Posted by William Nunnelley on 2005-04-11

Samford HEAL Institute To Consider Vexing Medical Ethics Questions April 15 

The Samford University Healthcare Ethics and Law Institute (HEAL) will consider a trio of vexing ethics topics during its annual conference Friday, April 15: persistent vegetative state (PVS), legal myths and the difficulty with explaining the goals of ethics consultation.

The conference for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, institutional ethics committee members, chaplains and other healthcare professionals will be held in Burns Hall Auditorium at Samford.

Speakers include Ronald E. Cranford, M.D., neurologist and medical ethicist, Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minn.; Alan Meisel, J.D., director of the Center for Bioethics and Health Law and law professor at the University of Pittsburgh; and Sister Carol Taylor, R.N., Ph.D., director of the Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University.

Cranford will speak on "PVS: Diagnosis, Prognosis, Struggles." Meisel will discuss "Seven Legal Barriers to End-of-Life Care: Myths, Realities and Grains of Truth." Taylor will talk about "Helping Others Understand the Goals of Bedside Ethics Consultations."

The three will receive Pellegrino Medals recognizing their contributions to healthcare ethics. The medal is named for Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino, who received the first lifetime achievement award granted by the American Society of Bioethics and Humanity in 1998.

Sponsored by Samford's McWhorter School of Pharmacy, the HEAL Institute was created in 1999 as an interdisciplinary effort to offer educational programs for patients, healthcare providers, individuals who make patient care decisions and institutional ethics committee members. Dr. Bruce White is director of HEAL.

The program offers Continuing Pharmacy Education credit. For information, call Samford at (205) 726-2820.

Samford Business Dean Reed To Edit Special Edition of National Case Journal 

Samford University business dean Marlene Reed has been invited to edit a special edition of The Journal of Finance Case Research devoted to economics cases. The journal is a peer-reviewed publication of the Institute of Finance Case Research. Dr. Reed regularly presents case studies at national and international meetings of business case research organizations. At Samford since 1981, she was the Carnegie Foundation Alabama Professor of the Year in 1994. She serves on the Council of Economic Advisers for the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Law Professors Bishop, Ross Receive Teaching Awards 

Law professors T. Brad Bishop and William G. Ross are the first recipients of the Harvey S. Jackson Excellence in Teaching Award at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law.

The cash award will be presented annually to two faculty members: one who teaches first-year students and to one who teaches upper-level courses.

Bishop teaches contracts, municipal court practice and procedure, primarily to first-year students. Ross teaches civil procedure, constitutional law, constitutional history and professional responsibility to upper-level students.

The award was established this year by Cumberland alumni Edward R. Jackson and Richard E. Fikes in honor of Jasper attorney Harvey S. Jackson.

Samford Planetarium Sponsors Video on Astronomy Day April 16 

The Samford University Planetarium will present a video on the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn during the Birmingham Astronomical Society's star party at Oak Mountain State Park Saturday, April 16. The event is in observance of national Astronomy Day.

The public is invited to attend. Participants should meet in the Wildlife Center parking lot at 6:30 p.m. to assemble telescopes for viewing Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. The video will be shown in the Wildlife Center. For information, call the Samford Planetarium at 726-4139.

International Adoption Is Topic of Rushton Distinguished Lecture April 15 at Cumberland 

Present realities and future prospects related to international adoption will be the topic of this year's Rushton Distinguished Lecture sponsored by Samford University's Cumberland School of Law Friday, April 15. The public is invited free to the day-long symposium in the moot courtroom of Robinson law building, beginning at 8:45 a.m. Call 726-2418 for information.

The symposium will highlight various issues related to international adoption, including China's increasing dominance as a sending nation, with more than 7,000 adoptions in 2004, and recent scandals involving baby buying and stealing in countries such as Cambodia.

Topics will explore how international adoption can be reformed to ensure that all parties in the adoption triad--birth families, children, and adoptive families--have their rights and human dignity respected.

Speakers are: Richard Cross, special senior agent, Immigration and Customs Enforcement human trafficking unit and case agent on the Cambodian adoption investigation; Trish Maskew, president, Ethica intercountry adoption reform organization; Marianne Blair, professor, University of Tulsa College of Law, and specialist on legal regulation of intercountry adoption; Nili Luo, professor, University of Montana-Western, and expert on adoption of children in China and the U.S.; and David M. Smolin, professor, Cumberland School of Law, and specialist in a variety of international children's issues.

The lecture series honors the late Samford graduate and longtime attorney, Ray Rushton.

Health Department Recognizes McWhorter for Help in Bessemer Health Center 

The Jefferson County Department of Health presented a certificate of appreciation to Samford University's McWhorter School of Pharmacy for its service to the Bessemer Health Center in operating a smoking cessation clinic. The April 8 recognition was part of the 2005 American Public Health Week observance.

The pharmacy school has provided clinical pharmacy services at Bessemer Health Center since September 2003, and two pharmacy practice faculty are placed with the Jefferson County Department of Health as clinical pharmacists. Drs. Roger Lander and Michael Hogue of the pharmacy school collaborate with Department of Health physicians, nurses and pharmacists to train fourth-year doctor of pharmacy students in public health practice and ambulatory care.

 

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.