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Joint Bioethics Colloquium

Department of Bioethics

The Joint Colloquium in Bioethics is a topical seminar that meets 4-5 times each semester at the NIH Clinical Center to discuss the work of distinguished visiting speakers. The seminar is co-sponsored by the NIH Department of Bioethics, The Kennedy Institute of Ethics, and the Philosophy Departments of George Washington University and the University of Maryland. Each meeting includes a two-hour discussion of the visiting scholar's work (circulated ahead of time), followed by an informal dinner on-site. Discussion is friendly but quite lively as a diversity of perspectives is represented. The seminars are attended by a small and select group of faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral candidates.

Fall 2024 – Responses to Ethical Challenges in Healthcare: Moral Distress and Strength, Conscientious Refusal and Provision, and Civil Disobedience

  • Dov Fox, University of San Diego School of Law
  • Jason Eberl, St. Louis University, Department of Health Care Ethics
  • Christine Grady, NIH Department of Bioethics
  • Udo Schuklenk, Queens University, Department of Philosophy

Spring 2024 – Ethics and Emergencies

  • Dominic Wilkinson, Oxford University
  • Stephen John, Cambridge University
  • Lynette Reid, Dalhousie University
  • Govind Persad, University of Denver
  • Chiara Lepora, Doctors Without Borders/MSF

Fall 2023 – Addiction

  • Betty Jo Salmeron, NIDA/NIH
  • Hanna Pickard, Johns Hopkins University
  • John T Maier, Lesley University; Simmons University
  • Chandra Sripada, University of Michigan

Spring 2023 – Embodiment and Bodily Rights

  • Sean Aas, Georgetown University
  • Frederique de Vignemont, Institute Jean-Nicod
  • Elizabeth Schechter, University of Maryland
  • Fiona Woollard, Southampton University

Fall 2022 – Surrogate Decision-Making

  • Dave Wendler, NIH
  • Leslie Francis, University of Utah
  • Dana Howard, The Ohio State University
  • Susan Shapiro, American Bar Foundation

Spring 2022 – Understanding and Valuing Health

  • Dan Hausman, Rutgers
  • Quill Kukla, Georgetown
  • Sean Valles. Michigan State
  • Jerome Wakefield, NYU
  • Andrew Schroeder, Claremont McKenna

Fall 2021 – Academia and Advocacy

  • Monica Peek, University of Chicago
  • Jeff Sebo, NYU
  • O. Carter Snead, Notre Dame
  • Tom Shakespeare, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Spring 2021 – Normative Ethics in Relation to Evolutionary Moral Psychology

  • January 26 – Sarah Brosnan, Georgia State University
  • February 23 – Walter Sinnott Armstrong, Duke
  • March 16 – Joshua May, University of Alabama, Birmingham
  • April 13 – Irina Mikhalevich, Rochester Institute of Technology
  • May 11 – Shaun Nichols, Cornell University

Fall 2020 – Virtue Ethics

  • October 6 – Rebecca Stangl, UVA
  • October 27 – Nancy Sherman, Georgetown University
  • November 16 – May Sim, College of the Holy Cross
  • December 8 – Erin Cline, Georgetown

Spring 2020 – Drug Pricing

  • January 14 – Steven Pearson, ICER
  • February 25 – Jamie Love, Knowledge Ecology International
  • April 15 – Stacie Dusetzina, Vanderbilt University
  • April 28 – Walter Straus, Merck
  • May 12 – Ezekiel Emanuel, University of Pennsylvania

Fall 2019 – Privacy

  • October 8 – Madison Powers, Georgetown University
  • October 22 – Elizabeth Edenberg and Kobbi Nissim, Georgetown University
  • November 12 – Amy McGuire, Baylor College of Medicine
  • November 19 – Mark Rothstein, University of Louisville School of Medicine
  • December 10 – Anita Allen, University of Pennsylvania

Spring 2019 – Gene Editing

  • January 29 – John Tisdale, NIH/NHLBI
  • March 12 – Josephine Johnston, Hastings Center
  • April 9 – Jeff Kahn, Johns Hopkins University
  • April 23 – Ron Green, Dartmouth College (emeritus)

Fall 2018 – Robotics, A.I., and Ethics

  • September 26 – Tina Elliasi-Rad, Northwestern University
  • October 9 – Illah Norbaksh, Carnegie Mellon University
  • October 23 – David Danks, Carnegie Mellon University
  • November 13 – Alex London, Carnegie Mellon University
  • December 11 – Colin Allen, University of Pittsburgh

List of Past Topics

  • Animal Research Ethics
  • Consciousness
  • Feminism
  • Topics in Neuroscience: Ethical Explorations
  • Moral Responsibility in Relation to Biological Causes
  • Global Justice
  • Parenting and Procreation
  • Complicity
  • The Ethics of Incentives
  • Discrimination, Stereotyping, and Profiling
  • Duty to Rescue
  • Risk
  • Compromise
  • Deception
  • Moral Luck
  • Paternalism
  • Forgiveness
  • Role Morality
  • Emotions
  • Empirical Moral Psychology
  • Disabilities
  • Obligations to Future Generations
  • The Moral Status of Embryos, Fetuses, and Infants
  • Enhancements
  • Equality in Healthcare
  • Non-ideal Ethical Theory and Practice
  • The Ethical Basis of Human Rights
  • The Moral and Health Significance of the Natural
  • Coercion and Manipulation
  • Equality
  • Exploitation
  • International Justice and Biomedical Research
  • Trust
  • Health Disparities