Dr. Patrick Smith was awarded the 2022 Pellegrino Medal at Samford University’s Health Care Ethics and Law (HEAL) Conference.

“The Healthcare Ethics and Law (HEaL) Institute was created as an interdisciplinary effort within Samford University in 1999 to support the unique and complex relationships between patients and health-care providers,” states Dr. Scott Bickel, Director of the Office of Faith and Health at Samford University. “We host an annual conference on a current topic addressing some of the most pressing issues in healthcare and law.  As part of the conference, we honor an individual with the Pellegrino Award, named after Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino, considered the “father of the American bioethics movement.” TMC’s Dr. Farr Curlin received the 2019 Pellegrino Medal.

The topic of this year’s HEAL conference was “Coming out of the Pandemic: Where are we mentally?” and was designed to discuss the sharp rise in anxiety and depression following the COVID-19 pandemic and the ramifications this shift in mental health has on society as a whole.

As this year’s HEAL keynote speaker and Pellegrino awardee, Smith offered the lecture, “Social Ethics Aspects: Racism, Mental Health, and Advancing Justice in Health Care.”

Congratulations, Patrick!

Read and watch more about this conference here.