CHICAGO (February 16, 2005) - Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, will offer the opening remarks at the Fourth Annual Conference on Human Dignity and Health Science, Science, Faith, and Law, at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, February 28, at Illini Union at the University of Illinois at Chicago, 828 S. Wolcott St., Chicago.

Sponsored by the UIC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Our Sunday Visitor Foundation, the Catholic Physicians’ Guild of Chicago, Resurrection Healthcare, the Hektoen Institute, UIC Catholic Studies Program, and the Catholic Medical Students’ Organization, the conference will examine the place of religion in the contemporary bioethics debate.

The morning is divided into two sessions where two topics will be developed. In session one the question, Is “human dignity” a meaningful concept and can science justify a belief in human dignity? will be posed. That question will be addressed by Pia de Solenni, Ph.D., Director, Life & Women’s Issues – Government Affairs, Family Research Council, and Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Ph.D., President of the Institute on Biotechnology & the Human Future (Chicago-Kent College of Law, IIT), Director of the Council for Biotechnology Policy (Washington, D.C.), and Chairman of the Centre for Bioethics and Public Policy (London, UK).

Session two will consider the topic What is the proper relationship between science, morality and law? Discussing this question will be Peter Lawler, Ph.D., Dana Professor and Chair of the Department of Government and International Studies at Berry College and member, President’s Council on Bioethics, and Paul S. Heckerling, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Biomedical and Behavioral Science Institutional Review Board, UIC

This series, now in its fourth year, has explored how ethical precepts directed to preserving and protecting human dignity help shape and guide the pursuit of scientific research and the practice of medicine and the other caring professions.