In 1996, the department of psychiatry at the University of Michigan established the Raymond W. Waggoner Lectureship on Ethics and Values in Medicine.
This lectureship was created in honor of the late Dr. Waggoner, emeritus professor and past chairman of the department of psychiatry, who throughout his career and to all who knew him, has exemplified the highest standards of integrity and ethics.
This lectureship is an annual event to recognize Dr. Waggoner’s enormous contributions to the University of Michigan medical center and to the profession, and to promulgate his interest in medical ethics.
Through this endowed lectureship, the department brings national/internationally experts to explore cutting-edge issues related to ethics and values in medicine.
About Dr. Waggoner
written by PHILIP M. MARGOLIS, M.D.
Many of us knew Ray as a wise, dedicated leader of APA (President, 1969–1970; Distinguished Service Award, 1988) and a pivotal voice in American psychiatry for half a century. We in Michigan knew him also as a dominant force in Michigan medicine and psychiatry for many years.
Ray always wanted to be a doctor. In fact, at the age of 5 he began carrying a doctor’s bag with him wherever he went. He became an M.D. at the tender age of 22 and has been a pioneer, innovator, and benefactor ever since. Ray did not really plan to be a psychiatrist; rather, he contemplated becoming a neurosurgeon. He ended up receiving training in both neurology and psychiatry and was considered a neuropsychiatrist. He was Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan from 1937 to 1970. He immediately set up a three-room psychiatric unit, one of the first units in a general hospital in the country. Dr. Waggoner built an eclectic department with breadth and class, an academic model for the nation. He was a superb administrator, and the department grew and prospered under his strong leadership.
In a tribute to Dr. Waggoner, Dr. John Greden, Founder of the University of Michigan Depression Center, noted that Dr. Waggoner’s department contained “a healthy eclecticism, diversity and vibrancy, excellent clinical services, and scholarly teaching and research. Clearly, Dr. Waggoner has helped to establish the Michigan tradition of excellence that we proudly inherit and build upon.” Ray was a jet setter before jets, a mover and shaker at home and abroad.
Ray has left a fabulous legacy. What I recall vividly is his caring. He has helped the careers of many, indeed he has taught an entire generation of mental health professionals—a living legacy of psychiatrists and professionals in other disciplines who trained under and with him. He has changed the field of psychiatry and has aided and supported many people in a myriad of ways. He has been a true and loyal friend!
Dr. Waggoner was always ahead of his time, e.g., in his attempts to bridge the gap between the Freudian (psychological) model and biological (neuroscience) model by nurturing a healthy dynamic tension between the two. He presaged and encouraged the biopsychosocial model of today, early on seeing mental illness as both an emotional and physical problem. He always considered the patient as a total person. He was the “compleat physician,” whether consulting with Masters and Johnson or integrating medical and psychiatric care by developing a first-rate consultation- liaison service.
In the 1940s, Ray helped to standardize the mental fitness criteria used in screening potential soldiers in the Selective Service. He also advised the U.S. Surgeon General on the psychological effects of World War II and the Allied Occupation in Germany and Japan. After the war, he helped devise the selection process for the Peace Corps, where I first met Dr. Waggoner and tried to keep up with this whirlwind of a man—a dynamo who is perhaps best remembered as a consummate administrator who listened to opinions and then made decisions. I remember him as an optimist, always feeling that with the right tools we could accomplish what others considered impossible. And he often did.
Ray also had a strong interest in ethics and values, which he saw as combining the human and humane. In fact, in 1995 the University of Michigan established the Raymond W. Waggoner Lectureship on Ethics and Values in Medicine in his honor. Indeed, Dr. Waggoner was a giant in his time and serves as an inspiration to us all.
History of the Waggoner Lectureship on Ethics and Values in Medicine
March 13, 1996
Speaker: Robert Michels, M.D.
The Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean, Cornell University
Medical College; Provost for Medical Affairs, Cornell University
Topic: Ethics and the Changing Role of the Physician: The Coming Crisis in the Practice of Medicine
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): The Future of Psychiatry: The Role of Psychodynamics in the 21st Century
May 7, 1997
Speaker: Alan Stone, M.D.
