• FOR LIFE AND FAMILY

about Converging Roads

Where Health Care Ethics and Medicine Converge
Converging Roads is a regional conference series offering continuing education for health care professionals that equips them to practice the highest ethical and medical standards of their profession. To learn more about Converging Roads, click here.
  • Feedback from Converging Roads 2019:
  • "The conference appealed on spiritual, personal, and professional levels. A supportive and relational experience, this conference came at a much needed point in my career."
  • "This conference not only presented medical insight, it affirmed my faith in Jesus Christ."
  • "We received timely, practical information from a Natural Law perspective, along with solid teachings from the Catholic faith and skills in interacting with patients. Very worth my time!"

REGISTRATION

REGISTRATION CLOSED

FOR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AND MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT

In-Person Ticket Options:
  • Physicians/Physician Assistants: $149
  • Nurses/Nurse Practitioners: $129
  • General Admission*: $79
  • Medical residents, clergy, or religious*: $69
  • Student Scholarship Rate**: $15
Online Ticket Options:
  • Online tickets include access to the livestream on Saturday, November 13, as well as approximately 72 hours of access to the recordings (from noon CT on Sunday, November 14, to 11:59 pm CT on Wednesday, November 17).
  • Physicians/Physician Assistants: $119
  • Nurses/Nurse Practitioners: $99
  • General Admission*: $49
  • Medical residents, clergy, or religious*: $39
  • Student Scholarship Rate**: $0
 
  • *Not eligible for CME/CNE credits, however, Chaplain certificates of completion can be requested upon registration for continuing education purposes.
  • **Not eligible for CME/CNE credits.
Exhibitor Opportunities:
Includes 1 exhibitor booth and admission for 1 organizational representative
  • Ministry/Non-Profit (including CME/CNE credits): $170
  • Ministry/Non-Profit (not including CME/CNE credits)*: $100
  • Vendor/For-Profit (including CME/CNE credits): $220
  • Vendor/For-Profit (not including CME/CNE credits)*: $150
 
  • *Not eligible for CME/CNE credits, however, Chaplain certificates of completion can be requested upon registration for continuing education purposes.
Student Scholarships:
  • Undergraduate, graduate, nursing, and medical students are eligible to register for Converging Roads at our scholarship admission rate. If you are a student currently enrolled in classes and would like to attend the conference, please complete our student scholarship form prior to registering for the conference (click here). If you feel called to contribute to our scholarship fund, you can do so at the time of registration.
Refund Information:
    • If you are no longer able to attend the conference, after purchasing your ticket, you may choose to transfer your registration fees to a scholarship couple in need, or request a refund.
    • All refunds must be requested 2 weeks prior to the conference. The last day to request a refund is Friday, October 29. All refund requests made on or after October 30 will not be accepted, but the funds will automatically be transferred to a scholarship couple in need. Please email [email protected] to transfer your registration or request a refund.

TOPICS

  • Vocation of the Health Care Professional
  • Ashley K. Fernandes, MD, PhD
  •  
  • Women’s Health
  • Marguerite Duane, MD, MHA, FAAFP
  •  
  • Hard Cases at the Beginning of Life
  • Christopher Kaczor, PhD
  •  
  • Sacramental and Spiritual Care for the Dying: Suffering, Compassion, and Hope 
  • Natalie Rodden, MD
  • Access to Care for the Poor and Undocumented
  • Claudia R. Sotomayor, MD, DBe
  •  
  • Vaccines: Moral Obligations, Prudential Judgements, Personal Responsibility, and the Common Good
  • Michael J. Deem, PhD
  •  
  • In Vitro Fertilization and Woman- Affirming Alternatives
  • Patrick Yeung, Jr., MD 
  •  
  •  

SCHEDULE

7:30 AM
 Check-In/Registration Opens
8:00 AM
 Opening Remarks
8:10 - 9:00 AM
 Hard Cases at the Beginning of Life
9:10 - 10:10 AM
 Women's Health 
10:10 - 10:20 AM
 Break
10:20 - 11:20 AM
 In Vitro Fertilization and Women- Affirming Alternatives
11:20 - 12:45 PM
 Hippocratic Oath Luncheon
11:45 - 12:45 PM
 Vocation of the Health Care Professional 
12:45 - 1:05 PM
 Break
12:45 - 1:30 PM
 Sacrament of Reconciliation
1:05 - 2:05 PM
 Sacramental and Spiritual Care for the Dying: Suffering, Compassion, and Hope
2:10 - 3:10 PM
 Vaccines: Moral Obligations, Prudential Judgements, Personal Judgements, Personal Responsibility, and the Common Good
3:10 - 3:20 PM
 Break
3:20 - 4:20 PM
 Access to Care for the Poor and Undocumented 
4:20 PM
 Closing Remarks
5:00 PM
 Vigil Mass (San Fernando Cathedral)
6:00 - 7:00 PM
 Wine and Cheese Reception (San Fernando Cathedral)
 

Speakers

NATALIE KING, MD, MA
Palliative Medicine Physician, Intermountain Healthcare

Dr. Natalie King is a palliative medicine physician who specializes in caring for patients with serious illness and nearing the end of life. She is originally from Indiana and attended the University of Notre Dame. While in medical school at Tulane University, she founded the Catholic Medical Association Student Section. She completed internal medicine residency at the University of Utah and palliative medicine fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. After fellowship she worked as a palliative medicine physician in Denver, Colorado, helping lead her hospital’s ethics committee and teach trainees. She completed a master’s degree in bioethics from The Ohio State University, partnering with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to improve education around palliative care for Catholic laity. She has organized a forum for the Catholic Medical Association on end-of-life issues. She is passionate about education and advocacy about palliative medicine and ethical issues relating to serious illness and the end-of-life and is set to have a book released by Ave Maria Press in fall of 2024. She lives with her husband and daughter in Salt Lake City, Utah, and works at Intermountain Healthcare.

ASHLEY K. FERNANDES, MD, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Director, Center for Bioethics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Dr. Fernandes received an M.D. from The Ohio State University, a PhD in Philosophy from Georgetown University, and an MA in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University, with a focus on bioethics. He directs ethics education for pediatric residents at Nationwide Children's Hospital. His scholarly interests include Catholic Christian bioethics, Medicine and the Holocaust studies, pediatric ethics, and philosophical anthropology as it relates to medical practice. He has presented his work at international forums, and is the author of scores of peer-reviewed publications and three book chapters. After a decade as a hospitalist, he is now an academic primary care pediatrician and has been an expert witness in court cases defending the rights of Christian healthcare professionals and prolife organizations. Dr. Fernandes is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Pediatricians, an elected member of the AAP's national Executive Committee on Bioethics, a member of the AOA Medical Honor Society, and a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, receiving Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award twice - in 2020 and in 2010. He has been awarded OSU's highest honors for teaching, including the Award in Mentorship, Professor of the Year award, and Master Teacher Award. He is an active member of the Catholic Medical Association and is part of their national speaker board, and a member of Ohio Right to Life's Board of Trustees. Outside of medicine, his interests include hiking in the National Parks, history, travel, and tennis. He lives with his wife and two boys in Dublin, Ohio. The views he expresses are those of his own and not those of his employers.

PATRICK YEUNG JR., MD
Professor, Gynecological Surgical Subspecialties, Saint Louis University

Patrick Yeung Jr., M.D. is a Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology  & Women’s Health at Saint Louis University. Dr. Yeung is Director of the SLUCare Restorative Fertility Clinic, and Director of the SLUCare Center for  Endometriosis. He is Vice President of  the St. Louis Guild of the Catholic Medical Association. Dr. Yeung received his MD at Queen’s  University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and did his residency training at Georgetown  University in Washington DC. Dr. Yeung has published over 40 articles in medical and ethics  publications, and is a speaker at national and international conferences and courses.

CHRISTOPHER KACZOR, PhD
Professor of Philosophy, Loyola Marymount Univeristy

Dr. Christopher Kaczor (rhymes with razor) is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University. He received appointments as a member of the James Madison Society of Princeton University, the Pontifical Academy for Life of Vatican City, and a Consultor to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He graduated from the Honors Program of Boston College and earned a Ph.D. four years later from the University of Notre Dame. He has written more than 100 scholarly articles. A Fulbright Scholar and an award winning author, his fifteen books include Disputes in Bioethics, Abortion Rights: For and Against, 365 Days to Deeper Faith,  The Gospel of Happiness, The Seven Big Myths about Marriage,  A Defense of Dignity, The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church, The Ethics of Abortion, O Rare Ralph McInerny: Stories and Reflections on a Legendary Notre Dame Professor, Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues; Life Issues-Medical Choices; Thomas Aquinas on Faith, Hope, and Love; The Edge of Life, and Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition. Dr. Kaczor’s views have been in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, TEDx, and The Today Show.

CLAUDIA R. SOTOMAYOR, MD, DBe
Chief of the Ethics Consultation Service MGUH and Assistant Professor at the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics

Dr. Claudia Sotomayor, is the Chief of the Clinical Consultation Service of the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, a Cura Personalis Fellow and an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine of GUMC. She holds an M.D. from Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua, in Chihuahua, Mexico and a Doctorate in Bioethics from Loyola University in Chicago Il, USA. Claudia also completed a fellowship in Clinical Bioethics at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston TX. (USA). She has been a Research Scholar for UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights since 2012 where she has worked in the area of Multiculturalism, Bioethics and Religion. She has also served as a member of the Ethics committee in different hospitals in the USA. Before coming to the USA, she worked in different hospitals in Mexico as a primary care physician, and was the health committee coordinator for FUNDESPEN, a non-profit that provides medical care to Mayan communities in rural areas of Quintana Roo, Mexico.

