Co-sponsored by the Clinical Center Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health, Georgetown's Kennedy Institute of Ethics, and the philosophy departments of George Washington University and the University of Maryland, the Joint Colloquium in Bioethics is a topic-specific seminar that meets 4-5 times each semester to discuss the work of distinguished visiting speakers. The format involves a two-hour discussion of the visiting scholar's work (circulated ahead of time), followed by an informal dinner on-site. A small and select group of faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral candidates from the member institutions attend each semester; discussion is friendly but quite lively as a diversity of perspectives are represented.