2024: Gun Violence and Healthcare: A Public Health Issue

  • Legal Aspects: Gun Violence Prevention: The Constitutional Dimension
    Brannon Denning, JD – Starnes Professor of Law, Cumberland School of Law
  • Public Policy Aspects: Pre-purchase policies and their effect on firearm fatalities
    Griffin Edwards, Associate Professor, Economics, UAB Collat School of Business
  • Epidemiological Aspects: Evidence-based solutions to reduce gun violence
  • Pellegrino Awardee: Cassandra Crifasi, PhD, MPH, Co-director, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions
  • Government Health Aspects: An overview of local initiatives regarding gun violence
    David Hicks, DO, MPH, Jefferson County Health Officer
  • Counseling Aspects: Responding to Trauma—practical advice for health care workers when serving families and/or victims of gun violence.
    David Cecil, PhD, LICSW, Professor, Department of Social Work, Samford University
  • Community Aspects: Reducing violence and improving health through community engaged violence prevention
    Lori Bateman, PhD, HEAL Fellow and Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine (Preventive Medicine), UAB Heersink School of Medicine.
  • Panel Discussion
    Christson Adedoyin, MSW, MATS, PhD, Department of Social Work, Samford University
    Henry Irby, Chief of police for Brookside Police Department; President of Alabama Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.
    Tiffany Osborne, Director of Community Engagement, UAB Minority Health and Health Equity Research Center

2023: Genetics & Genomics: Medical, Ethical and Social Implications

  • Ethical Aspects: An Overview of Human Identity
    Dennis Sansom, PhD, professor emeritus, Samford University
  • Genomics Aspects: An Overview of Genomics and Precision Medicine
    Pellegrino Awardee: Bruce Korf, MD, PhD, professor and associate dean, University of Alabama at Birmingham
  • Pharmacogenomic Aspects: Chronic Disease Aspects and Pharmacogenomics
    Nita A. Limdi, PharmD, PhD, MSPH, FAHA, professor and associate director of Precision Medicine Institute, University of Alabama at Birmingham
  • Ethics Considerations and the International Governance of Human Genome Editing: Prospects or Pipe Dream?
    Pellegrino Awardee: Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH, Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director of Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University
  • Medical Aspects: Human Identity and Medicine
    Pellegrino Awardee: Farrell Mendelsohn, MD, cardiologist and director of the Center for Therapeutic Angiogenesis, research investigator, Cardiology, PC
  • Genetic Counseling Aspects: Genetic Testing Challenges and Counseling Considerations
    Kelly East, MS, CGC, vice president of Educational Outreach, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
  • Faith, Health Care and Genetic Testing: Diagnosed with a Rare Disease: How One Family Navigates the Unknown
    Renie Moss, parent and advocate for children with neurofibromatosis

2022: Coming out of the Pandemic: Where are we Mentally?

  • Ethical Aspects: Why Should We Do the Moral Thing: For Reason or Love? Dennis Sansom, PhD, Samford University's Department of Philosophy
  • Nurse Aspects: The Nursing Profession’s Mental Health and Wellbeing: COVID-19 Impacts Stephanie Wynn, DNP, RN-BC , PMHNP, Samford University's Nurse Practitioner Department
  • Psychologist Aspects: The COVID pandemic and acclimating during prolonged crises Josh Klapow, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham
  • Legal Aspects: Public Health Mandates and the Law Frank McPhillips, JD, Maynard, Cooper & Gale, PC
  • Pharmacist Aspects: The Interplay Between COVID-19 and Psychotropic Medication Use Marshall Cates, PharmD, BCPP, FASHP, FCCP, McWhorter School of Pharmacy
  • Social Worker Aspects: Caring for the Caregivers: Impact of the Pandemic on the Profession of Social Work Lisa Baker, PhD, LCSW, Samford University's Department of Social Work

