17th World Humanist Congress 2008 – Speakers and Topics from the Congress

“The Enlightenment and Secular Humanist Biopolitics in Coming Decades” James J. Hughes Ph.D. Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Professor of Health and Public Policy, Trinity College

“Who owns you? Rights to Genetic Information,” David Koepsell J.D./Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor, SUNY Buffalo

“Balancing Autonomy and Community in Promotion of Human Dignity,” Jennifer Miller, M.A. Director- Bioethics International Inc. in NYC

Panel Moderator: Ana Lita, Ph.D., Director: Appignani Bioethics Center

James Hughes Ph.D. is a bioethicist and sociologist teaching health policy at Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut, where he is the Associate Director of Institutional Research. He serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (ieet.org) and produces the IEET’s syndicated weekly radio program and podcast Changesurfer Radio. He is the author of Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future, and is working on a second book tentatively titled Cyborg Buddha: Using Neurotechnologies to Become Better People. He is the international Secretary of the World Transhumanist Association, Associate Editor of the Journal of Evolution and Technology, a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, and a member of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities and the Working Group on Ethics and Technology at Yale University. Dr. Hughes speaks frequently on medical ethics, health care policy and future studies worldwide, and appears often on radio and television.

Jennifer Miller is the founder and executive director of Bioethics International, Inc. (BEI), a New York City based nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering professionals and other organizations in healthcare, life science and biotechnology to act responsibly, to improve the quality of healthcare and lives. A leading expert in emergency and pandemic preparedness ethics and general bioethics, Jennifer has lectured at universities across North America, including Fordham University, the University of Ottawa, St. Francis College and the City University of New York. Through her hospital training programs, Jennifer has trained over 2,500 clinicians and nurses on how to make ethical decisions, directly improving the quality of care for over 908,000 patients in the last year.  Hospital ethics committees and policy writers also benefit from Jennifer’s expertise.She has advised the American Medical Association, the United Nations as the representative for the Mexican NGO Mujer para la Mujer, the National Disaster Life Support Foundation, the Institute for Marriage and Family in Canada, the International Association of Obstetricians in Rome, Italy, Environmental Protection Agency scientists, top New York City based consulting companies, the private sector and the media. Her areas of expertise include the just allocation of limited resources; end-of-life care decision making; delivering proportional medical care including futile, palliative and therapeutic case management; organ donation; objection of conscience including physician autonomy  and informed consent; neuroethics; genetic testing and assisted reproductive technologies; eco-ethics; and pandemic and emergency preparedness ethics. Jennifer received a B.S. in Physics from Fordham University in New York and is a candidate for a Doctorate in Bioethics from Regina Apostolorum in Italy.  She is proficient in the English, Spanish and Italian languages. http://www.bioethicsinternational.org

David R. Koepsell, J.D., Ph.D. is an author, philosopher, and attorney whose recent research focuses on the nexus of science, technology, ethics and public policy. He is Research Assistant Professor, Philosophy, University at Buffalo; Associate Editor, Free Inquiry; Cofounder, Carefully Considered Productions, a not-for-profit media company; and Writer/Associate Producer, Calvin of Oakknoll: An American Apostate, a documentary. David is also Research Scientist, UB Task-Force for Ontology-Based Studies in Psychiatry (Classification of Diseases and Disorders) and was Fall 2006-2007 Yale University, Donaghue Initiative Visiting Scholar in Research Ethics “Individual and Collective Rights in Genomic Data.” He authored The Ontology of Cyberspace: Philosophy, Law, and the Future of Intellectual Property, Reboot World (fiction), The Ethics of Genetic Engineering, Robots Bowling Alone: Evolving Post-Technological Humans, Individual and Collective Rights in Genomic Data: Preliminary Questions, The Mystery of Intellectual Capital: A Prospectus, Ethics and Ontology: A New Synthesis, An Emerging Ontology of Jurisdiction in Cyberspace, and the innovative Amazon download Science Ain’t an Exact Science: Public Perception of Science After the Stem-Cell Fraud. David earned a B.A. magna cum laude in Political Science/English with High Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa in 1990 from State University of New York at Buffalo, a J.D. from SUNY at Buffalo School of Law in 1995, and a Ph.D. with the dissertation “The Ontology of Cyberspace: Law, Philosophy, and the Future of Intellectual Property” in 1997 from State University of New York at Buffalo.