Engineering Physical "Normality" in Children

Alverno College is hosting a lecture by Alice Dreger, PhD, on March 2 from 6 – 7:30 p.m. The topic, “Should We Try to Engineer Physical ‘Normality’ in Children?” looks at whether doctors should intervene when a child has a body that challenges social norms. Examples of these “normalizing” procedures include separating conjoined twins, surgeons operating on children born with atypical genitals, and endocrinologists offering growth hormone to healthy children who are short. The lecture, which takes place in the Bucyrus Conference Center, is free and open to the public.

Dreger is a bioethicist, author and featured speaker at TED Talks. Her recent book, “Galileo’s Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science,” draws on her background as an historian of medicine and patient advocate, and was named an Editor’s Choice by New York Times Book Review. This lecture will look at the ethics of “normalizing” interventions, and offer suggestions for what might work better for patients.

About Alverno College

Alverno College, a four-year independent, Catholic, liberal arts college for women, exists to promote the personal and professional development of its students. The college has earned accolades and respect internationally for its highly effective ability-based, assessment-as-learning approach to education, and has consulted with three U.S. presidential administrations on accountability and outcomes in higher education. For the last six years, Alverno College was ranked one of the top five schools in the Midwest doing “the best job of educating undergrads” by U.S. News & World Report. Educators from throughout the world visit Alverno to learn about its proven, student-centered teaching methods.

Alverno offers more than 60 major areas of study, including graduate programs in education, nursing, community psychology and business that are open to women and men. For more information about Alverno, visit www.alverno.edu or call 414-382-6100.