The Hopkins Undergraduate Bioethics Symposium (HUBS) held a Research Ethics Talk yesterday evening in the Charles Commons Ballroom to discuss the role of health care in developing countries. Attendees were divided into small groups of about five people, and each group was assigned to discuss and debate a particular set of issues pertaining to research worldwide.
"The purpose of this event and any other events that we host is to promote critical thinking," junior Dennis Orkoulas-Razis said. "Often, we present questions that really have no wrong or right answer, and challenge people to form opinions and defend them with evidence and reason."
About 25 students in total attended the event and debated different questions including: is health care a universal right? Who is responsible for providing health care? Whose standard of care should be implemented when conducting research in developing countries? And what sort of compensation should be offered for people in developing countries who participate in research?
Some members of the audience were students looking to earn extra credit in their Introduction to Moral Philosophy class.
"I came to the event because I could get extra credit for my Introduction to Moral Philosophy class, but I also enjoyed it because it was like an outlet to talk about important issues, global issues, without having to necessarily examine it from an academic lens. It was more about how you felt about issues on instinct," freshman Jeremy Lin said.
Some students enjoyed coming, despite originally attending for the sake of a class.
"I'm glad that the professor offered this as an extra credit assignment, because otherwise I probably would not have heard of it," sophomore Christina Luk said.
In contrast, Chloe Reichel, a freshman, attended the event because she is a Philosophy major and found the topic interesting.
"I think this event is especially pertinent now with the Affordable Care Act before the Supreme Court," she said. "It's important to discuss what the issues facing healthcare in the developing world are. My favorite part was being able to discuss these issues with other people who have a background in ethics or are interested in it."
The event was discussion based, encouraging everyone to speak out regardless of their background.
"I was surprised that people were very well informed by things," sophomore Morgan Halstead said. "Even people who were initially hesitant to join in eventually got the hang of it. I like that aspect of it and how it was a lot of open discussion. Nobody ever said you're wrong. It was very respectful."
Halstead was not the only one who thought the event went well.
"I'm pleased with the turnout," Abbas Rattani, Director of HUBS and Research Program Coordinator at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, said. "Ideally, we would like to have better technology and faculty moderating some of these things. Most of the moderators are students - most of them have been trained to moderate by me and they brought whatever moderating experience they had to the table. Still, it'd be great if we had people who are experts moderating."
Rattani noted that attendance has increased since HUBS began holding these events two years ago.
"A symposium goes back to the original idea of the Ancient Greeks - to provide good food, good people and good conversation all together," he said. "We tried to bring that here. Our belief is that people don't want to go to a lecture after they just came from a lecture. They want to do something that empowers them and makes them think more. Everything that we try to do fosters that."
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