George W. Gay Lecture in Medical Ethics
The George W. Gay Lecture is the oldest endowed lectureship at Harvard Medical School, and quite possibly the oldest medical ethics lectureship in the United States. The lectureship was established in 1917 by a $1,000 gift from Dr. George Washington Gay, an 1868 graduate of HMS. Gay gave Harvard the fund to provide an annual income to support lectures “to the advanced, or graduating classes in the Medical School upon Medical Ethics, and upon wise and proper methods of conducting the business of physicians, as relates to fees, collections, investments, etc.” The Gay Lectureship perpetuates his deep concern for the welfare of his patients and his appreciation of the constantly arising social and economic forces that impinge on medical care.
Since its inception, many of the nation's most influential physicians, scientists, researchers, and social observers have given the annual lecture. Past lecturers include Elie Wiesel, Erich Fromm, Felix Frankfurter, Margaret Mead, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Elizabeth Kübler Ross, E.O. Wilson, Joshua Lederberg, Marian Wright Edelman, Paul Krugman, Paul Farmer, and Donald Burwick.
Visit our YouTube playlist for videos of recent lectures. Read details and view photos below:
- 2024 Gay Lecture by Effy Vayena, PhD
- 2023 Gay Lecture by Steven E. Hyman, MD
- 2022 Gay Lecture by Rueben C. Warren, DDS, MPH, DrPH, MDiv
- 2021 Gay Lecture by Patricia A. King, JD
- 2020 Gay Lecture by Eric Topol, MD
- 2019 Gay Lecture by Danielle Allen, PhD
- 2018 Gay Lecture by K. Anthony Appiah
- 2017 Gay Lecture by Michael Sandel
Accommodation Requests
Harvard Medical School welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please email us in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for Sign Language interpreters and/or Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) providers should be made at least two (2) weeks in advance, if possible. Please note that the university will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability. For campus maps and directions, including an ADA pedestrian access map, please visit this Contact HMS page.
Past George W. Gay Lecturers
Click to expand details.| 2024 | Effy Vayena, PhD, Professor of Bioethics and Associate Vice President for Digital Transformation and Governance, ETH Zurich, Switzerland |
| 2023 | Steven E. Hyman, MD, Core Institute Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research |
| 2022 | Rueben C. Warren, DDS, MPH, DrPH, MDiv, Director of the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, and Professor of Bioethics at Tuskegee University |
| 2021 | Patricia A. King, JD, Professor Emerita of Georgetown Law |
| 2020 | Eric Topol, MD, Executive Vice President, Scripps Research Director & Founder, Scripps Research Translational Institute |
| 2019 | Danielle Allen, PhD, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, and Director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics |
| 2018 | Kwame Anthony Appiah, Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University |
| 2017 | Michael Sandel, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University |
| 2016 | Martha Minow, Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law, Harvard Law School |
| 2015 | Amy Gutmann, President, University of Pennsylvania |
| 2014 | Cass R. Sunstein, JD, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard Law School |
| 2013 | Dan W. Brock, PhD, Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Medical Ethics, HMS |
| 2012 | Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, Former Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services |
| 2010 | Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times op-ed columnist, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner |
| 2009 | Paul R. Krugman, PhD, Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Princeton University |
| 2008 | Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD, President of the Institute of Medicine |
| 2006 | Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, Co-Founder, Partners in Health |
| 2005 | Jerome P. Kassirer, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Emeritus, New England Journal of Medicine |
| 2004 | Howard Gardner, PhD, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education |
| 2002 | Rashi Fein, PhD, Professor of The Economics of Medicine, Emeritus, HMS |
| 2001 | Dame Cicely Saunders, St. Christopher’s Hospice, London |
| 1999 | Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President, The Children’s Defense Fund |
| 1998 | Elie Wiesel, Mellon Professor of The Humanities, Boston University |
| 1998 | Daniel D. Federman, M.D., Dean for Medical Education, Harvard Medical School |
| 1997 | Daniel Callahan, Ph.D., Founder, The Hastings Center |
