Scholars in religion and medicine will take part in a panel discussion March 14 at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy on how new reproductive technologies might change the meaning of being human. The event is free and open to the public.

"The Meaning of Being Human: A Discussion on Religion and Medicine" will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Baker Hall's Doré Commons on the Rice campus, 6100 Main St. 

Researchers and health care providers are aware that religious frameworks, beliefs and practices may play a role in shaping not only medical decision-making in patients and doctors, but also broader concepts of ethics in medicine. The March 14 Baker Institute discussion will present themes that are relevant to practitioners, scholars and lay people who have an interest in what takes place within hospitals and medical research labs.

 Elaine Howard Ecklund, assistant professor of sociology at Rice University and director of the Religion and Public Life Program, will moderate the discussion with panelists John Evans, professor of sociology at the University of California at San Diego and author of Contested Reproduction: Genetic Technologies, Religion and Public Debate, and Baruch Brody, Rice's Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities and professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Medical Ethics at Baylor College of Medicine.

The event will be webcast at http://bakerinstitute.org/events/the-meaning-of-being-human-a-discussion-on-religion-and-medicine.

The panel discussion is part of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research's Religion and Public Life Program and is co-sponsored by the Cultural Studies of Science and Technology and the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine.