies will advance ethics in community-engaged research, and how should research ethics evolve to manage emerging technologies including artificial intelligence.
The University of Minnesota’s 11th Annual Research Ethics Day Conference will consider how to move forward in a changing landscape and how to adapt while maintaining the crucial elements of research ethics. As a public, research university, we aim to explore these vital issues with our faculty, staff, students, and community, as well as a national audience.
This event is free and open to the public. It’s sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s Research & Innovation Office (RIO); Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences; Masonic Cancer Center; and Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

Dallas Conference on Science & Faith
2026-02-28 08:30 - 16:30 (America/Chicago) | Park Cities Baptist Church, 3933 Northwest Parkway, Dallas, TX, 75225, United States
Join us at the 8th-Annual Dallas Conference on Science & Faith hosted by Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, on February 28. The conference will feature keynote speaker and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, along with philosopher of science Stephen C. Meyer, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor, author and filmmaker John G. West, award-winning engineer Stuart Burgess, and many others. Continue reading for more information on the conference theme, confirmed speakers, and recommended hotels. Registration opens November 1.

Consumer Genetic Testing for Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Test-Taker Outcomes and Ethical Concerns
2026-02-23 17:15 - 18:45 (America/New_York) | University of Pennsylvania, 3600 Civic Center Blvd, Room 8-031, Philadelphia, PA, United States
BIO: Madison Kilbride, PhD, MSME, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Utah. She earned her PhD in Philosophy from Princeton University and her MS in Medical Ethics from the University of Pennsylvania. She also completed a fellowship in the Penn Postdoctoral Training Program in the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) of Genetics and Genomics. Dr. Kilbride’s ELSI research focuses on consumer genetic testing for disease risk. Her work also explores questions about the ethical obligations created by genetic knowledge and the limits of medical gatekeeping in an era of unprecedented access to health information.

Conflict Resolution and Clinical-Setting Mediation for Healthcare
2026-02-23 - 2026-02-26
Conflict in healthcare endangers patients, distresses families, disrupts the workplace, fuels burnout and sparks ethical conundrums. Resolving conflicts peacefully and durably helps preserve relationships and avoid dis-integration.
“Conflict Resolution and Clinical-Setting Mediation for Healthcare” is a learn-by-doing training enabling clinical-setting professionals – – bioethicists, physicians, nurses, legal counsel, administrators, chaplains, social workers, ethics committee members, and others – – to provide a wide range of assistance, from coaching, to informal negotiation and facilitation, to mediation.
This training is online for 4 days, with limited enrollment to ensure a fully intimate and engaging experience.

Caring for the Whole Patient: The Interplay between Spirituality and the Delivery of Care
2026-02-21 08:30 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, TX, United States
Healthcare in a Civil Society 2026 Symposium
Caring for the Whole Patient: The Interplay between Spirituality and the Delivery of Care
Saturday, February 21, 2026 | 8:30 AM – 1:00 PM CST
How should clinicians engage patients’ spiritual beliefs without crossing professional boundaries? What happens when those beliefs shape—or challenge—medical decision-making? And how can healthcare professionals respond ethically and compassionately when values and clinical recommendations collide?
The Tarrant County Medical Society’s Ethics Consortium invites you to Healthcare in a Civil Society 2026, a half-day symposium bringing together clinicians, ethicists, chaplains, and scholars to explore the role of spirituality in contemporary healthcare. This year’s program focuses on caring for patients as whole persons—biological, psychological, social, and spiritual.
The symposium features a keynote address by Jeff Bishop, MD, PhD (Saint Louis University), two dynamic panel discussions moderated by The Hon. Pete Geren, interactive breakout sessions, and an applied ethics segment led by Stuart Pickell, MD, MDiv (Burnett School of Medicine at TCU). Panelists represent medicine, ethics, social work, and chaplaincy, offering diverse perspectives grounded in real clinical experience. Panelists include Devan Stahl, PhD (Baylor University) Kimbell Kornu, MD, PhD (Belmont University), Angela MacDonald, MDiv, MSW (John Peter Smith Hospital) and Stephen Couch, MA (Dallas Children’s Hospital).
Format:

In-person at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Fort Worth, TX), with a full breakfast provided
Virtual attendance via Zoom, including participation in breakout sessions

Continuing Education:

4 hours of Ethics CE credit available for multiple healthcare professions

Registration Fees:

CE Credit: $40
General: $25
Students: $10

Join colleagues from across disciplines for thoughtful dialogue, practical ethical tools, and meaningful connection around one of the most challenging and human dimensions of care.

An International Comparison: Legal, Regulatory, and Ethical Approaches to AI in Health Care
2026-02-20 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Online
In this webinar, speakers will describe the international legal, regulatory, and ethical frameworks governing applications of AI in health care. They will compare approaches, discussing the opportunities and challenges, as well as the need for transparency, accountability, and guiding ethical principles in developing AI systems in health care. Support provided by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.
Presenters:

I. Glenn Cohen, JD, James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law, Deputy Dean, and Faculty Director, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology & Bioethics at Harvard Law School
Timo Minssen, JD, Professor of Law at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH); Founder and Managing Director of UCPH’s Center for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation Law (CeBIL); LML Research Affiliate at the University of Cambridge (UK); and Inter-CeBIL Research Affiliate, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology & Bioethics at Harvard Law School

Moderator:

Barry Solaiman, PhD, LLM, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Law at HBKU Law, Qatar; Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics in Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar (WCM-Q); Fellowship Alum, Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics

Register here to receive the Zoom link and call-in details in your automated confirmation email. The seminar recording will be uploaded to our YouTube channel in the weeks following the event date, pending no technical issues. Registrants will receive a follow-up email containing the recording link when it is ready.

Support provided by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University. Organized by seminar leaders Leah Rand, DPhil and Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH. Co-hosted by the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law (PORTAL), and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.

The Society for Christian Bioethicists Conference: "The End of Life, the Gift of Life: reflections on death and organ donation"
2026-02-20 08:00 - 2026-02-22 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Online
The Society for Christian Bioethicists is happy to announce our upcoming conference, “The End of Life, the Gift of Life: reflections on death and organ donation.” The conference will take place February 20-22, 2026. It will be online via Zoom and registration will be free. See the attached conference flyer, and share it with all who may be interested.
The conference will include keynote and plenary addresses, as well as parallel sessions of paper presentations. We will begin to accept submissions of abstracts in October.
Registrants from our last conference will not receive further communication about the upcoming conference, so if you wish to continue to receive communication from the Society, please sign up for the Society’s email list. Additionally, follow us on X and Facebook.
More information available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pBBnHHe0HECNugp0i_OAFOD5Llkfp0RDCZfWm8RxCBk/edit?tab=t.0
And in case you have not yet already seen them, see the video recordings of the Keynote and plenary sessions from last year’s conference, including:

David Hershenov, “The Minimum Metaphysics Needed for a Pro-Life Ethic”

Erika Bachiochi, “Lessons from America’s Earliest Female Doctors and Advocates for Women”

John Lennox, “Fearfully and Wonderfully Remade? The Challenge of Transhumanism”

Margaret Battin and Kristin Collier, a debate on “Physician-Assisted Suicide/MAiD, Dignity, Autonomy”

Three Ways of Looking at Black/White Mortality Inequality in the United States
2026-02-13 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Online
A basic demographic fact about the United States is that, on average, White people live longer than Black people. But what, concretely, does this fact mean? Drawing from a diverse set of social science, health, and literary sources, this talk argues that research has three families of strategy for making sense of the size of mortality disparities — distribution-based, action-based, and meaning-based measures — and provides new empirical results in each vein that collectively aim to put demographic measurement onto a more human footing. Implications for thinking about redress for racial harms are discussed.
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, PhD, is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota. A sociologist and demographer, she studies racial inequality in mortality in the historical and contemporary United States, and specializes in finding comparisons and metrics that illuminate the human meaning of mortality disparities. She has extensively researched the Covid-19 pandemic in Minnesota, where she also co-founded an award-winning community vaccination organization (the Seward Vaccine Equity Project). She is also a demographic methodologist, developing models designed to clarify relationships between micro and macro perspectives on population processes. She was until recently the Associate Director of the Minnesota Population Center and is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation.

Black History Month Event: The Legacy of the Tuskegee Report
2026-02-12 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Online
The Tuskegee Report—developed by Tuskegee University’s National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care in collaboration with Vanderbilt University—seeks to redefine bioethics at the intersection of research with human subjects, clinical trials, medicine, and public health by centering the voices, experiences, histories and cultural identities of populations disproportionately impacted by unethical research practices and unequal care. This Black History Month conversation, hosted by Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics, will feature Dr. David Augustin Hodge, Sr. and Dr. T.S. Harvey, facilitated by Dr. Rebecca Brendel. Together, they will explore how the perspectives of BIPOC populations—rooted in resilience, memory, and lived experience—must be foundational in shaping the next generation of ethical frameworks for research, medicine, and public health.
Speakers:

T. S. Harvey, PhD, Associate Professor of Medical and Linguistic Anthropology and Global Health at Vanderbilt University
David Augustin Hodge, Sr., PhD, DMin, MEd, MTS, Director (Interim), Lead Ethicist, and Research Professor at the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Healthcare at Tuskegee University

Moderator:

Rebecca Weintraub Brendel, MD, JD, Director of the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School

Register here to receive the Zoom link and call-in details in your automated confirmation email.
The recording will be uploaded to our YouTube channel in the weeks following the event date, pending no technical issues. Registrants will receive a follow-up email containing the recording link when it is ready.
Support provided by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University. This series is co-organized by the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics, the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University, and the Office for Culture and Community Engagement at Harvard Medical School.

Working with What’s Missing: Ethical Strategies for Incomplete Data
2026-02-09 12:00 - 13:15 (America/New_York) | Online
Missing, inaccessible and incomplete data have long shaped the ways researchers frame studies and understand the limits of their work. Join us for a panel discussion where we will explore a number of questions concerning these persistent conditions of missingness:

What ethical obligations arise when the data we need isn’t available or may never have existed?
How can researchers responsibly interpret and represent gaps, silences and absences in data?
When can collaboration with communities help preserve or reimagine data that is at risk of disappearing?

Together, we’ll consider how the research community can adapt its practices to work ethically and creatively with what’s missing.
This event will be held online and is open to the public.

This event is presented in partnership with the Center for Ethics and Human Values’ CARE Program.

Ethics of Using Artificial Intelligence in Research and Writing: Emerging Issues
2026-02-05 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Online
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the nature of research and scholarly writing. Although the use of AI offers many benefits to scientific research and academic scholarship, it also creates ethical challenges concerning bias, authorship, transparency, accountability, and public trust. This talk examined some of the ethical issues raised by using artificial intelligence in scientific research and scholarly writing and discussed some proposed solutions.

Medicine and the Holocaust: Modern Implications for Professional Identity, Bioethics, and Health Professions Education
2026-02-03 08:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Inperson, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway,, Dayton,, OH, 45435, United States
Date: Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026
Location: Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (Live-Streaming Remote Viewing Option Available)
Cost: FREE
Register to attend @ https://forms.office.com/r/fcSs57GjFe

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions regarding the event.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare Law
2026-02-02 09:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Touro Cross River Campus, 3 Times Square, New York, NY, United States
This year’s symposium will focus on artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. Speakers will include experts in healthcare law, technology, bioethics, and policy. Their contributions will explore the rapidly evolving intersection of AI technologies and healthcare regulation.

