[SydPhil] Sydney Health Ethics Conversation - Hilary Bowman-Smart - 15 May 2025

[Kathryn MacKay]

Hilary Bowman-Smart | May 15
Sydney Health Ethics Conversation Series  
What do we do when we diagnose? Emerging technologies and epistemic authority in the diagnostic process

Hi everyone, 

Join us for our next SHE Conversation series with Dr Hilary Bowman-Smart.
Speaker 
Hilary Bowman-Smart
Research Fellow, University of South Australia

Hilary Bowman-Smart <https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/7HnqCL7EwMfQw83VEhxf0fyMKj2?domain=t.e2ma.net> is a Research Fellow within the Australian Centre for Precision Health, University of South Australia. She is an empirical bioethicist with a background in both genetics and philosophy. Her ethical and philosophical work is informed by various types of empirical research, such as surveys, statistical analysis, and qualitative interview studies. Her areas of focus are reproductive ethics, genomics, and the philosophy of medicine.
Abstract
What do we do when we diagnose? Emerging technologies and epistemic authority in the diagnostic process

What a diagnosis means, and why it matters, is a complex product of social practices, medical judgement, policy, and values. Emerging technologies such as genomics and machine learning are being integrated into diagnostic processes. The increasing use of these technologies sits alongside rapidly expanding phenomena such as self-diagnosis, including direct-to-consumer testing; private digital health clinics; changing scope of practice in the healthcare workforce; and an increasing number of people receiving diagnoses of any kind. 

These emerging technologies and practices raise significant ethical issues, but they also have implications for our conceptual understanding of diagnosis. This includes the construction of diagnosis as a category, and diagnosis as a process. A medical doctor is positioned as having a particular type of epistemic authority in the diagnostic process, but this is shifting. Drawing on speech act theory, this talk will examine the conditions under which a diagnostic process generates social legitimacy, and the functions of a formal diagnosis.
When
15th May 2025
12:00–1:00 PM
Where
A27, Dean’s Boardroom/Conference Room, Level 2 (Main Entrance from Fisher Road, immediate left after you enter). Joining online? Register here: Zoom registration link  <https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/tvTXCMwGxOtzkmJDEc7hWf8FhE4?domain=t.e2ma.net>
If you have any questions or need further information, please don’t hesitate to reach out. 
Feel free to share this invitation with colleagues or friends who might be interested. 

Looking forward to seeing you there! 

Regards, 
Dr Siun Gallagher
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/sydphil/attachments/20250508/ba93ee93/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/pkcs7-signature
Size: 1509 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/sydphil/attachments/20250508/ba93ee93/attachment.p7s>