Professor and coach Gregory Pence, Kevin Shrestha, Melanie Nichols, Ameen Barghi, Brynna Paulukaitis and Eric Kim.Seniors Ameen Barghi, Brynna Paulukaitis and Kevin Shrestha and freshmen Eric Kim and Melanie Nichols beat out teams from universities including Dartmouth, UCLA, Georgetown, and Rutgers for the title.Each year, undergraduate teams from around the country compete in the Bioethics Bowl, debating some of the most pressing bioethical issues of the day. During competition, teams discuss and debate their views on a series of case studies.
“These students had the motivation to excel because they will use bioethics as they begin medical school,” says Gregory Pence, Ph.D., team coach and Chair of the Department of Philosophy. “They know that they will be facing situations similar to those they are asked to debate in competition. This bright group of students won because they’ve mastered bioethics at UAB and received great advice from other UAB faculty.”
“Our success was a result of tons of hard work, dedication, guidance from Dr. Pence and, most of all, team camaraderie,” says Barghi, team captain. “We faced some tough competition and close rounds, but ultimately the time various UAB faculty experts donated to our preparation put us ahead.”
The Bioethics Bowl Championship is held in conjunction with the National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference. The UAB ethics bowl team is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy.