CARE Panel: Intimacy, Vulnerability, and Risks of Harm in Research
2026-01-26 12:00 - 13:15 (America/New_York) | Online
The Center for Ethics and Human Values at the Ohio State University invites you to our upcoming Conversations About Research Ethics (CARE) virtual panel. Please feel free to share with interested students and colleagues. This panel is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
CARE Panel: Intimacy, Vulnerability, and Risks of Harm in Research
MONDAY, JANUARY 26TH | 12:00-1:15 PM EST
This panel will examine how intimacy and vulnerability in research relationships may give rise to unique and often overlooked forms of harm. Moving beyond traditional accounts of physical or informational risk, the discussion will explore how violations of trust, emotional exposure, and relational boundaries raise important ethical questions across research setting
Panelists:

Jasmine Gunkel, PHD (Western University, Ontario)

Mikaela Smith, PHD (College of Public Health, The Ohio State University)

2026 Compassionate Use & Preapproval Access Conference (CUPACon)
2026-01-23 08:30 - 2026-01-24 16:30 (America/New_York) | Boston University School of Law, 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, United States
For the 1st time: being held in Boston; hosted by BU School of Law!

Join us for this 2-day multi-stakeholder event covering the most pressing ethical issues in preapproval access to medical products.
Day 1 (1/23): These workshops are NOT included in the cost of CUPACon registration. In order to attend 1 of the 2 optional pre-conference workshops––occuring the morning of 1/23/26––(for an additional fee), click “Get Tickets”, scroll down to “Pre-Conference Workshops” then select from these two choices:

Preapproval Access to Psychedelics
When Preapproval Access Spans National Borders

Day 2 (1/24): These workshops are included in the cost of the in-person conference. Remote attendees will not have access. When you click “Get Tickets”, scroll down to “Free Workshops” then select from the three available choices.
See you in Boston (or online)!
We are very excited to be able to offer CUPACon 2026 as a primarily in-person event. In-person attendees will be able to take advantage of interactive workshops, networking opportunities, a cocktail reception, and other perks. For those unable to attend in-person, tickets providing access to a livestream of main-stage conference sessions are available. Virtual attendees will not have access to workshops or other events (networking, etc.) not occuring on “the main stage”!
Please note: In-person tickets are being offered on a tiered pricing scale based upon the stakeholder group to which you belong; please purchase the ticket that best matches your background. Tickets are for both conference days; no single day tickets are being offered. Tickets are transferrable but non-refundable.
CUPACon 2026 is sponsored in part by Bionical Emas and BU School of Law.

10th Annual Reproductive Ethics Conference
2026-01-22 08:00 - 2026-01-23 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Inperson, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway,, Dayton,, OH, 45435, United States
Hosted by the Institute for Bioethics & Health Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), the Reproductive Ethics Conference is an annual, interdisciplinary gathering focused on exploring the ethical, legal, social, and cultural dimensions of reproductive health. The field of reproductive ethics is shaped by ongoing advances in medical technology, shifting cultural norms, political and ideological divisions, and theological perspectives—factors that continue to raise complex and often controversial questions. This conference provides a forum for rigorous and respectful dialogue on a wide range of issues in reproductive ethics. We welcome participants from all professional backgrounds to foster a rich and collaborative discussion.
Send abstracts and questions to reproethics@utmb.edu
The goal of this conference is to explore the range of topics addressed in reproductive ethics. We welcome individuals from all professional fields to create a rich and robust discussion.
We are seeking abstracts for individual presentations, 3-4 person panels, and posters. Please limit abstracts to 250 words for presentations and posters and 500 words for panels.
Abstracts should be sent to repro.ethics@utmb.edu by September 15, 2025. Submissions will receive a response by Mid-October.

