• 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 past attendees of Converging Roads:
    • "Excellent conference overall. This was my first one and I loved it. My wife and friends also attended and loved it as well. Would gladly attend more conferences in the future and invite more friends to attend. I am a better doctor, and human being, for having attended this conference."

REGISTRATION

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT

In-Person Ticket Options:
  • Physicians/Physician Assistants: $159
  • Nurses/Nurse Practitioners: $139
  • General Admission*: $85
  • Medical residents, clergy, or religious*: $75
  • Student Scholarship Rate**: $15
Online Ticket Options:
  • Online tickets include access to the livestream on Saturday, February 21, as well as additional access to the recordings (from noon PT on Sunday, February 22, to 11:59 pm PT on Wednesday, February 25).
 
  • Physicians/Physician Assistants: $129
  • Nurses/Nurse Practitioners: $109
  • General Admission*: $55
  • Medical residents, clergy, or religious*: $45
  • 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): $180
  • Ministry/Non-Profit (not including CME/CNE credits)*: $105
  • Vendor/For-Profit (including CME/CNE credits): $230
  • Vendor/For-Profit (not including CME/CNE credits)*: $155
 
  • *Not eligible for CME/CNE credits, however, Chaplain certificates of completion can be requested upon registration for continuing education purposes.
Sponsors:
  • If you and/or your organization is interested in joining our mission as a supporting sponsor, please click here for the Sponsorship Form. You can also submit the form online by clicking here.
 
  • For questions or more information, please contact the conference coordinator at [email protected].
Student Scholarships:
  • Undergraduate, graduate, nursing, and medical students are eligible to register for Converging Roads at the discounted rate above through the Dr. Mini Vettical Scholarship. 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 are interested in providing a scholarship for a student to attend Converging Roads, you can do so at the time of registration or by clicking here.
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 student 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, February 6. All refund requests made on or after February 7 will not be accepted, but the funds will automatically be transferred to a student in need. Please email [email protected] to transfer your registration or request a refund.

TOPICS

    • Human Flourishing and the Ethics of Technology
  • Kirstin M. Collier, MD, FACP
  •  
  • The Benefits and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care
  • Ethan Schimmoeller, MD
  •  
  • Technology and the Mental Health Crisis
  • Martin K. Huynh, MD
  •  
  • Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Medicine
  • Ethan Schimmoeller, MD; William J. Bosl, PhD; and more
  •  
  • Reproductive Surgery and Medicine, and the Flourishing of the Person
  • Presenter TBA
  •  
  • Science and Ethics of In Vitro Fertilization
  • Kallie Fell, MS, BSN, RN
  •  
  •  

SCHEDULE

8:00 AM
 Check-In Begins
8:30 AM
  • Mass
9:45 AM
 Opening Remarks
9:55 - 10:55 AM
  • Human Flourishing and the Ethics of Technology
 
10:55 - 11:05 AM
 Break  
11:05 AM - 12:05 PM
  • The Benefits and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care
 
12:05 - 12:15 PM
 Break  
12:15 - 1:15 PM
  • Technology and the Mental Health Crisis
 
1:15 - 2:50 PM
 Hippocratic Oath Luncheon  
1:45 - 2:45 PM
  • Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Medicine
 
2:50 PM
 Break
3:10 - 4:10 PM
  • Reproductive Surgery and Medicine, and the Flourishing of the Person
 
4:10 - 4:20 PM
 Break
4:20 - 5:20 PM
  • Science and Ethics of In Vitro Fertilization
 
5:30 - 6:15 PM
 Wine & Cheese Reception

Speakers

KRISTIN M. COLLIER, MD, FACP
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Director of the University of Michigan Medical School Program on Health, Spirituality, and Religion

Kristin Collier, MD, FACP is an associate professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor Michigan where she serves as the director of the University of Michigan Medical School Program on Health, Spirituality, and Religion. She received her medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed her internship, residency, and chief residency at The University of Michigan Hospitals. Her academic interests are in the overlap of spirituality, religion and medicine and her peer reviewed work has been published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the British Medical Journal, the Annals of Internal Medicine, The Journal of General Internal Medicine, and the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She has had writings published in Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal, Theopolis, America Magazine, Public Discourse and the New York Times. She is also a wife and a proud mother of four boys. She can be found at Twitter (X) at @HSRDirector.

KALLIE FELL, MS, BSN, RN
Executive Director, Center for Bioethics and Culture

Kallie started her professional career as a scientist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center utilizing a Master of Science degree in Animal Sciences with an emphasis on Reproductive Physiology and Molecular Biology from Purdue University. While assisting in the investigation of endometriosis and pre-term birth, Kallie simultaneously pursued a degree in nursing. During her studies, Kallie became interested in the work of the Center for Bioethics and Culture. Kallie is passionate about women’s health and continues to work, as she has for the past eight years, as a perinatal nurse. She has worked with the CBC since 2018, first as a volunteer writer, then as our staff Research Associate, and now as the Executive Director. In 2021, Kallie co-directed the CBC’s first documentary on “transgender medicine” titled Trans Mission: What’s the Rush to Reassign Gender? In 2022 Kallie co-wrote and co-produced the second film by the CBC on the topic, The Detransition Diaries: Saving Our Sisters and published groundbreaking research studying the experience of gestational surrogate mothers in America. Kallie hosts the popular podcast Venus Rising and is the Program Director for the Paul Ramsey Institute. Her latest film, The Lost Boys: Searching for Manhood was released in January 2024. Her first book, co-authored with Jennifer Lahl, The Detransition Diaries (published by Ignatius Press) was published in February 2024.

ETHAN SCHIMMOELLER, MD, MA
Palliative Medicine Physician, Riverside Methodist Hospital

Ethan Schimmoeller, MD, MA is a palliative medicine physician at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he also serves on faculty for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship. He earned his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and master's in bioethics from The Ohio State University. He completed residency training with Memorial Family Medicine Residency in South Bend, Indiana, where he served as academic chief resident and was awarded resident teacher of the year, and fellowship training at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Within his hospital, he serves as co-chair of the clinical ethics committee, and participated in a nationwide Delphi panel related to the ethics of AI in medicine. He has been active in a newly founded professional organization, the Hippocratic Society, dedicated to moral formation in medicine, serving as founding faculty lead for chapters at two universities. His scholarly interests include ethics of technology, medical humanities, and end of life ethics, and his publications have appeared in The McGrath Church Life Journal and The Linacre Quarterly.

VERY REV. MARK DOHERTY, STL
Rector-President, St. Patrick’s Seminary

Father Mark Doherty, a Tacoma, Washington native, was ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 2014 after a decade with the California Province of Jesuits. During his time with the Jesuits and beyond, he dedicated years to teaching, further education, and assignments across the United States and abroad. In 2016, he moved to Switzerland to pursue graduate studies, earning a License in Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg in 2018. Subsequently, he was appointed ‘assistant diplômé’ to the Chair in Fundamental Moral Theology. In 2020, he returned to St. Patrick’s Seminary and was named interim rector-president by Archbishop Cordileone. The following year, the Board of Trustees appointed him rector-president for a five-year term.

MARTIN K. HUYNH, MD
Associate Program Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship, University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston

Martin K. Huynh, MD is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who completed medical school and psychiatry residency at Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, where he served as a chief fellow. He is an assistant professor and associate program director of the child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He works in a rural telemedicine setting. Dr. Huynh's interests include psychotherapy, bioethics, and functional/integrative medicine.

WILLIAM J. BOSL, PhD
Professor of Health Informatics, University of San Francisco, Research Faculty, Boston Children’s Hospital

William J. Bosl, PhD, PhD is Professor of Health Informatics and Data Science at the University of San Francisco, Research Faculty in Computational Health Informatics at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Lecturer in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He is a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and a Fellow of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society (ACNS). Dr. Bosl has a PhD from Stanford University (Geophysics) and Boston University (Behavioral Neuroscience). He has taught graduate level courses in health and biomedical informatics and data science at the University of San Francisco, MIT, and Boston University and has published numerous papers in leading journals on neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry in pediatric populations and, more recently, papers on consciousness and moral agency in humans and machines. Before beginning research in neuroscience and biomedical informatics at Harvard Medical School, he worked as a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

SPONSORS

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Chaplains
The National Association of Catholic Chaplains has approved this program for 6 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. 

Venue

St. Patrick's Seminary & University

320 Middlefield Rd.
Menlo Park, CA 94025

For More Information:
Nancy Ariza, 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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