Carleton to Present Convocation on Bioethics and Medicine

Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Ethics Dr. Edmund Pellegrino will present a convocation address entitled “The Moral Foundation of Medical Practice” at Carleton College on Friday, May 8 at 10:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. This event is free and open to the public.

Pellegrino has played a central role in shaping the field of bioethics and the philosophy of medicine. He is best known for his discussions of Christian virtue and medical ethics in the treatment of patients, humanism and the physician, and the philosophical basis of medical treatment. His writings encompass original explorations of the healing relationship, the need to place humanism in the medical curriculum, the nature of the patient’s good, and the importance of a virtue-based normative ethics for healthcare.

Pellegrino has authored or co-authored 24 books and published more than 575 articles in medical science, philosophy, ethics, and a member of numerous editorial boards. He is founding editor of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, a Master of the American College of Physicians, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. The recipient of a number of honorary doctorates, he has also been honored with the Benjamin Rush Award from the American Medical Association, and the Abraham Flexner Award of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

In 2004, Pellegrino was named to the International Bioethics Committee of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is the only advisory body within the United Nations system to engage in reflection on the ethical implications of advances in life sciences. In September 2005, Dr Pellegrino was appointed by President Bush to chair the President's Council on Bioethics.

Throughout his esteemed career, Pellegrino has continued seeing patients in clinical consults, teaching medical students, interns and residents, and doing research. Since his retirement in 2000, he has remained at Georgetown, where he is the Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Ethics at Georgetown University Medical Center and adjunct professor of philosophy at Georgetown University.

For more information, including disability accommodations, contact the Carleton College Relations Office at (507) 222-4308.