Whether it is stem cell research and cloning or such a seemingly simple issue as caring for elderly parents, doing the right thing is not always easy and the answers are not always clear.

Some of the nation's leading bioethicists will be gathering at Cal State Northridge later this month to examine the question of what is right when it comes to medical research and other issues involving public health.

The daylong "2002 Alyce Vrolyk Conference on Bioethics" will take place on Friday, Oct. 18, in the Grand Salon of the University Student Union on the east side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge. It is free and open to the public.

"The conference brings together internationally renowned bioethicists to discuss topics that are on everyone's minds these days," said Gregory Velazco y Trianosky, chair of CSUN's Philosophy Department. "It is an opportunity to talk to them about real problems of everyday life."

Velazco y Trianosky said among the issues to be discussed at the conference are the tough choices many people have to make when deciding how to care for their aging parents or what we as a nation should do about the large number of people who have jobs but still cannot afford health insurance. Presenters will also tackle the questions raised by stem cell research and cloning.

Presenters include:

• Samuel Gorovitz, an internationally recognized bioethicist who teaches at Syracuse University and State University of New York's Upstate Medical University. He is a gubernatorial appointee to the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. His numerous publications include Doctor's Dilemmas: Moral Conflict and Medical Care and Drawing the Line: Life, Death and Ethical Choices in an American Hospital.

• Ruth Macklin is a professor in bioethics in epidemiology and social medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is chair of the Ethical Review Committee of the Joint United Nations' Programme on AIDS, vice president of the Council of International Organizations of Medical Sciences, senior consultant to the National Bioethics Advisory Commission and past president of the International Association of Bioethics. Her many publications include Mortal Choices: Enemies of Patients, Surrogates and Other Mothers and Against Relativism.

• Miriam Cotler is a professor emeritus of health sciences and director of the Center for Health Policy and Ethics at Cal State Northridge. She is a consulting bioethicist at several area hospitals, including Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where she is director of the Alyce B. Vrolyk Bioethics Institute. She is also co-chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Bioethics Committee.

• David Adams is a professor of philosophy and director of the Institute for Ethics and Public Policy at Cal Poly Pomona. He is a clinical ethicist at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and San Antonio Community Hospital.

The conference is named for Alyce B. Vrolyk, who taught in CSUN's Department of Philosophy from 1975 to 1989. Vrolyk's main interest was in ethical theory, with an emphasis in bioethics. She authored a number of papers and made numerous presentations in these subjects. She died in 1990.

For more information about the conference, visit its Web site at http://www.csun.edu/~cev2000/avconfer.htm, e-mail oscar.marti@csun.edu or david.shoemaker@csun.edu or call (818) 677-4847.

California State University, Northridge has more than 32,500 full- and part-time students and offers 59 bachelor's and 41 master's degrees as well as 28 education credential programs. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley and the third largest in the 23-campus CSU system. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges recently said CSUN "stands as a model to other public urban institutions of higher education."