Animals, Food, and Bioethics

Bioethics for the People

You are what you eat? In this episode, Devan and Tyler talk with Profs Amy Lewis and Enza Rocco about food, animals, and cats.

Amy Lewis is the Associate Chair of the English Department at the Community College of Philadelphia. Her interest in bioethics comes not from any specific professional affiliation or degree program but rather a lifetime of loving to help people and animals. Since she lacks the scientific aptitude to help anyone medically, she has devoted her life to helping through other means, be it education, activism, philanthropy (small scale because, again, she's an educator), and other support projects. Her professional and educational interests largely center on promoting equitable access to education for all so no one's dreams are constrained by their socio-economic status (a tall order, she knows), and her activism focuses mostly on helping rescue groups - particularly ones assisting Philadelphia's crisis-level homeless cat problem. To that interest, she tries to support groups like Philadelphia Urgent Rescue and Relief (PURR) and Temple Cats in whatever ways she can. If one does not want to adopt a cat, one should not speak to Amy for more than a few minutes because she WILL try to send you home with at least one.

Enza Rocco is the Assistant Director of the Master's Program in Urban Bioethics in the Center for Urban Bioethics in the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, where she also serves as an Assistant Professor. By training, Enza is a social worker, bioethicist, and lawyer. Enza earned her MSW from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice in 2009. She earned her master's in bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine in 2009. In 2012, Enza graduated with her JD from Temple University Beasley School of Law. Before and during law school, Enza worked as a geriatric social worker and helped to found and lead an age-in-place initiative in Wilmington, Delaware. Her academic and research focus is in legal and ethical issues in end-of-life care and food justice. At Temple, Enza leads a food insecurity program out of the Center for Urban Bioethics and the St. Christopher's Foundation for Children called Farm to Families which brings organic, local fruit and vegetables to North Philly residents at low-or-no cost, as well as other community programs. Enza has the honor of teaching ethics to a variety of students at Temple, including medical students, physician assistants, residents, physicians, social workers, therapists, and dental residents and dental students. Enza is a certified national healthcare ethics consultant and serves on Temple University Hospital's Ethics Committee, as well as a variety of other committees.