Navigating a Crisis of Trust: The 2025 William C. Stubing Memorial Lecture
2025-11-13 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Hybrid, PA
About this Event
On November 13, 2025, The Greenwall Foundation will host this year’s William C. Stubing Memorial Lecture in person in New York City and online. Robert Califf, MD, former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Duke University School of Medicine, will discuss the growing crisis of trust in science, medicine, and public health—and the ethics challenges and opportunities it presents for shaping policy and practice in uncertain times. Dr. Califf will be joined in conversation by Matthew Herper, an award-winning journalist and Senior Writer covering medicine at STAT.
Register to attend the event in person by clicking the “Get Tickets” button. Registration is free and open to all, but in-person seating is limited.
To register for the livestream, click here.
For more information, please visit greenwall.org/events.

ELSI Friday Forum: What do Researchers Owe the Autistic Community they Study?
2025-11-14 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Online
Speakers: Monique Botha, PhD, Tara Eicher, PhD
Moderator: Ari Ne’eman, PhD
Abstract: Genomic and other research that impacts the Autistic community has received growing national and international attention in the past few years. While investment in Autism research raises hopes for improved health outcomes in this population, it also raises a host of concerns. Which types of genomic studies promote community benefits? Who defines the benefits of genomic research? What measures should be taken to ensure that data collected from Autistic individuals is not used in ways that cause harm? Exploring cases in the US and the UK, this session will consider the responsibilities of Autism researchers to individuals and the community studied, including promotion of wellbeing, implementation, and best practices for engagement and communication of study results.

PGTME's 6th Annual Lunchtime Lecture Series
2025-11-17 12:00 - 2025-11-21 13:30 (America/New_York) | Online
The Working Group on Pediatric Gene Therapy & Medical Ethics (PGTME) at NYU Grossman School of Medicine will host its 6th Annual FREE Lunchtime Lecture Series during the week of November 17-21 from 12-1:15pm ET daily. Please join us for a week of virtual sessions on pressing topics in the gene therapy space featuring expert speakers and audience Q&A. All sessions are free, virtual, and open to the public! This year’s Lecture Series will feature sessions on bioethics basics, evidence and drug approval, communication and data sharing, ethical principles in research and development of genomic medicines, and the economics of rare disease. Please register HERE.
For questions, please contact:
Ayden Eilmus (she/they)
Program Coordinator, Pediatric Gene Therapy and Medical Ethics Working Group (PGTME)
Division of Medical Ethics
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
ayden.eilmus@nyulangone.org

Artificial Womb Technologies – Ethics of Innovation at the Edge of Viability
2025-11-17 17:15 - 18:45 (America/New_York) | Biomedical Research Building, Room 251, 421 Curie Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
BIO: Ryan M. Antiel, MD, MSME, FACS is Associate Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Duke University School of Medicine and Associate Director at the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine. He is focused on improving the lives of children and families confronted with difficult decisions such as surgical decision-making in the face of uncertainty and end-of-life issues.

PGTME's 6th Annual Lunchtime Lecture Series: "Improving Patient Access for Gene and Cell Therapies: A Financial Engineering Perspective"
2025-11-21 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Online
Please save the date for this wonderful annual FREE event hosted by the Working Group on Pediatric Gene Therapy & Medical Ethics (PGTME), in the Division of Medical Ethics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
It’s that time of year! PGTME’s 6th Annual Lunchtime Lecture Series will be held virtually during the week of November 17-21 from 12-1:15pm ET daily. Please join us for a week of sessions on pressing topics in the gene therapy space featuring expert speakers and audience Q&A. All sessions are free, virtual, and open to the public!
We are thrilled to announce the Friday session of the 2025 Lunchtime Lecture Series, to be held from 12-1:5pm ET on November 21: “Improving Patient Access for Gene and Cell Therapies: A Financial Engineering Perspective,” presented by Andrew Lo, AM, PhD. Dr. Lo is the Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor at MIT Sloan School of Management and Director of the MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering.
The schedule and speakers for the rest of the Lecture Series will be announced in the coming weeks, and REGISTRATION FOR ALL FIVE DAYS IS OPEN! Please save the date on your calendars today by registering HERE. You may register for as many or as few sessions as you are interested in attending.