Touroff-Glick Professor of Law and Psychiatry, in the Faculty of
Law and the Faculty of Medicine, Harvard University
Topic: Physician Assisted Suicide: Where Do We Stand?
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Re-Thinking Violence
September 9, 1998
Speaker: Arthur L. Caplan, PhD.
Director, Center for Bioethics and Trustee Professor of Bioethics,
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Topic: What is Wrong with Human Cloning? The Ethics of Technological Reproduction
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Confidentiality and privacy: Is Informed Consent Enough? Ethical issues in research with the mentally ill – and other vulnerable subjects
September 15, 1999
Speaker: Paul S. Appelbaum, M.D.
A.F. Zelenik Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Chairman of Psychiatry, and Director of the Law and Psychiatry, Program, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Topic: No Place to Hide: Threats to Confidentiality and Privacy in Medicine
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): The Ethics of Psychiatric Research; Competence, Consent, and Controversy in the New Millennium
September 13, 2000
Speaker: Catherine D. DeAngelis, M.D.
Editor, Journal of the American Medical Association and Professor of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Topic: Integrity in Scientific Publications: Implications for Research
Luncheon colloquium: The Future of Scientific Publications
December 5, 2001
Speaker: Harold T. Shapiro, Ph.D.
President Emeritus and Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University; Chair, National Bioethics Advisory Commission; Past President, University of Michigan Topic: Ethical Considerations in Research on Human Subjects – Time for Change…Again
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Science, High Anxiety, and Meaning
October 9, 2002
Speaker: Mary Sue Coleman, Ph.D.
President, University of Michigan; Professor of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan Medical School; Co-Chair, Institute of Medicine’s Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance
Topic: Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late
December 3, 2003
Speaker: Leon R. Kass, M.D., Ph.D.
Chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics; Addie Clark Harding Professor on Social Thought in the College at the University of Chicago
Topic: Ageless Bodies, Happy Souls: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Perfection
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Seeing the Nakedness of Your Father (A discussion of the story of Noah’s drunkenness and his sons – Genesis 9:18 ff)
November 17, 2004
Speaker: Sheldon Krimsky, Ph.D.
Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy, Tufts University; Adjunct Professor at Tufts Medical School
Topic: Academic Science and Entrepreneurship: Are the Conflicts Reconcilable?
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Physicians and Pharma: The New Ethics of Engagement
November 16, 2005
Speaker: Leon Eisenbert, M.D.
The Maude and Lillian Professor of Social Medicine and Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Topic: When Good Men and Women Do Nothing – Doctors in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Is Biology Destiny? Is It All in Our Genes?
November 15, 2006
Speaker: Howard Markel, M.D., Ph.D.
George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, Director of the Center for the History of Medicine, University of Michigan
Topic: Contemplating Pandemics: The Role of Historical Inquiry in developing Migration Strategies in the 21st Century
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): The Accidental Addict: How Doctors like Sigmund Freud and William Stewart Halsted Helped Give Birth to the Addict
October 10, 2007
Speaker: Thomas Murray, Ph.D.
President, The Hastings Center; Chair, Ethical Issues Review Panel, World Anti-Doping Agency
Topic: Ethics, Genetics, and the Future of Sport
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): The Choreography of Dying in Contemporary America
October 29, 2008
Speaker: Ezekiel Emanuel, M.D.
Chair, Department of Bioethics, The Clinical Center of the National Institute of Health; Breast Oncologist, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Topic: Beyond Band-Aids: How to Cure America’s Sick Health Care System
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): What Makes Clinical Research Ethical?
January 27, 2009
Speaker: Lawrence Gostin, J.D., L.L.D.
Associate Dean and Professor of Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Topic: Redressing the Unconscionable Health Gap: A Proposal for a Global Plan of Justice
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Global Perspective on the Application of Human Rights Principles to Mental Health
November 3, 2010
Speaker: Bernard Lo, M.D.
