Orlando Biomedical Ethics and Catholic Social Teaching Endowment

Mission

Gannon University is recognized as a leader in training global citizens and is inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition, especially its teaching on the dignity of the human person. The mission of the Biomedical Ethics and Catholic Social Teaching Endowment is to build on the legacy of the Orlando Endowment to establish the University as an interdisciplinary focal point for biomedical ethics and social responsibility, offering sound discernment and professional development.

Vision

Gannon University's Biomedical Ethics and Catholic Social Teaching Endowment aspires toward a more humane world by empowering people with the knowledge and skills they need to respond well to the rapidly changing contours of the biomedical sciences.

Upcoming Lecture

Thomas D. Harter, Ph.D.

“Ethics and AI in Healthcare: Promises, Perils, Facts and Fictions” Thursday, September 24 at 7 p.m.Location: Yehl Alumni Ballroom

Thomas (Tom) Harter, Ph.D., is the irector of the Department of Bioethics and Humanities at Emplify Health by Gundersen in La Crosse, WI. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy with specializations in medical ethics and business ethics in 2010 from the University of Tennessee. Dr. Harter then completed the 2-year Cleveland Fellowship in Advance Bioethics (CFAB) (2010-2012) before joining Emplify Health in 2012.

As Emplify Health’s primary clinical ethics consultant, Dr. Harter has performed more than 1,200 bedside ethics consultations. His work includes providing ethics education, in-services and workshops for house staff, medical staff, professional staff and health professionsstudents institutionally and throughout the local community.

Dr. Harter chairs both the Gundersen Health System Institutional Review Board and the Emplify Health Ethics Committee. In these roles, Dr. Harter helps develop institutional policies and practices, staff education and patient/community education.

Dr. Harter’s research on ethical issues that arise at the intersection of business, medical professionalism, and patient care has resulted in numerous peer-reviewed conference presentations, articles and book chapters. He serves as the president of the Bioethics Network of the Upper Midwest (BENUM) (2026-2028). He is also the secretary of the Association of Bioethics Program Directors (2024-2027) and facilitated the Ethics Roundtable for the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative. Dr. Harter also co-chairs the Wisconsin POST coalition and is a board member of the Council on Program Accreditation for Clinical Ethics Training (COPACET) (2026-2027).

As an adjunct professor, he teaches healthcare ethics courses with The George Washington University, Winona State University and the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. Dr. Harter is the co-editor of the recently published textbook, “Medical Professionalism: Theory, Education, and Practice” (Oxford University Press, 2025), in which he also authored a chapter on professionalism through the lens of physicians as employees.