2019: Medical Marijuana: Its Benefits and Risks to Society

  • "The Changing Legal and Ethical Contexts of Medical Marijuana and CBD" by David Smolin, JD, Samford University
  • "Medical Cannabis: What is the Evidence for its use?" by Tyler Gaston, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham
  • "Real Medicines Have Real Risks: Marijuana's Potential Health Hazards Explained" by Erik Messamore, MD, PhD, Northeast Ohio Medical University
  • "Impact of the Agriculture Improvement Act" by Scott Gottlieb, MD, American EnterpriceInstitute and 23rd Commissioner fo the US Food and Drug Administration (2017-2019)
  • "Suffering, Marijuana, and the Goals of Medicine" by Farr Curlin, MD, Duke University
  • "Medical and recreational marijuana laws: effects on marijuana and opiod outcomes in the US adolescent and adult population" by Silvia Martins, MD, PhD, Columbia University

2018: The Ethics of Access to Health Care: Are We Doing Too Much or Too Little

  • "Biblical Framework for Caring for the Poor" by Dennis Sansom, PhD
  • "The Ethics of Access to Health Care: Evidence from the World Cities Project" by Michael K. Gusmano, PhD, Hastings Center for Bioethics
  • "Ethics of Access to Care from a Hospital/Health-System Perspective" by Keith Parrott, CEO, Brookwood Baptist Health
  • Ethics of Access to Care: Local Approaches and Considerations, Panel of Birmingham Area Health Care CEOs

2017: Effective Pain Management in an Era of Opioid Abuse

  • "The Nature of the Soul, Addiction, and the Seven Deadly Sins" - Dennis Sansom, PhD
  • “Opioids for Chronic Pain: Whatever Happened to First, Do No Harm?”- David N. Juurlink, BPharm, MD, PhD, FRCPC, FACMT, FAACT
  • “Turning the tide or riptide? Ethical Challenges of the changing opioid epidemic.” - Stefan G. Kertesz, MD, MSc

Watch the lectures: Part 1 | Part 2

2015: Religion and Health Care in a Diverse Society: The role of Institutional and Provider Conscience

  • "Taking Moral Diversity Seriously: The Implications for Bioethics" - H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., PhD, MD
  • "Can Professional Practice Help in Adjudicating Professional Conscientious Objection?" -Thomas S. Huddle, MS, PhD, FACP
  • "Reframing Conscientious Refusals in an Era of Competing Visions of Health, Medicine and Ethics" - Ryan Nash, MD, MA, FACP, FAAHPM
  • "Health Policy and Conscience Protection: Is There a Place for Religious People in Health Care Professions?" - Leonard J. Nelson, JD, LLM

2014: Immunizations across the Lifespan: Ethical and Legal Implications

  • "Immunizations: Individual Rights vs. Societal Obligation" - Dennis Sansom PhD
  • "Adult Immunization: Do Disparities Have Ethical Implications?" - William Schaffner, MD
  • "Requiring Immunizations for Health Care Workers: Fair and Just?" - Lisa M. Lee, PhD, MS, (Pellegrino Medalist) .
  • "Pediatric Immunizations: the Effect of Conscientious Objection" - David Kimberlin, MD
  • "The Illusion of Charity Care" - Bruce White, DO, JD (Pellegrino Medalist)

2013: Marketplace Medicine and Conflicts of Interest

  • "Fear and Loathing in Medical Research" - Carl Elliott, MD, PhD
  • "Health Care Reform and the Market" - Leonard Jack Nelson, III, JD, LLM
  • "Patient Demands and Accommodations" - Bruce White, DO, JD

2012: Moral Distress at the Bedside: A Role for Hospital Ethics Committees?

