May 1, 2026
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Featured Keynote Speaker
Tenzin Wangmo, PhD
Prof. Dr. Tenzin Wangmo has been working at the IBMB since May 2011. She obtained her PhD in Gerontology from the Graduate Center for Gerontology, University of Kentucky (USA) and has a BA in Biology from Berea College, KY (USA). Her research interests are at the nexus of aging, caregiving, public policy, vulnerability, and responsibility. Her research expertise in ethics include access to health, well-being of older adults, health of older persons in prisons, technology and aging, caring for older persons, and empirical research methodology. She has published more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts in the field of bioethics, medicine, and gerontology. She is the vice-president of the International Association of Bioethics, board member of European Association of Centers of Medical Ethics, and was the co-Chair of the 16th World Congress in Bioethics. 

Learning Objectives:
1. Define the concept of the "common good" and discuss the role that healthcare systems, public health, politics, and bioethics play in cultivating health and human flourishing. 
2. Identify strategies to elevate marginalized voices with a special focus on Oregon and the Pacific Northwest region. 
3. Gain insight into emerging issues in healthcare ethics and explore novel policies and practices in health advocacy.

Slides:
Keynote Lecture: Caring For Older Persons in Prisons: Understanding Their Vulnerabilities and Rights

Practicing Ethics in Uncertain Times: Community Health in Action.

A1 – "To Care for Jay, We First Had to Build His Village"

A2 – “Does That Make Sense? Reliance on Patients’ Self-Reported Understanding Undermines Quality and Safety” 

A3 – “Flourishing despite Adversity: What Elephant Man teaches us about Human Flourishing” 

Everyday Clinical Ethics for Incarcerated Populations

B1 – “Community Initiatives for Advance Care Planning” 

B2 – “Clinical Ethical Dilemmas in Geriatrics” 

B3 – "POLST: New Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing Health Care Landscape" 

The Art of Connection: What Healthcare Can Learn from Museums

April 17 - 18, 2025

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Featured Keynote Speaker

Cynda Rushton, RN, PhD, MSN, BSN

Dr. Cynda Hylton Rushton, an international leader in bioethics and nursing, is the Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the School of Nursing, and co-chairs the Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Ethics Committee and Consultation Service. A founding member of the Berman Institute, she co-led the first National Nursing Ethics Summit that produced a Blueprint for 21st Century Nursing Ethics.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify common sources of moral adversity in healthcare.

2. Discuss the six pillars of moral resilience.

3. Explore the application of moral resilience in clinical practice.

Recordings and Slides:

Opening Reflection & Keynote Opening Address

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Panel: Nowhere to Go - Ethical Issues with Boarding in the ED

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Breakout Session: The Cost of Delay: Ethical Concerns in ED Boarding

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Panel: Avian Flu—Do the OHA Crisis Guidelines Prepare Us for the Next Pandemic?

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Breakout Session: Rapidly Changing Healthcare Landscape: Observations and Adaptations in End of Life Care

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Breakout Session: Trauma Informed Strategies for Regulating and De-escalating

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Breakout Session: Caregiver Resilience: Improving Individual, Family and Global Health

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Presentation: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction - Resilience in the Eye of the Storm

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Panel: The Things That Keep Us Up at Night - Moral Distress in the System

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Breakout Session: Financial Distress in Workplace: Caring for the Neighbor in our Midst

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Presentation – “Practical Narrative Medicine: Workshop & Tool Kit”

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Breakout Session: Art Heals

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Closing Reflection

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April 25, 2024

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Featured Keynote Speaker

Denise M. Dudzinski, PhD, HEC-C 

Professor (Joint) in Bioethics & Humanities and Pediatrics, Division of Bioethics & Palliative Care Fellow of the Hastings Center

Adjunct Professor, School of Law and in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington

Chief of the UW Medicine Ethics Consultation Service, Director of Organizational Ethics at Seattle Children's Hospital

Conference Course Objectives

• Examine common ethical dilemmas faced at the bedside through various ethics-based frameworks
• Explain the ways in which structural inequities through policy, legislation, etc... negatively impact marginalized patients and their loved ones
• Consider the role that policy has on both clinical ethics at the bedside and broader organizational ethics issues

Recordings:

Opening Reflection, Keynote, 3 Plenary Events & Closing Remarks

Breakout Session: Ethical Dilemmas in Complex Discharge Planning

Breakout Session: Digesting the Ethics

Breakout Session: Guardianship and the Goldilocks Problem

Breakout Session: Considerations of Parental Authority

Breakout Session: Breaking the Covenant of Trust

Breakout Session: Local Public Health Ethics Committees

Breakout Session: Practical Applications of De-Escalation

Moving Towards a Beloved Community Bioethics - Patrick T. Smith, PhD

Reflection - Patrick T. Smith, PhD

Patrick T. Smith, PhD - Associate Research Professor of Theological Ethics and Bioethics; Senior Fellow, Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University

Along with his work at the Divinity School, Smith is the director of the bioethics program for the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine and associate professor in population health sciences, Department of Health Sciences, Duke University Medical School. He has served as a member of the board of directors and the executive committee for the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities. His current research and writing are in the areas of moral philosophy, bioethics, theological ethics, end-of-life care, and religious social ethics. Professor Smith was named a 2016-17 Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology, was the recipient of the 2019 Paul Ramsey Award for Excellence in Bioethics, and in 2022 received the Edmund Pellegrino Medalist Award in health care ethics.  

James Mason, PhD

April 28, 2022 -  View Recording

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