2026 Conference of the Professions
Human Flourishing in Professional Practice
Date: Friday, May 8th
Time: 8:30 am- Noon
Location: Scottish Rite 2222 Welborn Street, Dallas, Texas 75219
Conference Description:
The conference will explore what it means for the professions to contribute to human flourishing in the communities they serve. By bringing together leaders from law, medicine, and religious life, the gathering creates space to reflect on how these professions shape the well-being of individuals and communities, and how they can learn from one another to continue supporting human flourishing in the years ahead.
Physicians: This activity has been approved for 3 hours of Continuing Medical Education (CME).
Attorneys: This activity has been approved for 2.75 Ethics Hours of Continuing Legal Education credits (CLE).
Clergy: This activity has been approved for .3 Continuing Education Units (CEU).
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jeffery Bishop, M.D., Ph.D.
Jeffrey P. Bishop, MD, PhD, is the Tenet Endowed Chair in Bioethics and Professor of Philosophy and of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. Trained as a physician and philosopher, his explores the philosophical, historical, and political foundations of contemporary scientific theories and practices, and contextualizes the truth claims of science, technology, medicine, and social science.He has published on wide-ranging topics such as medical humanities, science and religion, spirituality and medicine, as well as topics in the philosophy of technology from the use of AI in healthcare to the use of AI in automated weapon systems.
He previously served as Director of the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University, where he worked closely with healthcare professionals navigating complex ethical decisions and helped develop ethics education within clinical settings. Earlier in his career, he held faculty and leadership roles at Vanderbilt University and UT Southwestern Medical Center, practicing medicine and contributing to clinical ethics consultation and medical education.
He is the author of over 75 scholarly articles and two award winning books: The Anticipatory Corpse, Notre Dame, 2011 (named the most important book published in 2011 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Religion and Ethics Page) and Bioethics after Neuroscience, (co-authored with M. Therese Lysaught and Andrew A Michel, Bloomsbury, 2022, winner of the Expanded Reason Award 2021).
Bishop serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy and of Christian Bioethics. He is a Life Member at Clare Hall Cambridge and is an Elected Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion. In the Spring semester of 2027, Bishop will be Visting Research Fellow at Oxford University’s McDonald Centre for Ethics and Public Life at Christ Church College.
About the Conference
The annual Conference of the Professions is sponsored by the , the , the , the , , and SMU’s Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility. Each year an ethical issue of common interest is identified. A noted expert in the field presents a keynote address, and a distinguished panel of local professionals discusses a related case that poses practical issues for law, medicine, the clergy, and other professions.