Cultural Influences on Bioethics and Health

When Helen Morris, MD, entered the CU School of Medicine in 1952, she stepped into a world not built for her. One of only five women and ten Jewish students in her graduating class of 1956, she wasn’t just studying medicine, she was challenging barriers and reshaping what was possible.

Her pioneering spirit lives on through her founding gift, which established the American Jewish Experience in Medicine Program at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities. That program has honored her legacy by preserving cultural heritage, celebrating the Jewish experience, and fostering dialogue about medicine, identity, and ethics.

Now, the Center for Bioethics and Humanities is carrying Morris’s vision forward with the relaunch of the program as the Cultural Influences on Bioethics and Health Program. Just as Morris believed in opening doors, this new chapter widens the circle by welcoming more voices, more traditions, and more perspectives into the conversation.

Cultural Influences on Bioethics and Health builds on the foundation Morris created, honoring history, fostering inclusivity, and ensuring that medicine is enriched by the cultural, ethical, and religious wisdom of all who practice it, teach it, and are touched by it.