Bioethics in Transition

Rapid advances in medicine, science, and technology continue to reshape the scope and landscape of bioethical reflection through the globalization of medicine and broadening reach of science and technology into everyday life.

The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity’s 21^st Annual Summer Conference Bioethics in Transition pauses to take stock of the complex conversations that have arisen as new innovations challenge older ethical paradigms, and expand beyond the boundaries of classical ethical questions.

Conference Objectives:

• ‍Identify the prospects and challenges for the evolving landscape of bioethical engagement within the context of shifting global and societal realities and advances in medicine and biotechnology.
• ‍Explore & discuss the ethical implications of recent developments in medicine, science, and technology with respect to our individual and common humanity.
• ‍Evaluate contemporary bioethical discourses in light of ethical approaches that include philosophical, religious, and other perspectives from the medical humanities.
• ‍Promote interdisciplinary engagement on pressing bioethical issues.

Plenary Speakers

Thursday, June 19

• Conference Welcome & Framing the Discussion - Michael Sleasman, PhD
• Enduring Issues in Bioethics - Gilbert C. Meilaender, PhD

Friday, June 20

• Dead Brains and Cold Hearts - Jeffrey P. Bishop, PhD
• From Biomedical Ethics to Global Bioethics - Henk ten Have, MD, PhD

Saturday, June 21

• Transitions and Trends in Bioethics:  Rural Health Care Ethics and Inter-Professional Education - Lisa Anderson-Shaw, DrPH, MA, MSN
• Bioethics in Public Policy: The Past and Future Challenge - Richard M. Doerflinger, MA
• Reframing the Discussion - Paige C. Cunningham, JD

Parallel Papers

Friday, June 20

• Can Individual Health Be a Commodity for Sale? The Quest for an Open Organ Market - Emad Asham, MD
• Patient Privacy—The Neglected Child of Bioethics: Legal, Philosophical, and Theological Foundations for a Bioethics of Privacy - Kenneth Oman, Mdiv, JD, PhD
• Outsourcing Reproduction: International Surrogacy and the Colonisation of the Female Body - Fiorella Nash, MA, Mphil
• Transitions in Surgical Care: The Changing Face of Treatment for Disorders of Sexual Differentiation - Daniel Beals, MD
• The Ethics of Respect: Dealing with Associates Who Do Not Agree - Jonathan Saxe, MD
• "To Relieve Man's Estate": The Theological Origins of the Modern Biomedical Project, and Its Remedy - Todd Daly, Mdiv, PhD
• Incentivizing Organ Donation: A Response to Calls for Iterative Policy Implementation - James Rhea, PhD (Cand.)
• The Changing Nature of Beauchamp and Childress's Principles of Biomedical Ethics - Louise Mitchell, PhD (Cand.)
• Is It Our Duty to Have Designer Babies: A Critique of New Eugenics - Richard Weikart, PhD
• Sex/Gender Ambiguity: Perspectives on Foundational Issues - Teresa Pegors, MA, PhD (Cand.)
• The Task of Clinical Healthcare Ethics: Building Right Relationships - Jessica Roach, MA
• Strong and Weak Potentialities: Rethinking Potentiality Arguments in Abortion - Andrew MacDonald, MA, PhD (Cand.)

Saturday, June 21

• Medication Induced Carcinoma: An Oxymoron? - Alma Labunski, RN, MS, PhD
• Emerging Technologies and Patient Privacy: Can Bioethics Stay Ahead of the Technology Curve? - Kenneth Oman, MDiv, JD, PhD
• Bioethics and Prenatal Genetic Diagnosis for Disorders of Sexual Development - Terry Maksymowych, MS, MA, PhD (Candidate)
• Here I Stand: A Call for Reformation of Bioethics Education in Medical School - Daniel Beals, MD
• Nausea: The Horror Genre as a Bioethics Maitre d' - Scott Stiegemeyer, MA
• Me, Myself, and I? Autonomy and a Theology of Freedom in Bioethics - Sarah Abbey, MA
• Free Will and Cognitive Neuroscience: Neural Mechanisms and Cognitive Capacities - Derrick Hassert, PhD
• Can Electronic Medical Record Technologies Make Healthcare Professionals More Ethical? - William Cheshire, MD, MA
• Bioethics in Undergraduate Nursing Curricula in Christian Institutions of Higher Learning - Kimberley Brownlee, MSN, RN
• Rethinking the Ethics of Invitro Fertilization: Complicity with Ongoing Research and Current Use of Remaining Embryos - Paul Lim, MD
• Dying to Feel Good: Pain Management and Addiction - Heather Zeiger, MS, MA

Courses

• Intensive Bioethics Institute - Paige Comstock Cunningham, JD
• Advanced Bioethics Institute - Michael Sleasman, PhD
• Contemporary Issues in Bioethics
• Undergraduate Bioethics Institute - Joyce Shelton, PhD
• Undergraduate/Graduate Wrap-Around Course - Ferdinand D. Yates, Jr., MD
• Graduate Wrap-Around Course - Hans Madueme, MD, PhD Candidate with guest lectures by Dennis Hollinger, PhD
• Post-Conference Seminar - Beyond Suffering Seminar - Kathy McReynolds, PhD with Karen Roberts, DWS

Combined Sessions

• Public Health Ethics: Issues in Measuring and Addressing the Health of Populations - Robert Aronson, DrPH
• Responding Ethically to Disasters and Disaster Refugees - Donal O'Mathuna, PhD
• Public Health Research Ethics: Rethinking the Gold Standard of Research - Robert Aronson, DrPH

1-Day Preconference Workshops

• Clinical Practice in Transition | "Conscience & the Professional" Clarke Forsythe, JD; "EMRs & the Changing Clinical Encounter" Joseph P. Gibes, MD; "Developments in Women's Health & Preventive Care" Susan Haack, MD; "DSM V & the Healthcare Professional" Miriam Stark Parent, PhD
• Pandemics and Disaster Bioethics  | Dónal O'Mathúna, PhD

Themed Workshops

• The Pro-Life Movement in Transition: Focusing on Maternal Health in Life Affirming Laws and Litigation | Hosted by Americans United for Life with Mailee Smith, JD
• Private Lives, Public Decisions, Global Concerns | Hosted by CBHD with Claretta Dupree, PhD
• Human Trafficking: Transitioning from Indifference to Ethics and Engagement  | Hosted by Christian Medical & Dental Associations with Sharon Falkenheimer, MD, MPH, MA
• Ethics Surrounding Maternal Brain Death, Prolonging Life Support, and the Unborn Child | Hosted by Family Research Council with Arina Grossu, MA
• When the Eye Sees, the Mind Knows | Hosted by Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture with D. Joy Riley, MD and special guest artists