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The Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care, established at the University at Buffalo in 1994, is now the Romanell Center for Clinical Ethics and the Philosophy of Medicine. The name change honors the 2003 testimentary gift bestowed by Edna Romanell, while reflecting a focus on bioethics in today's complex health care concerns. As a multi-disciplinary center with a long tradition of coordinating academic activities, the Center is poised to expand collaborative research and experience-based learning at UB to better serve the communities of Western New York, Southern Ontario, and borders beyond our own.

  • Romanell Center Speaker Series.

    Romanell Center Spring 2021 Speaker Series

    Pat Lee (Franciscan University MacAleer Chair in Bioethics)

    What Should Be the Overarching Natural End (Goal) of Human Life?

    April 23, 2021, Friday from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, join us online as Patrick Lee delivers the talk, "What Should Be the Overarching Natural End (Goal) of Human Life?". The event is part of the Spring 2021 Speaker Series hosted by the Romanell Center. For further information contact Jonathan Vajda, jvajda@buffalo.edu

    Patrick Lee, PhD.

    Patrick Lee, PhD

    Bio: Patrick Lee is a professor of philosophy and holds the John N. and Jamie D. McAleer Chair in Bioethics. He is also the director of the Center for Bioethics at Franciscan University of Steubenville. In this capacity he defends and articulates the Church’s position on a wide range of human life issues through his writings, debates, and public speaking engagements. He received a B.A. from the University of Dallas, an M.A. from Niagara University, and a Ph.D. from Marquette University. He taught for eleven years at the University of St. Thomas in Houston before coming to Franciscan University in 1992. He is a member of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, and Society of Christian Philosophers.  Faculty profile.

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We invite you to join the Romanell Center ListServe to receive timely announcements about our events, zoom lectures, conferences, workshops, blog updates, upcoming activities, and much more. To join our ListServ, please send your name, affiliation (if any), and your email address Jonathan Vajda, jvajda@buffalo.edu

UPCOMING EVENTS AT A GLANCE

April 23, Pat Lee (Franciscan University MacAleer Chair in Bioethics) Topic: What Should Be the Overarching Natural End (Goal) of Human Life?  

April 30, David Shoemaker (Tulane/Cornell) “Lessons from Psychopaths: Humor, Morality, and Responsibility"

May 14, Alan Shewmon (UCLA Medical School Emeritus) Read ahead workshop on “Constructing the Death Elephant: A Synthetic Paradigm Shift for the Definition, Criteria, and Tests for Death”

May 21, Matthew Liao (New York University Zitrin Chair of Bioethics, Director of the Center for Bioethics. “A Right Response to Anti-Natalism” Read-ahead worshop

May 28, Jason Eberl (Saint Louis University Professor of Health Care Ethics and Philosophy, Director, Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics) “Does Enhancement Violate Human ‘Nature”?

June 11, Jeff McMahan (Oxford University White Professor Moral Philosophy) “Moral Reasons to Cause Well-off People to Exist”. Will likely be a read ahead workshop

June 25, Peter Koch (Villanova University) “Why Psychiatrists Can't Get Consent for Psychopathy Assessments”  
 

ROMANELL DISCUSSION BLOG

  • March, Dan Sulmasy PhD/MD (Georgetown University, Director of Pellegrino Center)  “Whole-brain death and integration: realigning the ontological concept with clinical diagnostic tests” 
  • April, Harvey Berman (UB Med School) 
  • May, Phil Reed (Canisius College)
  • June, Jeremy Williams (University of Birmingham, England) paper “On Anti-Abortion Violence”.

The Romanell Discussion Blog is here.

E-Speaker Series

People

  • Jack Freer, Co-Director
    12/1/20
    Jack Freer M.D. is a clinical professor, emeritus, and the co-director of the Romanell Center. He was the course director of IDM 701 (the required medical students' clinical ethics course) for 30 years. DUring that time, Freer has organized the Romanell Clinical and Research Ethics Seminars, as well as many other conferences and lecture series over the course of his career.
  • Catherine Nolan
    11/30/20
    Catherine Nolan is currently working on issues in the intersection of metaphysics and bioethics. She is particularly interested in applying the concepts and arguments of the Christian metaphysical tradition to contemporary problems.  Her dissertation, entitled “The Ethics and Metaphysics of Vital Organ Donation,” was a defense of the claim that death is a metaphysical event, unable to be determined purely scientifically. This makes the diagnosis of death much more uncertain. If we attempt to justify vital organ donation by claiming that the donor is dead, we are often being misleading or dishonest. Instead, she suggests that we should focus on not killing the donor, treating those who may be dead as though they are still alive. 
  • Harvey Berman
    7/27/17
    Harvey Berman is a pharmacologist responsible for teaching Doctors of Pharmacy (PharmD) and of Medicine (MD) in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. His teaching and research interests are in adverse drug interactions, pharmacogenomics, ethics of drug clinical trials, pain palliation and geriatric pharmacology.
  • Barry Smith
    3/18/21
    As an undergraduate, Barry Smith studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Oxford, before earning his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester in 1976. Currently, he holds the position of Julian Park Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science, and Neurology at the University of Buffalo in New York.
  • Timothy J. Madigan
    4/2/20
    Timothy J. Madigan, Ph.D, is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, and the founder of its Irish Studies Program. Madigan’s areas of interest include Medical Ethics, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Popular Culture and Philosophy. He is the President of the Bertrand Russell Society and the former President of the Northeast Popular Culture Association. Madigan was the first editor of the Romanell Center’s “Bioethics Bulletin.”  
  • David Hershenov, Co-Director
    3/18/21
    David Hershenov, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at the University at Buffalo and co-director of the Romanell Center. His earlier research was focused upon issues at the intersection of personal identity and bioethics. His recent research interests are in the philosophy of medicine.
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KEYLIGHT

KEYLIGHT.
Jack Freer, Artist

Since retiring from clinical medicine, Jack Freer has been spending more time working on pastel painting. This image depicts a scene in Florence during a 1629-31 outbreak of bubonic plague.

SPOTLIGHT

Philip Reed.
Journal of Medical Ethics publishes target article by Phil Reed

Romanell Center fellow and Professor of Philosophy at Canisius College Philip Reed recently published a target article, "Expressivism at the Beginning and End of Life," in the Journal of Medical Ethics 46 (2020): 538-544. The article addresses how certain controversial biomedical practices might send a message of disrespect to the disabled. Learn more.

Interdisciplinary Activities

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"Where the World Finds Bioethics"  bioethics.net  

JOB POSTINGS