The Penn Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy: Mediation Intensive Workshop
2026-01-16 09:00 - 2026-01-19 17:00 (America/New_York) | Inperson, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway,, Dayton,, OH, 45435, United States
The 4-day workshop will be held at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and will run from 9:00-5:00 each day. The Penn Program in Clinical Conflict Management has offered over 150 workshops and conflict resolution seminars since the program’s launch in May 2010.
In this Intensive, students will:

Learn how to navigate and improve challenging clinical relationships (patient-provider, family-provider, inter-staff conflicts)
Learn the techniques of facilitation among a diverse set of stakeholders
Learn to effectively manage clinical disputes among and between caregivers, patients and surrogates through mediation
Discover to how to define problems and assess underlying interests to generate mutually acceptable options
Role-play in variety of clinical situations as both disputants and mediators
Practice mediation with professional actors
Use video-tapes of simulations to improve mediation techniques and strengthen interpersonal skills
Receive constructive feedback in a supportive environment

This workshop is intended for nurses, physicians, clergy, social workers, clinical ethics consultants and members of ethics committees who face clinical ethics conflicts in their role in the healthcare system.
DESCRIPTION:
Professional mediators possess a unique skill set applicable to the facilitation of difficult conversations between individuals in emotionally laden situations. An effective mediation process can generate solutions that address the underlying interests of all disputants and resolve conflicts that appear intractable. This skill set has increasingly been recognized as invaluable to the work of clinical ethics consultants as they navigate conflicts between and among patients, families, surrogates and providers. Moreover, given wide-spread agreement that communication failures lie at the root of many clinical conflicts, mediation values and catalyzes the effective communication of individual concerns, values, perspectives and feelings — all of which are essential to the clinical ethics consultation process. This hands-on Workshop introduces the principal techniques of mediation through the use of simulated role plays with a focus on conflicts caused by communication breakdowns, highly charged value-conflicts, and cultural differences.
Instructor-Student ratio of 1:3. Space is limited. Students can earn Penn course credit or take the intensive as a workshop. Cost of the workshop is $2,500, which includes breakfast, lunch and materials. Tuition benefits can be applied for students taking it for credit. To apply for the workshop:
https://hosting.med.upenn.edu/forms/mdprogram/view.php?id=35058
Workshop Instructors:
Autumn Fiester, PhD | Director, Penn Program in Clinical Conflict Management; Associate Chair for Education
Aliza Narva, JD, MSN, HEC-c | Director, Clinical Ethics Consult Service, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Stacy Smith, MA, MLS, HEC-c | Instructor, Penn Program in Clinical Conflict Management
Mary Walton, MBE, MSN, HEC-c | Emeritus Director, Clinical Ethics Consult Service, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

For more information, contact: fiester@upenn.edu

Seminar with Bryan Pilkington: Understanding Conscientious Objection
2026-01-14 18:00 - 19:00 (Europe/London) | Online
Our next seminar is on Wednesday 14 January at 6 p.m. GMT, when Professor Bryan Pilkington will speak on ‘Understanding Conscientious Objection.’
Bryan Pilkington is Professor of Bioethics in the Department of Medical Sciences at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, where he is the ethics content lead. His recent publications include The Medical Act: Conscientious Practice in a World of Dissention and Disagreement (Springer Nature, 2025).
For any queries regarding the meeting, please contact Dr Ilaria Bertini at ibertini@bioscentre.org.

Pronatalism, the Private Sector and Genetically "Optimized" Babies
2026-01-09 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom
A resurgence of concern about declining birthrates has fueled pronatalist policies and cultural narratives that valorize reproduction as a social good. At the same time, advances in reproductive genetics are expanding the possibilities for selecting embryos based on genetic profiles, including polygenic risk scores for complex traits. Once limited to rare disease prevention, embryo selection is increasingly marketed as a means of optimizing future offspring. This emerging landscape is shaped in part by pronatalist private-sector innovation and consumer demand, raising new ethical, legal, and social questions about the aims and limits of reproductive choice. Together, these forces situate embryo selection at the intersection of biomedical entrepreneurship, demographic anxiety, and moral reasoning about responsibility, health, and the future.
This ELSI Friday Forum brings together scholars to examine how genetic embryo selection is being shaped by commercial incentives, regulatory gaps, and shifting cultural expectations of parenthood. Panelists will discuss the role of private industry in defining reproductive “choice,” the implications of genetic selection for public trust and oversight, and how pronatalist and market logics converge to influence the governance of human reproduction.

