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
Wednesday, April 2, 2025, 4-6 pm, in person. As part of Georgetown’s new Emergent Ethics Network, the PCCB will co-host the Network’s first Distinguished Lecture by disability rights activist and internet pioneer Vint Cerf, who will speak on ethical issues at the intersection of bioethics, environmental justice, and the ethics of digital technology. Learn more and register
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 4-6 pm
2025 Code of Ethics for Nurses: Bringing the Code to Life (via Zoom)
Georgetown University School of Nursing is hosting a Values Based Lecture featuring Jennifer L. Bartlett, PhD, MEDSURG-BC, CNE, CHSE. The presentation will identify key changes/updates to the revised Code of Ethics for Nurses, articulate ways to use the Code to navigate the everyday ethical challenges encountered in clinical practice, and explore the evolving role of nurses in addressing broader social issues that affect health both nationally and globally. Co-sponsored by the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, MedStar Health, and Ethics of Caring. Learn more and register
On March 13 the PCCB hosted “Neural Transformation and Digital Intervention: Rethinking Maternal Health Research” with Dr. Maria Kuhn, German Fulbright Foundation Fellow at the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics
The PCCB co-sponsored a conference February 27-28 at Catholic University of America here in Washington, DC on “Integrity in the Concept and Determination of Brain Death.” Speakers included PCCB faculty members Allen H. Roberts II, MD, M.Div., MA ; Daniel P. Sulmasy, MD, PhD ; and Sarah B. Vittone, RN, MA, MSN, DBe, HEC-C . More information
The 2025 Pellegrino Symposium took place on Friday, February 14, 2025 and featured Mens moralis mentis: Professor James Giordano and Two Decades of Neuroethics at Georgetown
More information
PCCB faculty member Joel Michael Reynolds, an associate professor of philosophy and disability studies at Georgetown University in Washington, presided over a Jan. 8 Catholic Health Association webinar titled “The Health of People with Disabilities: Addressing Ableism and Disparities in the Clinic.”
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.