MARGUERITE DUANE, MD, MHA, FAAFP
Co-Founder and Executive Director, FACTS

Dr. Marguerite Duane, a board-certified family physician, is co-founder and Executive Director of FACTS about Fertility, an organization dedicated to educating medical professionals and students about the scientific evidence supporting fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs). She also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown and Duquesne University. Dr. Duane cares for patients via a direct primary care house-calls based practice, MD for Life, and previously worked as medical director of the Catholic Charities community health centers in DC and Maryland. Dr. Duane currently serves as the CMA State Director for DC, and is the past president of the St. Giuseppe Moscatti DC CMA Guild. She has served on the board of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the Family Medicine Education Consortium (FMEC). Dr. Duane trained as a Creighton, FEMM and NeoFertility Medical consultant, and a TeenSTAR educator. She received her M.D. degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and completed her Family Medicine residency at Lancaster General Hospital in Pennsylvania. She received a Bachelor of Science with Honors and a Master of Health Administration degree from Cornell University. In 2022, Dr. Duane completed a primary care research fellowship at the University of Utah earning a Master of Science in Public Health. Dr. Duane is married to fellow family physician, Dr. Kenneth Lin, and they are delighted to be the parents of 4 children, Isaac Thomas, Eden Rose, Ellis John and Gianna Marie Lin.

MICHAEL J. DEEM, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Human Genetics, Core Faculty, Center for Bioethics and Health Law, Director, Consortium Ethics Program, University of Pittsburgh

Michael J. Deem, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Genetics and Core Faculty in the Center for Bioethics & Health Law at the University of Pittsburgh, and serves as the Director of the University’s Consortium Ethics Program, which provides continuing ethics education to health care professionals in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. He is also a Resident Fellow of the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, subject faculty for the Children’s Mercy Hospital Pediatric Ethics Certificate Program, a member of the Hospital Ethics Committee at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and a member of the Modern Fertility Care Collaborative. Dr. Deem received his Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and completed the Pediatric Ethics and Genomic Fellowship at Children’s Mercy Hospital. He is the author of more than 20 scholarly articles and book chapters on philosophy of science, bioethics, ethical theory, and empirical health research. He is currently completing a monograph for Cambridge University Press on fundamental concepts in genomic medicine, and is co-editing the Oxford University of Handbook of Genetic Counseling and Nursing Ethics: Normative Foundations, Advanced Concepts, and Emerging Issues for Oxford University Press. Dr. Deem lives outside Pittsburgh with his wife, Katerina, and their five children. He is a candidate in the Deacon Formation Program of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and works in shipping and quality control for Katerina’s Catholic company, Little Way Design Co.

SPONSORS

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Accreditation
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) and St. John Paull II Foundation. Christian Medical & Dental Associations is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Physician Credit
The Christian Medical & Dental Associations designates this educational activity for a maximum of 7 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Physician Assistant
AAPA accepts certificates of participation for educational activities certified for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. by an organization accredited by the ACCME or a recognized state medical society. Physician assistants may receive up to 7 credits for completing this activity.

Nurse Practitioner
The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Program (AANPCP) accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ from organizations accredited by the ACCME. Individuals are responsible for checking with the AANPCP for further guidelines. Nurse practitioners may receive up to 7 credits for completing this activity.

Nursing

This educational activity has been approved by the Ohio Nurses Association (ONA), an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation (OBN-001-91). 7 contact hours approved.

Click here for full CME/CNE details

 

Chaplains
The National Association of Catholic Chaplains has approved this program for 7 Continuing Education Hours. Please select the General Admission or Clergy/Religious (if applicable) ticket option and request a certificate of completion on your registration form. For questions, please email [email protected]. 

Licensed Professional Counselors
This activity can offer 4 Continuing Education Hours (presentations on Vocation of the Health Care Professional, Women’s Health, Hard Cases at the Beginning of Life, and Sacramental and Spiritual Care for the Dying: Suffering, Compassion, and Hope). Please be sure to select the General Admission ticket option and request a certificate of completion on your registration form. For questions, please email [email protected].

Social Workers  
This activity can offer 6 Continuing Education Hours. Please be sure to select the General Admission ticket option and request a certificate of completion on your registration form. For questions, please email [email protected].

Venue

The Children's Hospital of San Antonio

333 N Santa Rosa St
San Antonio, TX 78207

For More Information:
Michelle McDonald, Conference Coordinator
832.779.1070
[email protected]

CONTACT US

  • PHONE

    832.779.1070

  • PHYSICAL ADDRESS

    1177 W Loop South, Ste. 940
    Houston, TX 77027

  • MAILING ADDRESS

    P.O. Box 5927
    Katy, TX 77491

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