Penn Medical Ethics and Health Policy

3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8th Floor

Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Paternalism, Autonomy, and Duties of Aid" - Sophie Gibert, PhD

Learn More 2026-03-17 12:00:00 2026-03-17 13:00:00 America/New_York Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Paternalism, Autonomy, and Duties of Aid" - Sophie Gibert, PhD Paternalism, Autonomy, and Duties of Aid Sophie Gibert, PhD Assistant Professor, Legal Studies & Business Ethics Department Wharton School | University of Pennsylvania Dr. Gibert's research is primarily in normative ethics and she writes on topics such as manipulation, paternalism, and autonomy. Dr. Gibert also writes about issues in bioethics, and co-hosts a bioethics podcast called Bio(un)ethical. More detail to follow. Registration required; Streaming available via Zoom. 3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8th Floor Penn Medical Ethics

March

31

3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8th Floor

Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Why They Blow the Whistle: Exposing Abuses in Medical Research" - Carl Elliott, MD, PhD

Learn More 2026-03-31 12:00:00 2026-03-31 13:00:00 America/New_York Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Why They Blow the Whistle: Exposing Abuses in Medical Research" - Carl Elliott, MD, PhD Why They Blow the Whistle: Exposing Abuses in Medical Research Carl Elliott, MD, PhD Professor, Department of Philosophy University of Minnesota In popular culture, whistleblowers are conscience-driven heroes who triumph against the odds. Yet when medical research abuses occur, institutions deny wrongdoing even when it is glaringly obvious, and rarely do mistreated research subjects or their families get any real justice. Whistleblowing is the exception, not the rule. In many scandals, doctors and other staff members remain silent for years while unwitting research subjects are abused. What is it that leads a rare individual to say no to practices that are deceptive, exploitative or harmful when everyone else remains silent? Streaming available via Zoom. 3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8th Floor Penn Medical Ethics

April

9

1104 Blockley Hall (Note: Virtual attendees can join by accessing this link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95740259034.)

Health Policy Research Seminar: Sumit Agarwal, MD, MPH, PhD, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Health Management & Policy, University of Michigan

Learn More 2026-04-09 10:00:00 2026-04-09 11:00:00 America/New_York Health Policy Research Seminar: Sumit Agarwal, MD, MPH, PhD, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Health Management & Policy, University of Michigan Sumit Agarwal is a physician and health economist at the University of Michigan. His research examines the impacts of economic policies on health and the delivery of primary are. Dr. Agarwal was most recently supported by an F32 Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship Award from the National Institutes of Health / Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. He completed his PhD in Health Policy and Economics from Harvard University in 2024. 1104 Blockley Hall (Note: Virtual attendees can join by accessing this link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95740259034.) Penn Medical Ethics

April

14

Hybrid: 11-102AB 3600 Civic Ctr Blvd (and virtual via Zoom)

Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): Ethical and Policy Questions in Development of Human Genome Project - Robert Cook-Deegan, MD

Learn More 2026-04-14 12:00:00 2026-04-14 13:00:00 America/New_York Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): Ethical and Policy Questions in Development of Human Genome Project - Robert Cook-Deegan, MD Ethical and Policy Questions in Development of Human Genome Project Robert Cook-Deegan, MD Professor School for the Future of Innovation in Society Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes Arizona State University Dr. Robert Cook-Deegan, MD, is a professor at Arizona State University in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes. He was at Duke University 2002-2016, after a career in Washington at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (1991-2002); National Center for Human Genome Research (1989-1990); and the congressional Office of Technology Assessment (1982-1988). His research interests include science policy, health policy, biomedical research, cancer, and intellectual property. He is the author of "The Gene Wars: Science, Politics, and the Human Genome" and more than 350 other publications. More detail to follow. Registration required; Lunch provided Streaming available via Zoom. Hybrid: 11-102AB 3600 Civic Ctr Blvd (and virtual via Zoom) Penn Medical Ethics

April

21

3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8th Floor

Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): Patricia Skuster, JD, MPP

