with: Ezekiel Emanuel
Ezekiel J. Emanuel is Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also chairs the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. Trained as an oncologist and political philosopher, he holds an MD from Harvard Medical School and a PhD in political philosophy from Harvard University. He also earned an MSc in Biochemistry from Oxford University and is a graduate of Amherst College.
Dr. Emanuel is a world-renowned authority in health policy and bioethics. He was the founding chair of the Department of Bioethics at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and served as Special Advisor on Health Policy during the Obama administration, contributing significantly to the drafting of the Affordable Care Act. He currently advises the Director General of the World Health Organization, is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. With over 350 publications and 15 books to his name, he is the most widely cited bioethicist in history and a regular contributor to major media outlets. His accolades include election to the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal College of Medicine (UK), among many others.
Masterclass
On May 20, 2025, from 10:00 to 11:30, we had the privilege of hosting Prof. Ezekiel J. Emanuel at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine.
Prof. Emanuel delivered a thought-provoking lecture titled “Understanding Fairness in the Era of Specialty Drugs”, offering a forward-looking perspective on the evolving relationship between bioethics and public health in the United States. His keynote sparked meaningful discussions on equity, access, and the complexities of resource allocation in contemporary healthcare.
Following the keynote, the event featured three rapid-fire presentations highlighting cutting-edge research from IBME at the intersection of ethics, medicine, and society:
Dr. Rasita Vinay – An Introduction to GRACE
Dr. Andrea Ferrario – Challenges affecting the implementation of algorithms to predict patient preferences in clinical practice
Dr. Giovanni Spitale – An overview of the WHO framework for infodemics management
The session concluded with an open discussion, inviting critical reflection and collective engagement on shared challenges and global directions. A huge thank you to all the speakers and attendees for contributing to a rich and stimulating masterclass!