Ethical Considerations in Tuberculosis Treatment and Control
2026-01-08 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Denver) | Online
You are warmly invited to attend the upcoming Ethics Grand Rounds, hosted by the Clinical Ethics Education Council at the CU Center for Bioethics and Humanities. This live virtual event will feature a compelling discussion led by Dr. Amy Beeson and will officially close out our first ever EGR Book Club reading of Everything in Tuberculosis by John Green!
Please feel free to share information about this event widely. Please note, the views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of the Center or UCHealth. We encourage open dialogue and critical thinking as we explore these topics together.
Speaker
Amy Beeson, MD – Medical Director, Denver Health Tuberculosis Clinic, Public Health Institute at Denver Health

Ethics Case Conference: "Trisomy 18: Prenatal Diagnosis, Prognostication, & Genetic Bias"
2025-12-18 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Online
Christen Paradissis, PhD – AMBI – Albany Medical College
Dr. Paradissis is a clinical ethics fellow at the Alden March Bioethics Institute. She obtained a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Utah in 2024. In addition to her doctoral work, Dr. Paradissis has served as a writing panel member for the American Nurses Association’s 2024 revision of the Code of Ethics, was a nursing ethics intern at the Cleveland Clinic in 2021 and practiced as a registered nurse from 2016-2019. Her research focuses on the ethics of trust, betrayal and blame in tripartite relationships in the healthcare setting, as well as discerning the boundaries of professional practice. She is interested in thinking about the role health care institutions play in setting expectations of trust between nurses and patients, about how breakdowns in trust occur when nurses, patients, and institutions blame one another, and about what practices of blame between such parties are morally permissible.
Mary Helen Schwartz, MD – Albany Medical Center
Dr. Schwartz joined the Department of Pediatrics in August 2023, specializing in Pediatric Hospital Medicine with a special interest in Pediatric Palliative Care, and has been appointed an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. She completed a fellowship with the Department of Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and she completed a Pediatrics Residency at Stony Brook University in New York. Dr. Schwartz earned her medical degree at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia.

“Bioethics, AI Politics, and a New World Order” Winter School Online December 15-20, 2025
2025-12-15 10:00 - 2025-12-20 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online
This week-long virtual program invites students, researchers, and professionals from all disciplines to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping ethics, medicine, global health, and human rights.
Sessions will feature leading scholars including Jonathan D. Moreno (University of Pennsylvania), Inmaculada de Melo-Martin (Weill Cornell Medicine), Michael Berman, MD (Mount Sinai), and James Hughes (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies), among others.
We are also proud to share that our current interns will be actively assisting and co-hosting sessions, helping facilitate discussions, and engaging participants throughout the week — making this both a learning and leadership experiencefor students involved with BEI.
We would be grateful if your organization could help share this opportunity with your students and networks via newsletter, bulletin, or academic listserv.
Program contact:
Ana Lita, PhD — Director, Bioethics Education International
📧 alita@globalbioethics.org | 🌐 https://bioethicseducation.org/author/analita/| 📱 WhatsApp +1 646-269-0773
Program Dates: December 15–20, 2025 (online)
Audience: Open to all disciplines; no prior bioethics experience required.
Theme: Bioethics, AI politics, and global governance in medicine and technology.

Virtual Therapy? Navigating AI-Powered Interventions for Mental Health
2025-12-12 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Online
Generative AI has the potential to expand access to mental health support and treatment. From apps to bots to “therapy” modes within larger systems, anyone with a smartphone in their palm now has access to countless tools that implicitly and/ or explicitly promise to improve mental health. Alongside this rapid technological expansion and innovation, however, accounts of serious negative outcomes associated with these AI innovations, including user suicide, are emerging. In addition, our nation’s youth may be particularly susceptible to the risks – known and unknown – of these AI-powered tools and systems.
In this seminar, three experts join Center Director Rebecca Brendel MD, JD in elucidating:

what we know (and don’t know) about the benefits and harms of AI-powered interventions for mental health,
core ethical concerns and guiding principles for the future, and
possible paths forward to enable innovation and access while also advancing benefit and safety.

