Annual Conference

Plenary Sessions*

President's Welcome and Engaging the Past to Energize the Future: 25 Years of ASBH and Counting

Thursday, October 12, 11:30 AM–12:45 PM
Kayhan Parsi, JD PhD HEC-C; Bernice Hausman, PhD; Paul Lombardo, JD PhD; Keisha Ray, PhD; Danish Zaidi, MD MBE; and Moderator Andrew Shuman, MD FACS HEC-C

ASBH President Kayhan Parsi will open the conference with a few words and guidance on making the most of your conference experience. ASBH's Silver Jubilee offers an opportunity for us to celebrate the role of bioethics and humanities in society and focus on how we can continue to grow and improve as an ASBH community. This session will look to current and future leaders of ASBH to use the interdisciplinary lenses of bioethics, history, health humanities, education, and equity to celebrate our accomplishments, explore necessary room for improvement, and chart our course moving forward.

Policymakers’ Unmet Desire for Ethicists

Friday, October 13, 11:00 AM–12:15 PM
Adam Seth Levine, PhD MA; Liz Walters, MPA; and Moderator Jeffrey Kahn, PhD MPH

Much has been written about the role that ethicists should play in the policymaking process. These conversations typically focus on the supply of ethical expertise. In this session, we approach this topic from the demand side and ask: What roles do policymakers want ethicists to have? In what ways do they already fulfill those roles, and to what extent is there an unmet desire for ethicists in the policymaking process? Going forward, how can and should ethicists engage in the policymaking process?

This session is generously supported by the Institute for Bioethics and Health Humanities at UTMB.

Interrogating the Bioethics of Family Policing

Saturday, October 14, 2:45–4:00 PM
Dorothy Roberts, JD, with ASBH President Kayhan Parsi, JD PhD HEC-C

Although the child welfare system is considered by many to be a benevolent social service provider, it is better understood as a “family policing” system that surveils, regulates, and punishes struggling families—especially those that are Black and Indigenous—rather than supporting them. Doctors and other health care professionals are chief reporters of suspected child maltreatment, triggering traumatic investigations and family separations, deterring families from getting needed help, and reinforcing social inequalities. By interrogating the bioethics of family policing, we can reimagine policies that shape the relationship between the state, families, and health care.

This session is generously supported by the University of Pennsylvania.

Other Featured Sessions*

An Evening with the Arts and Humanities: artSPEAKS

Thursday, October 12, 6:00–7:00 PM

This session is supported by the William E. Proudford Sickle Cell Fund Inc. Capacity is limited; attendees should register for the session during the conference registration process.

The William E. Proudford Sickle Cell Fund, a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness about sickle cell disease, will provide attendees with an opportunity to participate in an artSPEAKS session, similar to the sessions held for sickle cell patients and their families. The session will give participants an opportunity to creatively express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences interacting with sickle cell patients, patients impacted by diseases for which pain is a defining characteristic, and/or other patient populations. Participants will be given a prompt, after which they will create paintings that capture their responses. Images of artwork created by patients and their families will be on display.

Advance sign-ups will have prioritized admission for this limited-space session.

*All times listed are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).