2025

• The anxious generation
  Speaker: Jonathan Thigpen, PharmD, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean for Curricular Innovation and Professional Development, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Samford University.
• Neurobiological aspects: Children, teens and the media: It's not all bad
  Daniel Marullo, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Children's of Alabama
• Philosophical aspect: Appearance or reality? The issue of truth and social media
  Dennis Sansom, PhD, Retired Professor and Chair, Department of Classics and Philosophy, Samford University
• Student aspect: Thoughts on the effects of technology and social media on their lives. Panel discussion
  Moderator: Amy Broeseker, RN, PharmD, PhD, Professor, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Samford University
• AI ethics: Wellbeing in the age of digital deception
  Laura DeNardis, PhD, Inaugural Director, Center for Digital Ethics; Inaugural Chair in Technology, Ethics, and Society; Professor, Communication, Culture and Technology, Georgetown University
• Legal aspects: Should minors' access to social media be restricted?
  Greg Laughlin, JD – Associate Professor of Law and Law Library Director Cumberland School of Law, Samford University
• Medication aspects: Update on medications related to adolescent mental health
  Kim Benner, PharmD and Mary Worthington, Pharm, Professors at McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Samford University
• School administrators: When the anxious generation goes to school - How parents and health care professionals can provide support
  Anna Gaston, LICSW, Student Assistance Counselor for Vestavia Hills City Schools
• Panel discussion: Where do we go from here?
  All available speakers

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