Kinsman Bioethics Conference

The annual Kinsman Bioethics Conference was established in 1989 through an endowment from the late John Kinsman. The conference convenes leaders in ethics from across the state and is hosted by a different city in Oregon each year. The conference is a collaborative partnership, designed to draw on and nurture the strengths of each community it serves. Breakout sessions promote shared learning among medical facilities throughout the region and offer powerful new tools for improvements in health care ethics. Many times, the conference is also a special time for attendees to build collaborative relationships and an opportunity to mentor and support future leaders in the field.
2025 Kinsman Bioethics Conference - “Healthcare Workers in Crisis: Identifying Moral Distress and Building Resilience”
Dates
April 17 - 18, 2025
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Venue
Riverhouse Lodge
3075 N. Hwy 97
Bend, OR 97703
Make your Reservation (Room Block): 34th Annual Kinsman Bioethics Conference
If the room block is full, you can book your room at the best available rate here: Riverhouse Lodge
Registration
Registration is now open! You can register here.
Registration will close on April 14, 2025.

We are excited to announce Dr. Cynda Hylton Rushton as our Keynote Speaker!
Dr. Cynda Hylton Rushton, an international leader in bioethics and nursing, is the Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the School of Nursing, and co-chairs the Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Ethics Committee and Consultation Service. A founding member of the Berman Institute, she co-led the first National Nursing Ethics Summit that produced a Blueprint for 21st Century Nursing Ethics.
To learn more about Dr. Rushton, click here.
Keynote Lecture: Moral Resilience: A protective resource to address moral suffering
Cynda Rushton, RN, PhD, MSN, BSN
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify common sources of moral adversity in healthcare.
2. Discuss the six pillars of moral resilience.
3. Explore the application of moral resilience in clinical practice.
Registration is now open! You can register here.
Registration will close on April 14, 2025.
Registration fee includes the following:
- Breakfast on Thursday and Friday
- Lunch on Thursday and Friday
- AM and PM snack on Thursday and Friday
- Conference material
Riverhouse Lodge
Make your Reservation (Room Block): 34th Annual Kinsman Bioethics Conference
If the room block is full, you can book your room at the best available rate here: Riverhouse Lodge
We are excited to announce the 2025 Kinsman Bioethics Conference Scholarship program. We would like to thank our generous donor for their gift, which has allowed us to support the scholarship program.
The purpose of the scholarship is to provide individuals who do not have access to ethics education or an ethics program an opportunity for education, professional development and building connections within the ethics community.
The scholarship will cover the recipient’s registration and lodging at the Riverhouse Lodge. Applicants must work in an area defined as rural or frontier by the Oregon Office of Rural Health and meet at least one of the requirements below:
• Applicant does not have access to continuing education funds
• Applicant does not have an ethics program in their hospital/institution
Please submit 250 words on how attending 2025 Kinsman Bioethics Conference can impact your work and community.
Deadline to submit your application: March 16, 2025
Scholarship recipients will be notified by March 31, 2025.
If you are applying for the scholarship, please still register for the conference and arrange for lodging. If you are awarded the scholarship, the registration fee will be reimbursed and your lodging reservation at the Riverhouse Lodge will be covered by 博彩网站 Center for Ethics.
Thank you!
Continuing Medical Education
Accreditation: The School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University (博彩网站), is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Credit: Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 10.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
National Association of Social Worker Continuing Education - 博彩网站 is approved as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the development by the Oregon Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. Participants can earn 11.25 nursing continuing professional development contact hours.
Nursing Continuing Professional Development - Pending
Co-Chairs:
- Susan Hedlund, MSW, LCSW
- Laurie Morrison, MD
Faculty & Moderators
- Amber Thorsen, RN
- Barb Harris, MDiv
- Cynda Rushton, PhD, RN
- Drew Lasky, MD
- Elizabeth Lahti, MD
- Fernando Serna, MDiv
- Holly Almond, MSN, FNP
- Jaime Fair, MD
- James Clements, MD
- Keren McCord, LCSW, OSW-C
- Kevin Bibee, MSW, LCSW
- Kimberly Carson, MPH
- Laura Hosford, MA
- Laura Mavity, MD
- Lisa Abia-Smith
- Maggie King, MD
- Melissa Denny, MD
- Molly Osborne, MD
- Prasanna Krishnasamy, MD
- Rachel Moses, RN, BSN
- Rana Najjar, PhD, RN
- Rob Stratton, MBA
- Will Dickerson
Co-Chair: Susan Hedlund, LCSW
Co-Chair: Laurie Morrison, MD
Fernando Serna, M. Div
Laura Hosford, MA
Laura Mavity, MD
Heidi Funke, MN, MA, RN, HEC-C
Keren McCord, LCSW, OSW-C
Past Kinsman Presentations
April 25, 2024
View the Agenda
Featured Keynote Speaker
Denise M. Dudzinski, PhD, HEC-C
Professor (Joint) in Bioethics & Humanities and Pediatrics, Division of Bioethics & Palliative Care Fellow of the Hastings Center
Adjunct Professor, School of Law and in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington
Chief of the UW Medicine Ethics Consultation Service, Director of Organizational Ethics at Seattle Children's Hospital
Conference Course Objectives
- Examine common ethical dilemmas faced at the bedside through various ethics-based frameworks
- Explain the ways in which structural inequities through policy, legislation, etc... negatively impact marginalized patients and their loved ones
- Consider the role that policy has on both clinical ethics at the bedside and broader organizational ethics issues
Recordings:
Opening Reflection, Keynote, 3 Plenary Events & Closing Remarks
Breakout Session: Ethical Dilemmas in Complex Discharge Planning
Breakout Session: Digesting the Ethics
Breakout Session: Guardianship and the Goldilocks Problem
Breakout Session: Considerations of Parental Authority
Breakout Session: Breaking the Covenant of Trust
Breakout Session: Local Public Health Ethics Committees
Breakout Session: Practical Applications of De-Escalation
Moving Towards a Beloved Community Bioethics - Patrick T. Smith, PhD
Reflection - Patrick T. Smith, PhD
Patrick T. Smith, PhD - Associate Research Professor of Theological Ethics and Bioethics; Senior Fellow, Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University
Along with his work at the Divinity School, Smith is the director of the bioethics program for the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine and associate professor in population health sciences, Department of Health Sciences, Duke University Medical School. He has served as a member of the board of directors and the executive committee for the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities. His current research and writing are in the areas of moral philosophy, bioethics, theological ethics, end-of-life care, and religious social ethics. Professor Smith was named a 2016-17 Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology, was the recipient of the 2019 Paul Ramsey Award for Excellence in Bioethics, and in 2022 received the Edmund Pellegrino Medalist Award in health care ethics.
James Mason, PhD
April 28, 2022 - View Recording
Password: VtnBiY6g