Innovation—Convention: The Tenth Annual Northwestern Bioethics and Medical Humanities Conference
Thursday, May 6, 2027
Overview
The Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities and the Medical Humanities & Bioethics Graduate Program are excited to announce this one-day conference dedicated to engaging the Northwestern and Chicagoland community in the rich, multidisciplinary research and scholarship of our field.
Call for Proposals
We are seeking proposals for short (10 to 12-minute), in-person presentations. We invite submissions from health care providers, fellows, faculty, medical students, and graduate students or alumni who have ties to Northwestern University or other medical centers, academic institutions, or healthcare organizations.
We welcome broad and even unexpected interpretations of the theme. Adherence to the theme will be considered in the selection process. Current students, alumnae and affiliates of the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities are encouraged to submit.
Conference Theme: Innovation—ConventionThis year we invite people to consider innovation in bioethics and medical humanities—alongside convention. We are often cautioned against “change for the sake of change” while also tasked with creating new solutions amid rapidly evolving biomedical and technological landscapes. Tensions may arise when balancing the “tried and true” with the drive for improvement. New knowledge, technology, therapies, and ideas often create new ethical challenges in medicine and healthcare and sometimes resurface old issues. In bioethics and medical humanities, some rely on conventional approaches to address such challenges, while others develop new strategies tailored to emerging or theoretical concerns raised by novel interventions and the conundrums they bring to light. How do we know when innovation in bioethics and medical humanities is valuable or necessary? What conventions can guide professionals in considering innovation? How do bioethicists find support from conventional practices when addressing innovation and change? When do long-accepted approaches fall short in considering the ethical challenges of new technologies and therapies? What can we learn from historic approaches to innovation? To what extent does innovation reflect shifting convention? Can innovation be conventional? Are there truly any conventions or innovations in the fields of bioethics and medical humanities? |
The submission deadline is Thursday, December 17, 2026.
Venue
Baldwin Auditorium in the Lurie Research Building (not to be confused with the nearby Lurie Children’s Hospital) at 303 E Superior St, Chicago, IL
Registration
Registration will be free and will open in early 2027.
For More Information
Please contact: Bryan Morrison, bryan-morrison@northwestern.edu
The views expressed by speakers are their own. The hosting, organizing, or listing of events does not imply endorsement of any views expressed.
Past Conferences
Boundaries
The Ninth Annual Northwestern Bioethics & Medical Humanities Conference
Monday, April 13, 2026
KEYNOTE
To Suffer What We Can’t Evade: What Is Medicine’s Role in Responding to Suffering?
Tyler Tate, MD, MA (Stanford University School of Medicine)
(Re)Centering
The Eighth Annual Northwestern Bioethics & Medical Humanities Conference
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
MORNING KEYNOTE PANEL
Bioethics Education Across Careers: Beyond the Sage on the Stage
Angira Patel, MD, MPH; Megan Crowley-Matoka, PhD; and Tod Chambers, PhD
LUNCHTIME KEYNOTE PANEL
Why Clinical Ethics Matters, Now More than Ever
M. Jeanne Wirpsa, MA, BCC, HEC-C; Erin Talati Paquette, MD, JD, MBe, HEC-C, FAAP; and Preya Tarsney, JD, HEC-C
Trust
The Seventh Annual Northwestern Bioethics & Medical Humanities Conference
Friday, May 3, 2024
KEYNOTE
Promoting Respect, Equity and Trustworthiness in Research and Healthcare Engagement: Implications for Bioethicists
Faith E. Fletcher, PhD, MA (Baylor College of Medicine)
Resistance
The Sixth Annual Northwestern Bioethics & Medical Humanities Conference
Friday, May 19, 2023
KEYNOTE
All Options Ethics Counseling for Clinicians When Abortion Care Is Criminalized
Louise P. King, MD, JD (Harvard Medical School) and Katie Watson, JD (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
Telling Time
The Fifth Annual Northwestern Bioethics & Medical Humanities Conference
Thursday, May 19, 2022
KEYNOTE
The Ends of Epidemics: Temporality, Disease, and the Uses of History
Jeremy Greene, MD, PhD, FACP
(Johns Hopkins University)
Health Across Borders
The Fourth Annual Northwestern Bioethics & Medical Humanities Conference
An Online Conference Series
Thursdays, June 3–July 8, 2021
KEYNOTE
Ebola and Structural Violence
Eugene Richardson (Harvard Medical School) and Paul Farmer (Harvard Medical School)
Medicine & Media
The Third Annual Northwestern Bioethics & Medical Humanities Conference
Friday, May 3, 2019
KEYNOTE PANEL
Reflections from the Trenches: A Conversation about the Media’s Role in Spreading & Stopping Inaccurate Health Information
Donna Leff, PhD (Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism); Matthew Weinstock (Modern Healthcare); Seth Trueger, MD (Northwestern Medicine and JAMA Network Open)
Artful Medicine: Where Art, Medicine, and Education Meet
The Second Annual Northwestern Bioethics & Medical Humanities Conference
Thursday, May 10, 2018
KEYNOTE
Can Visual Arts Training Improve Health Outcomes?
Joel Katz, MD, MACP (Harvard Medical School)
Producing Knowledge, Evolving Practice
The First Annual Northwestern Bioethics & Medical Humanities Conference
Friday, May 5, 2017
KEYNOTE:
“Taking Turns”: Graphic Medicine & the Oral History of a Chicago AIDS Unit