UCF BIOETHICS CLUB

Hello Readers!

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Naturally, as the rest of the clubs at UCF did, the Bioethics Club began as an idea – or rather a call to action – that united I, Alexandra Tucker, with Alara Nigro, Jeet Patel, and James Conner in September, 2020. During the fall semester of that year, in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic when classes were still majorly online, I took Dr. Ann Gleig’s course on Religion & Medicine. Throughout the course, I learned about many important historical events in the field of medicine. I learned about medical experimentation on slaves in the US, clashes between cultural practices and modern medicine, the debates surrounding physician-assisted suicide, religious healing methods, psychedelics, and the poor handling of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. I was unfamiliar with a lot of this information, many of the topics being introduced to me for the first time ever. Being a pre-medical student with aspirations of becoming a physician, I found it shocking and unacceptable that coming across this extremely enriching course was by a fluke. In almost 4 years of science courses at UCF all I had learned about was scientific theories, lab techniques, biological processes, etc., but never had any of my courses dived into the ethics or reasoning behind the humane practices we uphold today. 

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Alara and Jeet, also pre-medical students in Dr. Gleig’s class, and James, a biology student pursuing physical therapy, were all just as shocked as I was at the lack of discussion and information surrounding the field of bioethics at our university. While there were plenty of clubs on our campus that deal with medical school preparation, study resources, volunteering, and shadowing, there weren’t any that served to prepare students to anticipate encountering and tackling opinions and logics different from their own. What fascinated us was how these decisions were made and agreed upon, as there are some areas of science where a clear and logical answer cannot be instantly decided. There were groups of people who made these decisions, who argued for their point of view, who listened and compromised with their peers and with the public. Many students don’t learn about the nuances that come with working with others in these fields until graduate school or even until they are on the job. We hear about all the scientific progress we have made, but none of the rationalization and discussion that came before it. Even today there are many discussions, disagreements, and debates that are going on that will determine how medicine and science are conducted in the future. Eventually, you could be in the position to help make those decisions and set those guidelines. Each and every person, just like you, has a unique background and set of experiences. He or she has been taught many lessons and gathered countless bits of information in their life from which they build and develop their own rationale and system of thinking. 

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Thus, we decided that we wanted to create a community in which students could practice and explore ethics in all of the subject’s enriching potential. Working together, we created this club so that students, like you, would be better equipped with skills to understand, debate, and approach all types of viewpoints in a multitude of subjects. It is our hope and goal that, as a result of participation in this club, members will gain confidence in not only demonstrating their own point of view, but also be comfortable with productively and efficiently engaging in discussion, understanding, and analysis of others. Compromise, being able to communicate clearly and effectively, and the awareness of the implications of one’s practices and values are critical skills not only in medicine and the sciences but in all areas of life.  

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I, as the club’s first president, Alara, as the club’s first vice president, Jeet, as the club’s first secretary, and James, as the club’s first treasurer, all worked so hard to organize this club and put together an environment in which students could step closer to becoming better scientists, doctors, psychologists, etc., to learn about how and why people think the way they do, and prepare students to hopefully continue developing the fields of science as a system that benefits all of humanity. 

I hope that you, readers, will gain and learn as much as we all have from this club. 

 

Good luck and have fun!

Sincerely,

Alexandra Tucker

Founder & President 2020-21