Samuel H. Cheng Medical Ethics Lectureship

Dr. Elder is the professor and director of research at the University of Cincinnati's Department of Family & Community Medicine. She will present how to approach the situation of making a mistake, and/or observing another physician, resident, or student make a mistake.

Joseph Fins, M.D., will present “Neuroethics and Disorders of Consciousness: When Rights Come to Mind”, Tuesday, September 17th from noon-1pm in the Kornhauser Library Auditorium, HSC. Dr. Fins is The E. William Davis, Jr. M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics and Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College where he also serves as Professor of Medicine, Professor of Public Health and Professor of Medicine in Psychiatry. He is the founding Chair of the Ethics Committee of New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center where he serves as an Attending Physician and Director of Medical Ethics. Dr. Fins co-directs the Consortium for the Advanced Study of Brain Injury (CASBI) and is an Adjunct Faculty Member and Senior Attending Physician at the Rockefeller University. Dr. Fins is a graduate of Cornell University Medical College. He completed his residency and fellowship in Internal Medicine at The New York Hospital-Cornell. He is a co-author of the landmark 2007 Nature paper describing the first use of deep brain stimulation in the minimally conscious state. Dr. Fins is the current President of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. He is an elected member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives.

Dr. Thomas graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and completed his internship at the Detroit Receiving Hospital and his surgical and urology residencies at Wayne State University. Dr. Thomas remained on staff at Wayne State as an associate professor of urology until 1982, when he joined The Cleveland Clinic. His special interests are reproductive and pediatric ethics. Dr. Thomas is widely published, speaks at a number of visiting lectureships, and is the recipient of multiple awards in medicine.