| 1996 | Sissela Bok, Ph.D., Fellow, Harvard Center for Population and Development |
| 1995 | Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Ph.D. Chair, Afro-American Studies Dept., Harvard Univ. |
| 1994 | Robert Lawrence, M.D., Director, Health Sciences, Rockefeller Foundation |
| 1993 | Bernadine Healy, M.D., Director, National Institutes of Health |
| 1992 | Larry R. Churchill, Chair, Social Medicine, Univ. N. Carolina School of Med. |
| 1991 | Arnold S. Relman, M.D., Prof. of Medicine, HMS; Editor, NEJM |
| 1988 | Albert Jonsen, Ph.D., Chair, Medical History and Ethics, Univ. of Washington |
| 1987 | Dennis Thompson, Ph.D., Dir. Pgm. in Ethics and Professions, Harvard Univ. |
| 1986 | Baroness Mary Warnock, Mistress, Girton College, Cambridge, England |
| 1985 | Dr. Julian Tudor Hart, Glyncorrwg Health Center, West Galmorgan, Wales |
| 1984 | Uwe E. Reinhardt, Ph.D., Prof. Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton Univ. |
| 1983 | Joshua Lederberg, Ph.D., President, The Rockefeller University |
| 1982 | The Rev. Robert F. Drinan, SJ, U.S. Congress; Georgetown Univ. Law Ctr. |
| 1981 | Arnold S. Relman, M.D., Prof. of Medicine, HMS; Editor, NEJM |
| 1980 | Dr. Edward O. Wilson, Professor of Science, Harvard University |
| 1979 | Dr. Carleton B. Chapman, President, The Commonwealth Fund |
| 1978 | Dr. Kenneth J. Ryan, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Harvard Univ. |
| 1977 | Dr. Franz J. Ingelfinger, Editor, New England Journal of Medicine |
| 1976 | Dr. Robert J. Lifton, Foundations Fund of Research, Yale University |
| 1973 | Dr. Elizabeth Kübler Ross, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Univ. of Chicago |
| 1970 | Dr. I Bernard Cohen, Professor of The History of Science, Harvard University |
| 1965 | Dr. Paul Freund, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard University |
| 1963 | Dr. Herman Ludwig Blumgart, Prof. of Medicine, Emeritus, Harvard University |
| 1962 | Erik Erikson, Prof. of Human Development, Lecturer Psych., Harvard Univ. |
| 1961 | Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche, Under Secretary for Special Political Affairs, U.N. |
| 1960 | Dr. Margaret Mead, Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University |
| 1959 | Dr. James Howard Means, Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, Harvard University |
| 1958 | The Honorable Felix Frankfurter, Associate Justice, US Supreme Court |
| 1957 | Dr. Erich Fromm, Professor of Psychoanalysis, National University of Mexico |
| 1956 | The Rev. Douglas Horton, Professor of Theology, Harvard University |
| 1955 | The Rev. George A. Buttrick, Professor of Christian Morals, Harvard University |
| 1954 | Dr. Hugh J. Morgan, Professor of Medicine, Vanderbilt University |
| 1945 | Ben Amers Williams, Author |
| 1941 | Dr. Charles R. Austrian, Assoc. Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Dr. David Cheever, Associate Professor of Surgery, Emeritus, Harvard University Dr. T. Grier Miller, Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Pennsylvania |
| 1940 | Phillips Ketchum, Partner, Herrick, Smith, Donald, Farley & Ketchum |
| 1939 | Dr. Eliot Wadsworth, President, Boston Chamber of Commerce Dr. Robert L. DeNormandie, Comm. on Ethics & Discipline, Mass. Med. Soc. Dr. Donald Guthrie, Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
| 1938 | Henry L. Shattuck, Treasurer, Harvard University Dr. Reginald Fitz, Lecturer on The History of Medicine, Harvard University Dr. Elton Mayo, Professor of Industrial Research, Harvard University |
| 1937 | Dr. Lawrence K. Lunt, Psychiatrist (Boston, Massachusetts) Dr. O. H. Perry Pepper, Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania |
| 1935 | Dr. James B. Herrick, Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, Rush Medical College |
| 1934 | Dr. Arthur H. Ruggles, Superintendent, Butler Hospital, Providence, RI Dr. John Homans, Clinical Professor of Surgery, Harvard University Dr. Joseph H. Pratt, Professor of Clinical Medicine, Tufts College |
| 1933 | Dr. Robert B. Osgood, Professor Orthopedic Surgery, Harvard University Dr. Elliott P. Joslin, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard University |
| 1932 | Dr. Roger I. Lee, Professor of Hygiene, Harvard University |
| 1931 | Dr. John M. Birnie, Secretary, New England Medical Society |
| 1930 | Dr. Samuel B. Woodward, past President, Massachusetts Medical Society |
| 1927 | Dr. Francis Weld Peabody, Professor of Medicine, Harvard University |
| 1926 | Dr. George G. Sears, Clinical Prof. of Medicine, Emeritus, Harvard University |
| 1924 | Dr. Walter P. Bowers, Managing Editor, Boston Medical and Surgical Journal |
| 1923 | Dr. George W. Gay |
| 1922 | Dr. John Bapst Blake, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard University |