Image courtesy of the US National Institute of Health.
Romanell Center Spring 2021 Speaker Series
D. Alan Shewmon, MD (UCLA Medical School Emeritus)
Constructing the Death Elephant: A Synthetic Paradigm Shift for the Definition, Criteria, and Tests for Death
May 14, 2021, Friday, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, join us online as Alan Shewmon (UCLA Medical School Emeritus) delivers the read ahead workshop on “Constructing the Death Elephant: A Synthetic Paradigm Shift for the Definition, Criteria, and Tests for Death”. The event is part of the Spring 2021 Speaker Series hosted by the Romanell Center. For further information contact Jonathan Vajda, jvajda@buffalo.edu
D. Alan Shewmon, MD
Biosketch: Dr. D. Alan Shewmon received his BA from Harvard in 1971 as a music major. After medical school and residencies in pediatrics and neurology, he joined UCLA’s Pediatric Neurology division in 1981, directing its Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory and playing a key role in its emergence as a preeminent center for pediatric epilepsy surgery.
In 2000 he moved to Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, a university-affiliated county hospital, where he was appointed Chief of Neurology. He became Emeritus at UCLA in 2011 and retired from the county in 2014, while continuing to be clinically active in the Los Angeles area.
Dr. Shewmon's research interests include pediatric epilepsy and neuroethics. On topics related to brain death and disorders of consciousness, he has authored over 40 publications, served on national and international committees, and given numerous lectures at national and international levels.
Shewmon's presentation to the President’s Council on Bioethics greatly influenced its white paper “Controversies in the Determination of Death.”
Many credit Dr. Shewmon as the person most responsible for the current critical rethinking of brain-death theory.