Director, Program in Medical Ethics & Professor of Medicine, University of California at San Diego
Topic: Old and New Ethical Problems in Innovative Stem Cell Research
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Conflicts of Interest: Serious Problem or Much Ado About Nothing
November 9, 2011
Speaker: Laura Roberts, M.D.
Chair, Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine
Topic: In Becoming a Physician: Stresses and Strengths of Physicians-in-training
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): ethical Considerations in Psychiatric Clinical Research
October 31, 2012
Speaker: Jeremy Lazarus, M.D.
President, American Medical Association
Topic: Fixing Health Care: The Ethical Way
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Integrating Psychiatry and Medicine
November 13, 2013
Speaker: Robert Sade, M.D.
Professor of Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina
Topic: Myths and Misconceptions in Biomedical Ethics
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Lying For Patients: A Conflict of Compassion and Honesty
October 29, 2014
Speaker: Sharon P. Douglas, M.D.
Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Mississippi
Topic: End of Life Discussions – What, How and When?
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Top Reasons Physicians Face Disciplinary Review
November 4, 2015
Speaker: Mark S. Schlissel, M.D., Ph.D.
President, University of Michigan
Topic: Making U-M Safer for Students: Confronting the Challenges of Sexual Misconduct
November 2, 2016
Speaker: Jeffrey Swanson, Ph.D., MA
Duke University School of Medicine
Topic: Gun Violence, Mental Illness and the Law: Balancing Risk and Rights for Effective Policy
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Understanding Involuntary Outpatient Commitment in Context: When is it ethical and how can we tell?
November 1, 2017
Bridgette Ann Carr, J.D., B.A.
Law School, University of Michigan
Topic: Human Trafficking – The Role of the Health Care Provider
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): The Mental Health Consequences of Human Trafficking
November 7, 2018
Speaker: Rebecca Weintraub Brendel, M.D., J.D.
Director of the Master’s Degree Program at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics; Director of Law and Ethics at the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Topic: Physicians, Public Speech, and Politics
Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Psychiatry and Physician Assisted Death
November 17, 2019
Speaker: Pamela McPherson, MD
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Louisiana Office of Behavioral Health
Assistant Professor-Gratis, Department of Psychiatry, Louisiana State University School of Medicine
Topic: Medical Ethics on the Border: A Look at Immigration Detention Dept. of Psychiatry Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture): Medical Ethics in the Practice of Child and Adolescent Forensic Psychiatry
December 9, 2020
Panel:
Joneigh S. Khaldun, MD, MPH, FACEP
Chief Medical Executive and Chief Deputy Director for Health
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Susan Dorr Goold, MD, MHSA, MA, FACP
Professor of Internal Medicine and Health Management Policy, University of Michigan
Andrew Shuman, MD, FACS
Co-Chief, Clinical Ethics Service Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine
University of Michigan Medical School
Panel Moderator, Sandro Cinti, MD
Professor, Infectious Diseases,
University of Michigan Hospital System/Ann Arbor VA Health System
Topic: Ethics and Equity in the State and Michigan Medicine during the COVID Pandemic
Major Conference (Grand Rounds Lecture) Topic: COVID-19 and Behavioral Health: Ethical and Policy Challenges Across Public Systems
Grand Rounds Panel:
Andrea Brelje, MA
MD Candidate, Class of 2021
University of Michigan Medical School
Brian Hepburn. MD
Executive Director,
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD)
Debra A. Pinals, MD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Program in Psychiatry, Law and Ethics,
Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan
Medical Director of Behavioral Health and Forensic Programs, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Brian Sims, MD
Senior Medical Advisor,
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD)
Recent Waggoner Lecture Recordings
2024 Recording: "Artificial Intelligence, Affective Computing, and Health: Opportunities and Ethical Considerations"
2022 Recording: "Psychiatric Euthanasia: Ethical, Clinical, and Policy Implications"
2021 Recording: Disparities in COVID-19: Lessons and Next Steps
2020 Recording: Ethics and Equity in the State and Michigan Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic
