Events
Center for Ethics programs and events are designed to foster a sense of community, engage in productive discourse, and encourage critical thinking about important ethical issues. Whether you are a student, faculty, professional, or simply curious about ethics, there is something for everyone.
Upcoming Events
- March 31, 2026, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm (in-person at the Center for Ethics)
- April 16, 2026, 12:00 pm (noon) – 1:00 pm EST (virtual)
2026 Healthcare Ethics Consortium (HEC) Annual Conference
The Stories We Tell: Putting Ethics Into Practice in Caring For Our Patients, Our Colleagues, Ourselves
Date/Time: March 23 & 24, 2026
Location: Virtual and In-Person at the Emory Conference Center
In a healthcare environment punctuated by a lack of patient trust, increased burdens on providers, and the unprecedented incorporation of technology into care delivery, we are called to attend to the ethical questions that arise in stories in the patient-provider relationship.
While considering current tensions and values present in the delivery of care, we will explore ways in which listening to the stories of patients and healthcare professionals (narrative practice) can improve care for patients, restore the humanity of providers, and empower both to advocate for change.
Through hands-on skill-building, we will dive deeply into the power of sharing and understanding narratives to build trust and empathy, enhance effective patient care, better support vulnerable patients, & mitigate burnout in healthcare professionals.
For More Information & Registration2026 Spring Semester Past Events
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
5:00-6:30 pm at the Center for Ethics
Join us for the opening of Between Shadow and Light: Artwork on Compassion, the inaugural show of the Creative Conscience Gallery, this Wed 1/28 at 5pm at the Center for Ethics
This exhibition features artwork created by Emory students selected from Introduction to Painting and Modes of Visual Thinking studio art courses. Developed in collaboration with Ethics & the Arts at the Emory Center for Ethics, the works explore the theme of compassion through drawing, painting, and sculpture. Ranging from quiet, intimate gestures to more expansive visual reflections, these student artworks consider how empathy, care, and ethical awareness can be expressed through close observation, material choices, and creative process. These works highlight artmaking as a space for reflection, connection, and thoughtful engagement with the human experience.
Featuring student artists: Lily Chappell, Caroline Gray, Bernie Huang, Isha Parashar, Rigo Mendoza, Sydney Cummings, Breana Donahue, Diya Choksi, Serena Min, Lingyue Wu, Abby Bojalad, Caroline Holsten, Yuval Yancu
Date/Time: Monday, Feb 9, 2026, 6:30-8:00 pm
Location: Emory Center for Ethics, 1531 Dickey Drive, Room 102
On Monday, February 9 from 6:30-8:00pm, former Center for Ethics Director, Paul Roote Wolpe, will return for an Ethics on the Stage staged readings and discussions from the Alliance Theater’s upcoming production of Fires, Ohio.
As wildfires rage closer and closer to a small Ohio college town, the mopey grown children and second wife of a sort-of-mediocre professor are threatened by another kind of crisis: a visit from a family friend that threatens to bring all of their tensions to a towering inferno. Now, each of them will be forced to choose: stay and smolder, or leave and burn? Inspired by the classic family drama Uncle Vanya, FIRES, OHIO updates a beloved story for our painfully absurd present, taking a hilarious and heartfelt look at the natural (and personal) disasters that transform our everyday lives.
Thurs, Feb 12, 2026; 2:30-4:30 pm
Emory Center for Ethics, 1531 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322
Room 102
Much as certain words are prohibited because they are deemed dangerous or degrading, some images are also considered too threatening to produce, distribute, or view.
- Some think the Pernkopf Atlas, a book of anatomy drawn from Nazi victims, should continue to be used it Schools of Medicine, while others consider it verboten.
- Religions like Islam and Jainism, and indigenous communities like those at Etowah, consider images powerful, yet some images are deemed forbidden. Why?
- What is a museum’s responsibility to the truth? Should museums refrain from putting out objects that may be objectionable or sensitive, or should they in the interest of the truth be more inclined to do so?
- Cartographers often deliberately hide what’s in plain sight. Who decides what to obscure?
What is the nature of such illicit images? What fears or concerns justify forbidding them? Though beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, some images flirt with truth and justice, while deepfakes misconstrue and lead astray. Join us for a heartfelt conversation about controlling—even banning—what we might see.
Special Guests:
Laura Asherman, MFA, Dir, Ethics & the Arts Program
Ellen Gough, PhD, Assoc Prof, Dept of Religion
Jim Hoesterey, PhD, Chair, Dept of Religion
Henry Kim, MPhil, Dir, M. C. Carlos Museum
Ali Zarrabi, MD, Assistant Prof, Emory School of Medicine