31st Annual HEC Conference

Emory Conference Center | March 23 & 24, 2026

 

Call for Poster Presentation Proposals

 

The Healthcare Ethics Consortium (HEC) is seeking proposals for poster presentations at the March 23 – 24, 2026 conference. The 31^st annual conference of the HEC will address The Stories We Tell: Putting Ethics into Practice in Caring for Our Patients, Our Colleagues, Ourselves.

In a healthcare environment punctuated by a lack of patient/family trust, increased burdens on providers, and the unprecedented incorporation of technology into care delivery, ethical questions frequently arise in the patient-provider relationship. We will explore how storytelling reflects and shapes our understanding and values.  Narrative practices such as active listening and inclusion of multiple perspectives can improve care for patients, restore the humanity of providers, and empower both to advocate for change. Throughout this conference, we will dive deeply into the power of sharing and understanding narratives to build trust and empathy, enhance effective patient care, better support vulnerable patients, and mitigate burnout in healthcare professionals.

 

We welcome proposals that consider one (or more) of the following conference themes: 

1. How can narrative practices help create and deliver more ethical, humanistic health care? 
   How can stories, reflection, and imagination empower us to focus on humanity amidst new technologies, metrics, and perennial constraints such as time and resources? Can artificial intelligence help promote humanistic care when working in conjunction with narrative?
   
   
2. What is the importance of exploring stories of patients and/or their families as “whole persons”?
   How are these stories told? Who tells them? How are they conveyed during clinical interactions? Which elements of these stories are knowingly or unknowingly selected (or neglected) in clinical care? What effect can these stories have on those who provide care and those who receive it?
   
   
3. How do narrative practices promote self-awareness of healthcare professionals and trust within clinical relationships?
   What types of narrative practices can improve healthcare providers’ experiences as ethical caregivers and moral agents? In what ways can story-telling improve the patient-provider relationship?
   
   
4. How do stories shape the public view of healthcare professionals and healthcare?
   How can narrative help us advocate for improved patient care? Are stories important in public perception and social media? How can stories be helpful in developing the ethical narrative we want to see in the future of healthcare culture/institutions/policy?

Poster presentations will consist of two components:

1. A short video presentation that will be recorded prior to the conference and available on the conference website, allowing attendees to view posters asynchronously during and after the conference.
2. A designated time during the conference when poster presenters will have the opportunity to engage with conference attendees in person.

 

Poster Proposal :

Your proposal should include an abstract of 100 to 300 words clearly conveying the purpose of your presentation. The abstract should also include why the topic is important and how it is relevant to the conference theme. Successful proposals will present novel conceptual perspectives, research, or robust, ethically complex case studies.

• Poster title (should be short, descriptive, and engaging)
• Author Name(s) & Institutional Affiliation (**each author can participate in only 1 submission)
• Abstract
• Primary objective of poster presentation (1 or 2 objectives)
• Email address; Telephone #

Submit your proposal via the nomination form linked here (or via the button below): Poster Presentation Submission Form 

 

We look forward to reviewing your proposals.

 

Submissions due Monday, December 22, 2025

Email questions to Mary Rachel Henderson at maryrachel.henderson@emory.edu.