Academic Coalition for Jewish Bioethics
First annual conference - Philadelphia
February 29 - March 1, 2004
Continuing education credit offered: legal, medical, and social work

More info: Donna Kirschbaum (215) 576-0800, ext. 252 or bioethicscoaliton@rrc.edu
HUC-JIR Cincinnati campus: for brochure call HUC-UC Ethics Center, (513) 221-1875, ext. 367

The topic of the inaugural conference is "Addressing Quality of Life: A Challenge for Jewish Bioethics". Questions about quality of life challenge traditional notions that focus overwhelmingly on preserving life. This conference will bring together scholars and practitioners from a range of disciplines and Jewish backgrounds in dialogue aimed at crafting effective responses to these challenges.

Jerome Groopman, MD, who holds the Recanati Chair of Medicine at Harvard University and serves as Chief of Experimental Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, will discuss "The Role of Hope in Clinical Decisions" in his keynote address. HUC-JIR President Rabbi David Ellenson, PhD, will moderate a plenary session on "Moral Challenges in Caregiving", and Jonathan Cohen, PhD will moderate a discussion by Rabbi William Cutter, PhD of "Therapy vs. Enhancement: Defining Disability/Perfection".

The Academic Coalition for Jewish Bioethics strives to engage the Jewish community in considering biomedical decisions. While recognizing that any coherent Jewish bioethics rests on inherited norms, values, and experience, the ACJB advocates developing a variety of methods that bring clarity and authenticity to difficult life choices, and seeks to broaden and deepen bioethical conservation in Jewish life and to create models of cooperation across the spectrum of Jewish practice.