  • "Collaboration of a Nursing Ethics Roundtable and a Hospital Ethics Committee to Decrease Moral Distress at the Bedside" - Joy Hinson Penticuff, RN, PhD
  • "The Role of Ethics Committees in Catholic Hospitals" - Leonard Jack Nelson, III, JD, LLM
  • "Medical Futility and Moral Distress" - John Lantos, MD
  • "The Moral Distress of an Outside-the-Loop Clinician: Challenges for Pharmacists as Newcomers to the Health Care Team" - David Brushwood, RPh, JD
  • "The Effect of Completing a Surrogacy Information Tool on Admission to an Intensive Care Unit on Length of Stay and Charges: A Case Study" - Bruce D. White, DO, JD Case study article

2011: Eliminating Healthcare Disparities: An Ethical Quagmire?

  • "Health Disparities: Just and Unjust" - Robert Veatch, PhD
  • “From Stem Cells to Cloning: Where Are We Now?" - Gregory Pence, PhD
  • Panel Discussion on Health Disparities: The Case of an Undocumented Immigrant with End Stage Renal Disease - Denyse Thornley-Brown, MD, Gregory E. Pence, PhD, Robert Veatch, PhD
  • “Notes on the Role of University-Based Ethics Programs and Their Communities” - Joseph O. Dean, Jr., PhD
  • “The Health Impact of Resolving Racial Disparities: An Analysis of US Mortality Data” - David Satcher, MD, PhD
  • Case study, “The Family from Hell” - Bruce D. White, DO, JD

2010: Are Codes of Ethics Enough?

  • “Codes, Standards of Care, and the Differences between Ethics and Law” - Bruce White, DO, JD
  • “Developing Ethical Standards: The Role of People, the Role of Codes” - Joseph Fink III, BS Pharm, JD
  • “Ethics Code Design: Emerging Best Practices” - John Knapp, PhD
  • “Applying the Health Education Code of Ethics to other Health Care Professions” - Chuck Sands, PhD
  • “Codes Are More Than Rules, They Are Virtues” - Dennis Sansom, PhD
  • “Primer on Clinical Ethics for Ethics Committee Members” - Ronn Huff, MA (c)
  • “Codes of Ethics: Setting the Goal Posts for Professionalism?” - DeWitt C. Baldwin, Jr., MD, ScD (Hon)
  • “Codes and Care at the Bedside: The Nurse’s Dilemma” - Joy Penticuff, RN, PhD

2009: The Intersection of Faith and Ethics in Healthcare

  • “The Numinous, the Medical and the Moral” - Daniel P. Sulmasy, OFM, PhD
  • “The Fine Edge Between Light and Shadow: Spirituality, Illness and Dignity” - Karen Lebacqz, PhD
  • “When to be Spiritual in Health Care” - Dennis Sansom, PhD
  • "Conscientious Objection and the Future of Catholic Health Care" - Leonard J. Nelson, JD, LLM
  • “Self-Deception, Medical Practice and the Eclipse of Spirituality” - John Knapp, PhD
  • “Justice: Bedside Clinical Ethics’ Next Great Challenge” - Bruce D. White, DO, JD

2008: Healthcare Reform: Access, Economics and Obligation

  • “Children’s Access to Health Care: The Puzzling U.S. Attitude” - Loretta Kopelman, PhD - Response, Leonard J. Nelson III, JD, LLM
  • “Securing Access to the Healing Pool” - William May, PhD - Response, Wilton Bunch, MD, PhD
  • “An Argument for Universal Health Care” - Melvin Brandon, PhD
  • “Finite Care in a World of Infinite Need” - Stanley Hauerwas, PhD - Response, Dennis Sansom, PhD
  • “Health Economics and Politics: A Historical Perspective” - Robert Helms, PhD - Response, Michael Morrisey, PhD

2007: Struggling with Improving Bedside End-of-Life Care

  • Medical Futility: Where Do We Stand?, Lawrence J. Schneiderman, MD
  • Insights from Tarot about Futility Decisions: The Hanged Man, Amy Haddad, PhD, RN
  • Where is God in Suffering and Death?, Wilton H. Bunch, MD, PhD