Speakers:
Marlynn Wei, MD, JD
Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Author
Marlynn Wei, MD, JD is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and author whose writing on AI and mental health for Psychology Today has reached nearly 4 million readers. Her expertise on AI therapy, AI companions, and AI-mediated delusions has been featured on CBS Mornings, CNN, PBS, and The Huffington Post. She is a graduate of Yale School of Medicine and Yale Law School and completed her psychiatry residency at Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean, where she served as chief resident and received the Anne Alonso Psychotherapy Award. Dr. Wei specializes in psychodynamic and experiential therapy for professionals in her New York City practice.
Andrew Clark, MD
Child, Adult and Forensic Psychiatrist
Andrew Clark, MD is a forensic, child, and adult psychiatrist with a private practice in Cambridge. He was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for 20 years, working as the Medical Director of the Children and the Law Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. He subsequently joined the faculty at Boston University School of Medicine, where he served as Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry in addition to Medical Director of Outpatient Psychiatry. He has maintained an active treatment practice of child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry throughout his career, and also worked for sixteen years as the Director of Psychiatry Services at the Suffolk County House of Correction.
Ryan K. McBain, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine at HMS
Ryan K. McBain, PhD is a health economist whose work focuses on improving access to mental health and substance use services, both in the U.S. and internationally. He specializes in analyzing supply-side constraints and evaluating the effectiveness of digital technologies—including telehealth and generative AI—in expanding care. His has published over 100 articles in leading academic journals such as The Lancet, JAMA Psychiatry, and Health Affairs. He is also a regular contributor to the public discourse on technology and mental healthcare, with his research and commentaries featured in major media outlets such as The New York Times, Washington Post, and LA Times.
Moderator:
Rebecca Brendel, MD, JD
Director of the Center for Bioethics at HMS
Rebecca Brendel, MD, JD is the Director of the Center for Bioethics, Frances Glessner Lee Associate Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine in the Field of Legal Medicine and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She bases her clinical work in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) where she is the director of Law and Ethics at the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior, provides medical oversight for the hospital’s inpatient guardianship team, and practices clinical and forensic psychiatry. She is a past president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) from 2022 to 2023, of which she is a distinguished fellow. Dr. Brendel is also a past president and fellow of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (2018-2019). She is currently co-opted consultant to the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Ethics Committee and in her final of a seven-year appointment to the American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA), of which she presently serves as Chair.

Existential Issues for Species: Deextinction and Deliberate Extinction
2025-12-12 08:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Online
From the dire wolf to the screwworm, scientists are turning the tools of genetics to the elimination–and recreation–of entire nonhuman species. This webinar explores how and why genetic technologies might be used to eradicate some species and recreate others, with a focus on recent efforts and near future possibilities. The ethics of manipulating other species in these ways will then be considered: How should risks and benefits be understood and weighed? How might both deextinction and deliberate extinction challenge and alter understandings of the human relationship to nature? And how should such existential decisions be made?
Panelists:
Gregory Kaebnick, PhD, Beth Shapiro, PhD
Moderator:
Alta Charo, JD
Register!

Ethics Grand Rounds: All May Not Be What it Seems: Dementia Diagnosis & Elder Mistreatment
2025-12-11 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Denver) | Online
This virtual event will feature a compelling discussion led by Elizabeth Bloemen, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, CU School of Medicine.
Please note, the views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of the Center or UCHealth. We encourage open dialogue and critical thinking as we explore these topics together.
Certificates of Participation and CME Credit will be offered for live participation* from the CU Center for Bioethics and Humanities are available upon request.
