Description:

The Master of Arts in Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program

Presents

A Montgomery Lecture

With

Risa Cromer, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN

Conceiving Christian America:
Reproductive Politics of Embryo Adoption

The U.S. Christian Right, well known for its opposition to abortion, has strategically interfaced with assisted reproductive technologies through the practice of embryo adoption to advance its nationalist political ambitions. Embryo adoption is a form of third-party reproduction that facilitates the donation of frozen embryos made through in vitro fertilization through an adoption-like process to recipients who plan to gestate and parent any children born. Launched in 1997 at an evangelical Christian adoption agency, embryo adoption aims to “save” what supporters contend are unborn children. Drawing on six years of ethnographic research within embryo adoption programs and 150 interviews with staff, participants, and supporters—the majority of whom identify as white pro-life evangelicals—this talk explores how saving embryos operates as a proxy for realizing the religious right’s ambitious goals. While a comparatively niche offering within the robust US fertility market, embryo adoption has played an outsized role in national politics for over a quarter of a century, from high-profile battles over public investment in stem cell research to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. By tracing the story of the first family forged through embryo adoption, over decades of advocacy for embryo saviorism to their appeal to US Supreme Court in the Dobbs case, this talk demonstrates how embryo adoption became part of the Christian Right’s pro-life political playbook for realizing a Christian nation.

This lecture is open to the public and will be held in the Searle Seminar Room in the Lurie Research Building (303 E Superior), Chicago Campus. For those outside the Chicago area and anyone who would prefer to attend remotely, a Zoom option is also available.

** PLEASE REGISTER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK**
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Description:

The Master of Arts in Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program

Presents

A Montgomery Lecture

With

Jonathan Hourmozdi, MD, MA
AI in Cardiovascular Disease Fellow
Center for Artificial Intelligence, Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute
McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University

Demystifying AI: Explainability and Algorithmic Bias in Healthcare

With the rise of large language models and a resurgence of chatbots like OpenAI's Chat-GPT powered by new cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology, interest and investment into AI adoption in healthcare are at fever pitch. And yet, even before generative AI and foundational models captured the public imagination, we have already been integrating powerful AI predictive algorithms into various healthcare applications. In this talk, we will explore whether machine learning and deep learning are really so different from other modeling techniques that came before. We will unpack the so-called "black box" problem of neural networks and other deep learning models and discuss how this contributes to algorithmic bias. The hope is that by peering under the hood of these new technologies, we can better understand the potential ethical implications of their adoption and hopefully find some proactive solutions.

This lecture is open to the public and will be held in the Searle Seminar Room in the Lurie Research Building (303 E Superior), Chicago Campus. For those outside the Chicago area and anyone who would prefer to attend remotely, a Zoom option is also available.

** PLEASE REGISTER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK**
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Description:

The Master of Arts in Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program

Presents

A Montgomery Lecture

With

Tod Chambers, PhD
Associate Professor
Faculty, Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Bad Bioethicists

How should we respond to the discovery of unethical behavior by bioethicists? In particular, should we treat their scholarship differently once such behavior becomes public? This Montgomery Lecture will deviate from its customary form. The session will be primarily a series of case presentations which will involve active discussion with the audience (both in-person and those attending online). There is no obligation to participate but it is encouraged and will be welcomed. 

This lecture is open to the public and will be held in the Searle Seminar Room in the Lurie Research Building (303 E Superior), Chicago Campus. For those outside the Chicago area and anyone who would prefer to attend remotely, a Zoom option is also available.

** PLEASE REGISTER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK**
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Description:

The Master of Arts in Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program

In Sponsorship With

The Institute for Public Health and Medicine Seminar Series

The Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities

Presents a Lecture

With

William Parker, MD, PhD 
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences
Section of Pulmonary / Critical Care 
University of Chicago

Bioethical Controversies in Crisis Standards of Care:
Preparing for the Next Disaster

Crisis Standards of Care (CSC) guide clinicians and healthcare systems in disaster conditions. A key component, these standards are life-support triage protocols which allocate treatment to critically ill adults. This lecture will describe the relevant bioethical values and discuss the active controversies that must be resolved before the next disaster strikes.

This lecture is open to the public and will be held in the HUGHES AUDITORIUM in the Lurie Research Building (303 E Superior), 1st floor, Chicago Campus. For those outside the Chicago area and anyone who would prefer to attend remotely, a Zoom option is also available.

FOR THIS LECTURE, REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE (AS WELL AS ZOOM): CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

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Description:

The Master of Arts in Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program

Presents

A Montgomery Lecture

With

Michael J. Oldani, PhD, MS
Professor, School of Pharmacy
Director of Interprofessional Practice and Education
Concordia University 
Mequon, Wisconsin

Shamans and Their Magical Scripts:
Ketamine, Dissociation, The Market

Ketamine is an old drug with new, emergent applications.  This paper and presentation offers early ethnographic and critical assessments of ketamine’s past, present and future.  in particular, ketamine, the molecule, has a particular biological efficacy that has impacted the market, Big Pharma, and new medical practices.  Ketamine’s emergence as ‘a matter of concern’ for anthropology and medicine allows us to ask an important critical questions, beginning with: what does psychiatric care look like in a world “after Prozac?" 

This lecture is open to the public and will be held in the Searle Seminar Room in the Lurie Research Building (303 E Superior), Chicago Campus. For those outside the Chicago area and anyone who would prefer to attend remotely, a Zoom option is also available.

** PLEASE REGISTER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK**
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Read more about this series | Sign up for lecture announcements