The 23^rd Annual American Society for Bioethics Humanities conference will be held on October 11– 16 virtually. The theme for the 2021 meeting, “Bioethics and Humanities at the Crossroads”, takes inspiration from the original meeting location at Indianapolis, Indiana also known as “The Crossroad of America”. The annual meeting aims to be an arena for interdisciplinary exchange among professionals in the field of bioethics and health humanities.

The IU center for Bioethics, Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program of the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts, and the Charles Warren Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics will be hosting an evening with the humanities, Wednesday, October 13^th, at 8-9:30 PM (EDT).

In addition, four IU faculty and staff will be presenting at the conference. Find a list here below:

Time displayed are in Eastern Daylight Time

Monday, October 11th 

ASBH Holocaust Genocide Contemporary Bioethics Affinity Group

Challenges and Opportunities in Teaching the Legacy of the Holocaust to Health Professions Students

4:45-5:45p (EDT)

To see the center's involvement in Holocaust and Genocide Ethics, please visit our Annual Lectureship on Holocaust, Genocide, and Contemporary Bioethics  page.

Wednesday, October 13^th

An Evening with the Humanities

This session will explore Vonnegut’s 1968 play, Fortitude, through a dramatic reading and panel discussion, to be livestreamed from the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in Indianapolis, the city where Vonnegut was born and raised. The play presents a futuristic scenario in which a woman is kept alive as just a head on a tripod, manipulated by machines being controlled by a physician mastermind. Following the reading, reflections by three panelists from the hosting institutions will stimulate the conference attendees’ discussion of the play’s themes, including the purpose of medicine and ethical issues at the end of life and the role of the history of medicine and literature in framing these sensitive and important conversations.

Hosts: Indiana University Center for Bioethics; Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program of the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts; and The Charles Warren Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics

Session Time: 8-9:30PM  (EDT)

Abstract: Click here.

Friday, October 15^th

• Tah Yogo, MA & Persis Naumann, MA:
  • Paper presentation: “ Using Interactive Pattern Storytelling to Support Ethics Education”
  • Session Time: 12pm – 1:15pm (EDT)
  • Abstract: Click here. 

• Peter Schwartz, MD, PhD
  • Paper Presentation: “The Best Insulin is the One the Patient Can Afford”
  • Session Time: 5:30pm – 6:45pm (EDT)
  • Abstract: Click here.

Saturday, October 16^th

• Jane Hartsock, J.D., M.A & Colin Halverson, Ph.D
  • Paper Presentation: “ Dr. Carl von Klein and the Translation of the Ebers Papyrus”
  • Session Time: 11am – 12:15am (EDT)
  • Abstract: Click here.
• Emily Beckman, DMH; Elizabeth Nelson, PhD;  Angeline Larimer, MFA, MA; & Jane Hartsock, JD, MA
  • Panel Presentation: “Death in Indiana: Humanities Perspectives on Race, Pre-Mature Death and Health Disparities
  • Session Time: 12:30pm – 1:45pm (EDT)
  • Abstract: Click here.