About the Program
Bioethics is a vibrant, interdisciplinary field engaging in the most important and cutting-edge ethical issues concerning biomedical research and the delivery of health care today. Medicine, law, philosophy, public policy, anthropology, psychology, and nursing are but a few of the disciplines that inform the debates currently raging in Bioethics. Debate topics include physician-assisted dying for the terminally and chronically ill, medical research involving children, and the social and ethical implications of stem cell science and human genetics research.
Students from all academic backgrounds have a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a rich undergraduate Bioethics curriculum at Case Western Reserve University. All undergraduate Bioethics courses are led by internationally-renowned faculty from the Department of Bioethics at the CWRU School of Medicine, one of the largest and most accomplished Bioethics programs in the country. Exposure to the field of Bioethics at the undergraduate level provides excellent pre-professional preparation for students aspiring to a career in health care, biomedical research, law, social work, philosophy, or other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Bioethics education also provides the benefit of preparing undergraduates to become responsible participants in a world complicated by ever-increasing biomedical advancements.
Integrated Graduate Studies (IGS) Program
Qualified CWRU undergraduates may be admitted to our MA program to complete a Master’s degree in Bioethics and Medical Humanities during their senior year. For more information about the CWRU IGS Program visit the IGS FAQs.
Minor in Bioethics and Medical Humanities
The CWRU Minor in Bioethics and Medical Humanities formally recognizes a student’s coordinated course of study comprised of courses currently offered by the Department of Bioethics and other departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. The Bioethics and Medical Humanities Minor is designed to give students ethical and social training centered around multi-level analyses of health, the delivery of health care and biomedical research, and to do so in a highly interdisciplinary manner.