Learn More 2026-04-21 12:00:00 2026-04-21 13:00:00 America/New_York Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): Patricia Skuster, JD, MPP Patricia Skuster, JD, MPP Associate Director of Accreditation Core MPH teaching faculty, Master’s in Public Health Program University of Pennsylvania Patty Skuster’s research has focused on abortion law globally and how law operates to affect public health. She currently serves as Associate Director of Accreditation and Core MPH teaching faculty at the University of Pennsylvania’s Master’s in Public Health Program, where she teaches courses on reproductive rights, public health law and use/misuse of evidence in public health policy. She also leads a research project with the World Health Organization related to abortion policy implementation and consults with non-governmental organizations on abortion legal issues. She has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals, laws reviews, and popular media on self-managed abortion, abortion criminalization, abortion legal research, and US foreign policy. More detail to follow. 3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8th Floor Penn Medical Ethics

May

12

Hybrid: 11-102AB 3600 Civic Ctr Blvd (and virtual via Zoom)

Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): Ethics of Palliative Care Trials - Katherine Courtright, MD, MSHP

Learn More 2026-05-12 12:00:00 2026-05-12 13:00:00 America/New_York Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): Ethics of Palliative Care Trials - Katherine Courtright, MD, MSHP Ethics of Palliative Care Trials Katherine Courtright, MD, MSHP Assistant Professor of Medicine Director of Palliative Care Research in the Department of Medicine Core Faculty, PAIR Center University of Pennsylvania Dr. Katherine (Kate) Courtright is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of Palliative Care Research in the Department of Medicine, and Core Faculty at the PAIR Center. She attends in the medical intensive care unit and on the inpatient palliative care consult team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Courtright’s research focuses on optimizing the quality and outcomes of palliative care for individuals with serious illness. Her major research interests include developing and implementing novel, scalable strategies to promote timely and equitable palliative care and serious illness communication and evaluating their effects in large pragmatic clinical trials. Relatedly, she is interested in developing innovative approaches to measure patient-centered outcomes reliably and pragmatically using routinely available clinical and administrative data. More detail to follow. Registration required; Lunch provided Streaming available via Zoom. Hybrid: 11-102AB 3600 Civic Ctr Blvd (and virtual via Zoom) Penn Medical Ethics

May

14

1104 Blockley Hall (Note: Virtual attendees can join by accessing this link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95740259034.)

Health Policy Research Seminar: Sameed Khatana, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

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June

9

Hybrid: 11-102AB 3600 Civic Ctr Blvd (and virtual via Zoom)

Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): Returning Results to Participants in Pragmatic Trials - Catherine Auriemma, MD, MSHP

Learn More 2026-06-09 12:00:00 2026-06-09 13:00:00 America/New_York Research Ethics & Policy Series (REPS): Returning Results to Participants in Pragmatic Trials - Catherine Auriemma, MD, MSHP Returning Results to Participants in Pragmatic Trials Catherine Auriemma, MD, MSHP Assistant Professor of Medicine division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Core Faculty at the PAIR Center University of Pennsylvania Dr. Catherine (Katie) Auriemma is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care and Core Faculty at the PAIR Center. She cares for patients in the medical intensive care unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and maintains an outpatient pulmonary clinic at the Harron Lung Center. She is passionate about providing longitudinal follow-up care for survivors of critical illness. Dr. Auriemma’s research focuses on improving the value of serious illness care by better aligning interventions with the values and preferences of patients and their families. She is building a research program that approaches this goal in three complementary ways: (1) striving to understand how communication, documentation, and decision-making can be improved for patients and families prior to a clinical decompensation event; (2) developing and validating novel patient-centered outcome measures; and (3) enhancing the rigor of robust patient and stakeholder engagement in research. Her scholarship combines qualitative and mixed methods research, clinical epidemiology, and prospective observational cohort studies. More detail to follow. Registration required; Lunch provided. Streaming available via Zoom. Hybrid: 11-102AB 3600 Civic Ctr Blvd (and virtual via Zoom) Penn Medical Ethics

June

16

3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8th Floor

Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): Lukasz Kamienski, PhD, MSc

Learn More 2026-06-16 12:00:00 2026-06-16 13:00:00 America/New_York Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): Lukasz Kamienski, PhD, MSc Lukasz Kamienski, PhD, MSc Professor International and Political Studies Jagiellonian University, Krakow Prof. Kamieński holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Jagiellonian University (2005) as well as an M.Sc. in International Relations (London School of Economics and Political Science, 2001) and an M.A. in political science with a minor in international relations (Jagiellonian University, 2000). He is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, University of Pennsylvania (2025-2026). More detail to follow 3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8th Floor Penn Medical Ethics

June

23

3600 Civic Center Blvd., 8th Floor

Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): DDVP Lecturer - Rana A. Hogarth, PhD, MHS

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