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Religions, cultures focus of Pitts conference Some of the world’s leading scholars of religion and culture will discuss the ethical implications of medical procedures that include genetic manipulation to alter human behavior, a face transplant to radically alter appearance, and doctors helping to interrogate prisoners during the 13th Annual Thomas A. Pitts Memorial Lectureship to be held Sept. 8-9 at the Francis Marion Hotel.   The annual event, sponsored by MUSC, will feature six nationally-acclaimed experts on medical ethics and religion, who will present their perspectives on issues that relate to conflicts among practitioners of religions such as Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and among cultures in Japan, China, India and the West.   “I doubt anyone will take what they learn here and apply it to the next patient they see,” said MUSC’s Robert Sade, M.D., who has directed the lecture series since 2000. “The intent is to help health professionals to more readily accept religious and cultural viewpoints different from their own.”   Sessions will include fabricated controversial situations that the scholars will discuss and debate. A few examples of the discussion topics include: A pre-pubescent boy is at risk for anti-social behavior. Should he undergo gene therapy to alter his brain function to make him less violent and more docile? “Our ability to do this is within reach,” Sade said. A car crash leaves a woman of Chinese descent with severe facial scarring. She needs a face transplant but decides that she does not merely want to return to her former appearance, but to have a more appealing Western appearance. “What do different cultures and religions say about altering appearance to change the perception of who we are?” Sade asked. Psychiatrists use their specialized training to gain information from detainees during interrogation. “We have heard of this at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. What are the goals of the healing professions? Is this use of medical knowledge and skills acceptable?” Sade asked. Other topics will include issues related to withdrawal of life support and a parent who refuses life-saving treatment for a child based on religious beliefs.   At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to: Discuss enhancement technologies from various cultural and religious perspectives. Evaluate contrasting cultural views of abortion. Describe divergence of worldwide religious understandings of death, as it relates to transplantation. The presenters include: Shahid Athar, M.D.—Athar is a past president of the Islamic Medical Association of North America and is the former chair of Medical Ethics. He was co-founder and chairman of the Islamic Society of Greater Indianapolis and the Interfaith Alliance of Indiana. He is the author of more than 120 journal articles and of seven books, including Islamic Perspectives in Medicine and Healing the Wounds of September 11, 2001: Reflections of an American Muslim. S. Cromwell Crawford, Ph.D.—Crawford is professor and chairman of the Department of Religions at the University of Hawaii. He is author of many books and research papers and often speaks at Jain conventions. Crawford has performed pioneering research in the relation between bioethics and Hinduism; among his recent books are Dilemmas of Life and Death, Hindu Ethics in a North American Context, and Hindu Bioethics for the 21st century. Russell Kirkland, Ph.D.—Kirkland is associate professor of religion in the Department of Religion at Indiana University. He is the author of Taoism: The Enduring Tradition, and numerous other studies of the history and religions of China, Tibet, Korea, and Japan. He currently serves on the executive board of the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions, the steering committee of the American Academy of Religion’s Chinese Religions Group, and the board of directors of the U.S. Taoist Association. William LaFleur, Ph.D.—LaFleur is E. Dale Saunders Professor in Japanese studies and distinguished professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1989, he became the first non-Japanese recipient of the Watsuji Tetsurô Culture Prize for scholarship. His research interests are in Buddhism and the literary arts in medieval Japan and comparative ethics, particularly with regard to the ways the religious and philosophical traditions of Japan impact Japanese attitudes regarding sexuality, abortion, medicine, and bioethics. Andrew Lustig, Ph.D.—Lustig holds the Holmes Rolston III chair in Religion and Science in the Department of Religious Studies at Davidson College. Before accepting this position in 2005, he served as director of Rice University’s Program on Biotechnology, Religion, and Ethics and academic director at the Institute of Religion in the Texas Medical Center. He has published eight books and 130 articles and book chapters on medical and public policy ethics, and writes the regular “Ethics Watch” column for Commonweal magazine. He is a founding co-editor of the journal Christian Bioethics and was the editor of the multi-volume Bioethics Yearbook series. Laurie Zoloth, Ph.D.—Zoloth is professor of medical ethics and humanities and of religion at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. In 2001, she served as president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and currently is the chair of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Bioethics Advisory Board. She is a member of many national advisory groups, including the Ethics Section of the American Academy of Religions. She serves on the editorial boards of The American Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Shofar: A Journal of Jewish Studies, The Journal of Clinical Ethics, and the American Journal of Bioethics. The lectureship is made possible by the late Thomas Antley Pitts II, M.D., who served as an MUSC board trustee for 35 years, of which 25 years were spent as board chairman. The bequest endowed a series of lectures on medical ethics. Those series became known as the Pitts Memorial Lectureship and has been held at MUSC every year since 1993. Due to the growing attendance, the two-day lectureship will be held at the Francis Marion Hotel in  downtown Charleston.   For more information, contact Sharon Kest at 792-5278 or visit http://www.values.musc.edu.       Friday, Aug. 25, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.