What to Expect
In our program, you’ll learn how to integrate your disciplinary skills while you:
- Obtain grounding in the philosophical basis of bioethics to conceptualize and analyze moral problems;
- Develop a theoretical perspective to guide your research;
- Be proficient in empirical methodologies (both qualitative and quantitative) so that you can conduct research in bioethics problems;
- Become a scholar who can develop and conceptualize timely and meaningful research questions in bioethics;
- Develop the necessary skills to prepare academic publications and presentations and to compete for academic positions and grant funding from NIH, NSF, and private foundations.
Regardless of which discipline you enter our program from, you’ll become fluent in the ways in which bioethical scholarship employs concepts and methods from the humanities, social sciences, clinical research, jurisprudence, and health policy. Our curriculum is organized around five core areas:
- Normative and social science theory and methods
- Research ethics
- Clinical ethics
- Medical humanities and social medicine
- Public health ethics
You can complete your degree in about four or five years, working closely with faculty in our multidisciplinary learning environment—and immersing yourself in fields ranging from philosophy, social science and public health, to law, medicine and nursing. Doctoral students are part of our fully integrated educational program within our department that includes undergraduate courses, a master’s program in bioethics and medical humanities, medical school teaching, international student exchanges, and postdoctoral training. Within this context, you’ll learn how to better prepare both professional presentations and manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals—and how to compete for academic positions and competitive grant funding.
