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.
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Past George W. Gay Lecturers
Click to expand details.1922 to Present2024 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 Pennsylvania1940 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 Medicine1938 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 University1937 Dr. Lawrence K. Lunt, Psychiatrist (Boston, Massachusetts)
Dr. O. H. Perry Pepper, Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania1935 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 College1933 Dr. Robert B. Osgood, Professor Orthopedic Surgery, Harvard University
Dr. Elliott P. Joslin, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard University1932 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