Published on March 21, 2014 by William Nunnelley  

Samford University's Healthcare Ethics and Law Institute (HEAL) will examine "Immunizations across the Lifespan: Ethical and Legal Implications" during its annual conference Friday, April 11.

The conference--sponsored by Samford's McWhorter School of Pharmacy--is designed to stimulate conversation around some of today's most pressing health-care ethics and law issues and problems.  It will meet in Brock Forum of Dwight Beeson Hall at Samford from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Speakers will include Lisa M. Lee, Ph.D., executive director of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, Washington, D.C.; William Schaffner, M.D., professor of preventive medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn.; David Kimberlin, M.D., codirector of the Division of Pediatric Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Dennis Sansom, Ph.D., chair of the department of philosophy, Samford University; and Bruce White, D.O., J.D., director of the Alden March Bioethics Institute, Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center and founder of the HEAL Institute.

Lee and White will receive Pellegrino Medals for their contributions to healthcare ethics during the conference luncheon. The medal is named for Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino, the first recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. The medal has been presented annually to world renowned clinical ethicists over the 13 years of the HEAL Institute's existence.

The program also will include a panel discussion on ethics and immunizations.  

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.