April 02, 2009

Chair of President’s Council on Bioethics to Speak at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D., chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics, will give a lecture titled “What Does Ethics Have to Do with Medicine?” on Wednesday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The lecture, sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, is free and open to the public.

“Dr. Pellegrino is recognized throughout the world as one of the most prolific and passionate advocates for ethics in the medical profession,” said Thomas M. Landy, director of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture. “He believes that the practice of medicine is a moral enterprise that binds physicians to their patients in a way that supersedes a physician’s obligations to any business or bureaucracy.” 

Pellegrino is professor emeritus of medicine and medical ethics and adjunct professor of philosophy at Georgetown University. He served as director of the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University and was head of the university’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics, the world’s oldest and most comprehensive academic bioethics center. During Pellegrino's 50-plus years in medicine and university administration, he has been departmental chairman, dean, vice chancellor, and president. Most notably, he was president of Catholic University and president and chairman of the Yale-New Haven Medical Center.

Presently, he is senior fellow of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, a master of the American College of Physicians, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is recipient of 47 honorary degrees in addition to other honors. 

In 2004, Pellegrino was named to the International Bioethics Committee of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is the only advisory body within the United Nations to engage in reflection on the ethical implications of advances in life sciences.

Throughout his career, Pellegrino has continued seeing patients in clinical consults, teaching medical students, interns and residents, and doing research. Pellegrino has authored or co-authored 24 books and more than 550 published articles and is founding editor of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. Since his retirement in 2000, Pellegrino has remained at Georgetown, continuing to write, teach medicine and bioethics, and participate in regular clinical attending services.

To learn more about this program and other Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture events, visit www.holycross.edu/crec.

About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.

For additional information contact Cristal Steuer at 508.793.2419