About Us

What is the Galen Society?
The Galen Society is a shorthand name for the Bioethics and Health Policy Discussion Group at the UVA School of Medicine.

The goal of this group is to enrich and illuminate our education by reviewing topics of interest in bioethics or health policy.

Why bioethics?
Because our values determine how we evaluate proposals in health policy.

Why health policy?
Because policy decisions ultimately influence how we as individual physicians practice.

Who is Galen?
Galen was a Greek physician-philosopher known for his detailed reports of the human anatomy. He also wrote a philosophical treatise entitled "That the Best Physician is also a Philosopher."