Drew University Hosting Conference on Medicine, Bioethics, the Holocaust

Drew University will be hosting a conference regarding the legacy of the Holocaust and the implications for contemporary bioethics, featuring a number of guest speakers, later this month.

The all-day conference will take place on Thursday, April 16, at Drew University and is open to the public. Dr. Arthur L. Caplan, founding director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, will be the conference’s keynote speaker.

According to a release from Drew University, the conference will explore issues related to bioethics and the Holocaust, including the participation of the medical community in the labeling and persecution of those deemed “unfit” in Nazi Germany and the ramifications for current medical and human rights issues, Nazi medical experimentation, the ways in which eugenic ideals were used to enforce Racial Hygiene Theory and the lasting legacy of the Holocaust for bioethics.

In addition to Caplan, the conference panel will feature numerous other speakers. Those speakers include Dr. Tessa Chelouche, author of the UNESCO Casebook on Bioethics and the Holocaust; Dr. Michael Berenbaum, Deputy Director of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust; Dr. Patricia Heberer-Rice, historian with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Dr. Allan Keller, founder of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture; and attorney and Professor of Mental Disability Law Michael Perlin, according to Drew University.

The public can attend the conference. The cost of attendance is $36 for the general public, $18 for students and $112 for physicians, which includes up to 8.5 Continuing Medical Education credits. Professional development credits are also offered for K12 educators. The cost of attendance at the keynote speech alone is $10 for the public and $2 for students.