Reflections in Honor of the Life and Influence of Professor Alan Wertheimer

This is a past event

Description

This conference was an afternoon of reflection on the life, work, and enduring influence of Professor Alan Wertheimer (1942-2015). Professor Wertheimer was a leading philosopher of law and bioethics, making critical contributions to clinical research ethics; theories of coercion, undue influence, and exploitation; consent in a variety of contexts, and much more. This tribute event featured leading scholars discussing and engaging with Professor Wertheimer’s many contributions, and exploring how he influenced their own work.

At the time of his death in 2015, Alan Wertheimer was Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health. He was Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Vermont, where he taught from 1968 to 2005 and was honored as University Scholar in 1995-1996. Before retiring from UVM, he was also John G. McCullough Professor of Political Science. He authored Coercion (Princeton University Press, 1987), Exploitation (Princeton University Press, 1996), Consent to Sexual Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and Rethinking the Ethics of Clinical Research: Widening the Lens (Oxford University Press, 2011). He was twice a Visiting Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and held fellowships at the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton (1984-85) and the Program in Ethics and the Professions, Harvard University (1989-90).

Agenda

All panels included time for audience Q & A.

12:30 – 1:00pm, Registration

1:00 – 1:05pm, Welcome

1:05 – 2:35pm, Professor Wertheimer’s Influence on Bioethics

2:35 – 2:50pm, Break

2:50 – 4:20pm, Professor Wertheimer’s Influence on Law

4:20 – 4:30pm, Professor Wertheimer as Mentor and Friend

4:30 – 4:50pm, Reflections

4:50 – 5:30pm, Panel Discussion (All Panelists and Audience)

5:30pm, Adjourn

This event was free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, with support from the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund.