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Science, Ethics, & Society Initiative to host national bioethics conference in October

Issues mixing ethics and biology paint our newspapers and television sets every day: How do we balance our need for energy with sustaining our environment? Should the federal government support stem cell research? How do we best test potential miracle drugs while ensuring that such drugs get to those who need them as quickly as possible?

Over the past two years, the Center for Ethics and the Program in Science & Society have collaborated in an effort to capture the emerging and growing interest in bioethics at Emory. This past year we hosted a number of ‘bioethics coffees’ in which faculty sat down with Emory undergraduate and graduate students to discuss bioethics issues they are passionate about. The momentum generated in these coffees will culminate in our hosting of the Fourth National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference October 4-7, 2001.

We are tremendously excited about the conference, which will focus on applied bioethics, that is, giving students a chance to experience how all the talk and ideas play out in the real world. In addition to traditional presentations and panel discussions, students will participate in hands-on, on-site ethics workshops with members of the Atlanta community who do bioethics every day. Workshops will be in emergency rooms, counseling centers, and laboratories.

We are proud to announce that our own Jim Fowler will present a keynote address at the conference, as will renowned geneticist and author of The Sacred Depths of Nature, Ursula Goodenough, and bioethicist and author of The Perfect Baby, Glenn McGee. In panel and small group discussions, we will draw heavily on Atlanta’s expertise in bioethics, religion, medicine, law, and science to address questions at the intersection of these fields involving embryo research, right-to-die issues, stem-cell therapy, the definition of life, the role of the media, third-world v. first-world issues in AIDS and other research, animal rights, urban planning and the environment, and the interaction of science and religion.

Our conference will also be a milestone for intercollegiate collaboration in bioethics. The conference will host the second official meeting of the International Student Bioethics Initiative. We will also establish an intercollegiate undergraduate conference coordination committee, a resource for the planning of future undergraduate bioethics conferences.

Our hope is that this conference will serve as a focal point and launching pad for new ideas, courses and activities to integrate into Emory’s life and curricula.

Keynote addresses and other forums will be free and open to the public. For additional information about the conference and online registration, please see our website.

[ Posted by Arri Eisen at September 1, 2001 11:31 AM | More Science, Ethics & Society articles ]

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