Search

Paul Root Wolpe is the director of the Center for Ethics at Emory, the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics, the Raymond F. Schinazi Distinguished Research Chair in Jewish Bioethics, and a professor in the departments of medicine, pediatrics and sociology. He also serves as the first bioethicist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where he formulates policy on bioethical issues and safeguarding research subjects.

His teaching and publications range across multiple fields of bioethics and sociology, including death and dying, genetics and eugenics, sexuality and gender, mental health and illness, alternative medicine, and bioethics in extreme environments such as space. He is the author of the textbook “Sexuality and Gender in Society,” and is editor and a key author of the end-of-life guide “Behoref Hayamim: In the Winter of Life.”

John Lysaker, Director of Emory University Center for Ethics
John is the William R. Kenan University Professor at Emory University and Director of its Center for Ethics. Educated at Kenyon College and Vanderbilt University, he also has taught at the University of Oregon. His central interest remains the good life writ large and various phenomena that enable and/or frustrate its emergence, including the nature and import of art, serious mental illness, and friendship. Because ethical life courses through a wide field of usages and images, his work engages historical texts as well as contemporary philosophers alongside and in dialogue with poets, songwriters, musicians, and painters.

Jonathan Halitsky, Backpack Buddies of Metro Atlanta
Jonathan has always been around food and drink. As a kid, he’d “help” his wine salesman father at tasting events while expanding his taste buds by dining at his father’s upscale restaurant accounts. Meanwhile, his art teacher mother instilled a flair for the creative. At Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, Jonathan honed his communication skills, leading him to launch his career in Marketing and Advertising in New York City.
Developing expertise in Sports and Entertainment event marketing, Jonathan and his Atlanta-native wife Rachel made the move South to begin a family, which now includes 12-year-old daughter Hazel and puppy Griffin. For over a decade, Jonathan led events for major brands such as AT&T, Cupcake Vineyards, and ConAgra Foods at major events including NCAA Final Four, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Wrestlemania, and the Tribeca Film Festival.
After a mid-career sabbatical, Jonathan returned to his culinary roots to launch JRB’s BBQ, Atlanta’s personal BBQ chef, and BBQ coach. He serves Backpack Buddies with that same passion for the power that food has to impact lives.
When not at the smoker or the Backpack Buddies facility, Jonathan can be found playing tennis in one of several leagues, building legos with his daughter, traveling the world with his wife, or giving belly rubs to his pup.