Welcome to the Edmund D. Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics
The PCCB faculty and staff pledge solidarity with social movements like Black Lives Matter and with Georgetown leadership who are seeking to promote justice and to address systemic racism and discrimination. Read more
(June 22, 1920 – June 13, 2013)
Portrait by Jerry Crowley
The Pellegrino Center provides university-based ethics resources for individuals who shape and give health care. We are committed to the dynamic interplay between theory and practice, experience, and reflection. Center scholars bring expertise in theology, philosophy, basic science, and clinical practice to today’s ethical challenges. We seek to promote serious ethical reflection and discourse in pursuit of a just society and health care that affirms the dignity and social nature of all persons.
News and Announcements
PCCB faculty member and Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Chair in Bioethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics (KIE) William Sullivan is chairing the search for the Rose F. Kennedy Chair in Christian Ethics at the KIE. Applications are due by December 10, 2024.
PCCB co-sponsors lecture by Rosemarie Garland Thomson on “Changing the Story: Narrative Ethics Meets Disability Bioethics” Monday, October 7, 2024 at 5:00 pm in the Healey Family Social Room. More information
Sara DeLeon, Biomedical Science Policy & Advocacy (BSPA) ’25 in Biomedical Graduate Education, was interviewed about her independent study local genetic counseling services, which she undertook with the PCCB’s Jim Giordano in January 2023. Read more
Emerging Topics in Catholic Health Care Ethics: A clinical ethics webinar series co-sponsored by the Catholic Health Association took place on September 4, 2024: Brain Death and Transplantation: Questions and Controversies with the PCCB’s Myles N. Sheehan, SJ, MD, Daniel P. Sulmasy, MD, and Allen H. Roberts II, MD
2024 PCCB Awardee Francisca Finkel (M’24) was profiled in The Cancer Letter for “her calling in surgery, law, and health equity.” (See Finkel’s presentation at the Pellegrino Symposium at the recording link below.)
The 2024 Pellegrino Symposium took place Friday, May 3, 2024 at 3:00 pm EDT via Zoom and featured Nicole Piemonte, PhD, Associate Dean for Faculty Leadership and Clinical Associate Professor of Medical Humanities Creighton University School of Medicine, Phoenix Regional Campus and author of Afflicted: How Vulnerability Can Heal Medical Education and Practice speaking on More than “Soft Skills”: Compassion and Vulnerability in Medical Practice and Education More information and recording
James Giordano, PhD, MPhil, is a co-author of a paper published on the JAMA Network: “Definition of Implanted Neurological Device Abandonment: A Systematic Review and Consensus Statement” (April 30, 2024)
Emerging Topics in Catholic Health Care Ethics: A clinical ethics webinar series co-sponsored by the Catholic Health Association took place on April 10, 2024: Conscience Protection and Catholic Health Care with the PCCB’s Ed Grant
PCCB faculty member and Kennedy Institute of Ethics Director Daniel P. Sulmasy, MD, PhD published a Perspective piece titled “Physicians, Spirituality, and Compassionate Patient Care” in the March 21, 2024 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine
The 2024 Harvey Lecture took place on Friday, March 1, 2024 at 3:00 pm via Zoom. “Nursing Ethics and Bioethics: Perspectives and Prospects for the Future” A Conversation with Kara Curry, MA, RN, HEC-C; Barbara Bennett Jacobs MPH, PhD, RN, HEC-C; Margaret Harvey Granitto PhD, ANP-BC; and Carol Taylor PhD, MSN, RN, FAAN. “Nursing Ethics and Bioethics: Perspectives and Prospects for the Future” — Moderated by Sarah B Vittone DBe, MSN, MS, RN, HEC-C More Information and recording
On January 25, for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the PCCB and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics co-sponsored the Distinguished Scientist Seminar Series featuring Jonathan Moreno, PhD,
David and Lyn Silfen University Professor of Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania speaking on
Bioethics and the Rules-Based International Order Read the abstract and view the recording
Make a Gift
Please make sure to designate your gift to the Edmund D. Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics on the online giving form.
Center for Clinical Bioethics Programs
Your Health: A Sacred Matter
Watch this public television documentary on spirituality, religion, and medicine. Earn two free credits of CME/CEU for watching the entire film.