“Bioethics Course: An Examination of New Medical Advances in Reproductive Techniques and the Ethical Dilemmas That Some of Them Raise,” with Dr. Terrill Wade (Vice President of the Richmond Center for Christian Study)

Dates: March 6, 2012 through April 3, 2012

Location: KingsWay Community Church, 14111 Sovereign Grace Drive, Midlothian, VA 23114 (Show me a map)

Course will be held every Tuesday evening for five weeks (March 6 - April 3),
7pm to 8:30pm

In this course we will examine the new genetic discoveries and reproductive techniques which are rapidly altering the “having of children” in our society, and address some of the difficult ethical questions that are raised as a consequence.

This course has three goals:
     1) clarify the increasing number of situations in which bioethical decisions have to be made by ordinary
               couples in the areas of pregnancy and infertility
     2) highlight the importance of these decisions for Christian families, the Church, and society as a whole
     3) develop a biblical framework to undergird the responses to individually diverse and challenging
                situations

* refreshments and childcare provided

Two Ways to Register:

Standard Way

$20 in advance* or $25 at the door
$10 more for each additional family member
Free for college and grad students
(just show student ID at door)

To register in advance* online, use your credit card or PayPal by March 5 by clicking individual registration or registration for two, three, four, or five or more family members.

To register in advance* by check, make your check payable to Richmond Center for Christian Study, write "Bioethics" in the memo line, and mail your check by March 2 to the following address:
Richmond Center for Christian Study
3000 Grove Avenue
Richmond, VA 23221

* If you register in advance, you do not need to bring anything. Just give your name at the check-in table when you come to the event. Your name will be on the advance registration list.

Preferred Way - helps us meet $10,000 Matching Challenge
& acquire Resource Center (what's this?)

$10/month or more (in advance or at the door)
This registers everyone in your family for this course

(For current donors, registering in this way would increase your current monthly pledge by the amount you select)

How close are we?

Our remaining needs:
45 pledges of $10/month
24 pledges of $25/month
41 pledges of $50/month
18 pledges of $100/month

To register in advance, make your credit card pledge by clicking $10/month, $25/month, $50/month, $100/month, or other monthly amount by March 5.

To register at the door, simply provide your credit card information at the registration table when you come to the event and indicate your desired monthly pledge amount.

Dr. Terrill WadeDr. Terrill Wade completed her medical degree in Australia, followed by a Family Practice Residency and Board Certification in St Louis. She practiced medicine part time for a couple of years and in 1998, while home schooling her children, she began teaching high school biology at Westminster Academy.

In the field of biology Dr. Wade’s interest was captured by the amazing genetic discoveries resulting from the Human Genome Project. An intense hands-on BioLab genetic engineering summer course at Smith College in 2003 cemented that fascination, as well as making it very clear that genetic discoveries were rapidly outpacing the ability of the average person to understand them and to reasonably assess the direction in which these discoveries would affect society.

A recent (2010/2011) Certificate course in Public Health Genetics/Genomics through Sarah Lawrence College provided Dr. Wade with a view of how genetic medicine is currently being incorporated across the nation despite the documented lack of readiness to handle it on the part of most physicians and the populace in general. It also confirmed the continued absence of adequate bioethical discussion. “The good news is – we are advancing very quickly. The bad news is – we are not sure where we are going.”

Unfortunately the Church, which has the true basis for an adequate bioethical assessment of these new issues, has done little to challenge and inform even its members, let alone contribute wisdom to the nation as a whole. Christians have just as much difficulty as the rest of society in understanding what new biomedical processes involve and where the ethical problems actually occur.

This is the area Dr. Wade would most like to address. She would like to stimulate conversations within the Church on crucial bioethical issues, and to help provide knowledge and a biblical framework to guide church members as they deal with genetic medicine on a daily basis.

Dr. Wade is currently employed as a part time adjunct lecturer in the Allied Health Department of Bryant and Stratton College, Richmond, VA, and has been a board member and Vice President of the Richmond Center for Christian Study since its incorporation.

She and her husband Lamont are blessed with three daughters, two sons-in-law, two lively grandsons, two demanding cats (O.K. maybe not so blessed) and have been members of All Saints Reformed Presbyterian Church in Richmond for 25 years.