Moving Beyond 'First Do No Harm'
2025-11-26 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Online
Bios associate fellow Dr Toni Saad will be speaking to us on Wednesday 26 November at 6pm GMT on the topic ‘Moving Beyond “Do No Harm.”‘
Dr Saad is a specialty registrar in neurology at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. He gained a master’s degree in bioethics and medical law from St Mary’s University while studying medicine at Cardiff University, and has published in journals such as the Journal of Medical Ethics and Bioethics, notably on the subject of conscientious objection in healthcare.
We look forward to a thought-provoking seminar and hope that you can join us.
For any queries regarding the meeting, please contact Dr Ilaria Bertini at ibertini@bioscentre.org.

CARE Panel: The End of Animal Models for Preclinical Research?
2025-12-01 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Online
As AI and computational modeling transform research, scientists are reexamining the role of animal models in scientific research and drug discovery. This discussion explores the ethical and practical implications of reducing animal testing in light of a recent federal push to do so. Panelists will consider the possibilities, limitations, and trade-offs of technological innovation in advancing humane and effective research.
Panelists:

Allyson Bennett | Professor of Psychology, College of Letters & Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Christine Petersen | Associate Dean for Research, College of Veterinary Medicine, OSU
Naomi Scheinerman | Assistant Professor of Bioethics, College of Medicine, OSU
Seth Weinberg | Associate Dean for Research, College of Engineering, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, OSU

Register at go.osu.edu/care-animals

Unrepresented: The Ethics of Caring for Patients Without Surrogates
2025-12-02 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Online
Description and Learning Objectives: Coming Soon
About the Series
Unpacking Bedside Bioethics is a quarterly professional development clinical ethics webinar series delivered by the Center for Bioethics. Speakers identify ethical dilemmas in clinical cases, and discuss how to apply bioethical concepts and frameworks to navigate those dilemmas.
Upon request, Zoom attendees will receive a Certificate of Attendance to apply for Continuing Education Units for their respective professions. We are not able to offer CEUs directly to attendees. Please note, you must attend a minimum of 75% of the talk to receive a certificate. Each talk will be recorded & posted with our other event recordings. Certificates of Attendance will not be given for watching the recording – only for those attending the Zoom session.
Health professions students are eligible for IPE credit. IPE credit is available only to webinar attendees who are present for 75% or more of the talk, participate in a short IPE breakout session immediately following the talk, and complete a written reflection form following that breakout session.
Speaker(s)
Jaime Konerman-Sease, PhD, HEC-C, is a Clinical Ethics Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics. She is a member of the team at the Center for Bioethics that provides clinical ethics services for the MHealth Fairview System. Her role includes clinical ethics consultation, policy development, and education for all hospitals in the MHealth Fairview system. Additionally, she is a member of the UMMC Ethics Committee.
Dr. Konerman-Sease’s academic work focuses on Disability Bioethics, Medicine and Literature, and Religious Bioethics. By drawing from historical sources, she highlights novel solutions to modern-day health care problems. Her current project draws on the novels of Jane Austen to provide solutions to the marginalization of patients with chronic and incurable illnesses in Medicine. Her future work will continue to focus on the intersection of Medicine, Literature, Theology and Disability.
Dr. Konerman-Sease completed her PhD in Health Care Ethics and Theology at Saint Louis University in 2022. Konerman-Sease was a 2020-2021 Student Intern for Ethics and Theology at CommonSpirit Health, where she assisted in clinical ethics consultation, policy development, and scarce resource allocation. She received the 2023 Emerging Scholar Award from the Institute on Theology and Disability for her doctoral work on chronic illness, Jane Austen, and Christian theology.

The Hippocratic Society Conference - Call for Abstracts: Hope In & For Medicine
2026-01-31 | Online
Burnout, moral distress, workforce shortages, institutional pressures, financial conflicts of interest, professional creep, intractable pain, uncertain diagnoses… many forces in healthcare today feel overwhelming. Against such challenges, individual action can seem futile.
What can one clinician do to change a reimbursement structure? What can a student do in the face of entrenched institutional dysfunction? How do we pursue a more beautiful practice of medicine when time and clarity feel increasingly scarce?
We propose that healthcare today needs the virtue of Hope.
Hope acts now for the sake of a future good. It embraces uncertainty yet moves forward in the face of it. Hope envisions a better future aligned with medicine’s deepest commitments and sustains us as we work to build it, especially when outcomes are not guaranteed.
At this year’s conference, we will explore the virtue of Hope in medicine:

How can we cultivate hope with and for our patients, colleagues, and institutions?
How do we sustain hope in medical education and clinical formation?
How do we maintain hope in our own lives as clinicians and trainees?
What is the good we seek, and what practices help us persevere toward it?
For what and for whom are we hoping?

We welcome abstracts from physicians, faculty, trainees, and students reflecting on Hope, virtue, clinical experience, or any topic connected to the Hippocratic Society’s mission. See suggested topics below.
Abstract Submissions
Abstracts can address the following format/presentations:

Research – Qualitative, theoretical, or educational research
Essays/Narrative – Narrative medicine or philosophical/ethical exploration
Creative Piece – Poetry, short stories, visual art, audio/film
Workshop – Interactive sessions, case discussions, or virtue-related skill development

Abstract should be 300-500 words and include 1-3 learning objectives.
All submissions are due by 11:59 pm on January 31st.
Submissions will be reviewed by our Conference Planning Committee, and decisions will be returned by February 28th.
Please email contact@hippsoc.org with any questions.
Submit Here
Suggested Topics
Themes Specifically Related to Hope

Hope as a virtue in clinical practice
Hope in medical training and formation
Sustaining hope amid uncertainty, suffering, and complexity
Hope and moral distress; hope and renewal
Hope for institutions, communities, and the future of medicine

Topics Drawn from the Hippocratic Society’s Mission

Moral and professional formation of clinicians
Character development and the virtues of the good physician
The role of community, mentorship, and “moral friendship” in becoming a good clinician
The nature, purpose, and ends of medicine
The meaning of suffering, illness, healing, and dying well
Good clinical judgement (prudence) and its cultivation
The clinician-patient relationship
Challenges of corporatization, demoralization, and the “provider” identity
Experiences from Hippocratic Fora, Symposia, or chapter activities

Other Eligible Topics

Narrative accounts of clinicians or patients
Reflections on teaching virtue or ethics
Educational innovation related to formation
Research for flourishing, burnout, moral injury, purpose, or medical culture

MBE/MSME Alumni Colloquium: “Ensuring Ethical Approaches to Xenotransplantation”
2025-12-08 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Hybrid, PA
Speaker: Laura Kimberly, PhD, MBE
BIO: Laura L. Kimberly, PhD, MSW, MBE is an Assistant Professor in the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery and the Division of Medical Ethics in the Department of Population Health at New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine. Her research explores ethical and psychosocial implications of innovative surgical interventions, with a focus on health equity and quality of life across the lifespan. She has published extensively on ethical and psychosocial considerations in vascularized composite allotransplantation, xenotransplantation, and innovations in solid organ donation and transplantation. Dr. Kimberly is a faculty collaborator in the NYU Center for Surgical and Transplant Applied Research and a member of the NYU Transplant Ethics and Policy Research Program Advisory Board. Beyond NYU, she serves on the Executive Committee of the American Society of Transplantation’s Psychosocial and Ethics Community of Practice.
Click here for the full list of Alumni Speaker Series talks

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.

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!

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.

“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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”

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.
