Bioethics Certificate for Doctoral Students

BIOETH 501: Foundations of Bioethics I (3 credits): This course will offer an overview of various ethical theories, constructs, and methodologies that characterize Western moral philosophy and, to some degree, the evolution of bioethics during the past three decades. Topics will include an introduction to major theoretical approaches such as deontology, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, casuistry, natural law, principalism, moral relativism, and moral pluralism.

BIOETH 502: Foundations of Bioethics II (3 credits): This course will survey a number of classic issues in bioethics that have been in the forefront of the bioethical movement in the United States for at least the past two decades, as well as the context of the healthcare system. Topics have been chosen because of their enduring character as well as how they embody trenchant conflicts over values and ethical principles. By appreciating the nature of these conflicts, students will achieve considerable insight into the nature and limits of rational, principled argument for resolving bioethical debate.   

BIOETH 503: Foundations of Bioethics III (3 credits): This course will survey a number of contemporary issues in bioethics, focusing particularly on the advances in science and biotechnology that have pushed the ethical boundaries of health care as it has been practiced. Topics will include genetics and epigenetics; ethical issues in neuroenhancement and other aspects of neurosciences; and ethical issues in synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and other scientific developments.

The Bioethics Service Learning Practicum is designed to give students a first-hand, scholarly, supervised experience in an approved practice setting and is required of all students completing the Bioethics Certificate. In the course of this community-based experience, students provide service that contributes to the mission of the organization/institution while learning and further developing skills in identifying, assessing, and addressing bioethical issues as they arise in practice. Students will work under the guidance of established professionals in the field as well as partnering with academic faculty to ensure a full integration and continued development of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students have mastered through classroom study. Students will not just observe and critically assess the pragmatic, legal, social, and other constraints on ethical decision making in the practice setting; they also will provide valuable ethics service to the organization or institution at which the practicum is completed.

In addition, doctoral students enrolled in the certificate program will be required to commit to teaching or co-teaching one course in the MA in Bioethics program after they have been admitted to candidacy. This course will be an elective course offered by the Ethics Center. Both the course and its timing will be determined in discussion with the student’s bioethics faculty adviser, the MA in Bioethics program director, and the director of graduate studies of the certificate student’s home program. The goal of the teaching component of the certificate is to give the students experience teaching biomedical ethics in an environment where they can be mentored by faculty who are experienced with both the clinical and academic sides of the field. The MA students provide an opportunity unique at Emory to teach excellent, nontraditional students.

Each doctoral student will be assigned a teaching mentor (who will also co-teach) from the MA in Bioethics faculty with whom they will collaborate in all aspects of the course. The mentor will facilitate the creation and/or implementation of the course by meeting with the student before the semester to help produce the syllabus, during the semester on a regular basis to provide counsel and constant feedback, and following the semester to evaluate. In the event that there are other doctoral students enrolled in the course that the student is slated to teach, the mentor will review all doctoral students’ work, and the certificate student teacher will be responsible for the master’s students.

To recognize the effort committed to teaching the course, the mentoring relationship, and the educational value of the experience, certificate students will register for a 3-credit course, BIOETH 603 Bioethics Pedagogy. The mentor will evaluate the student on an S/U (satisfactory/unsatisfactory) basis.

Students must discuss, plan, and identify a course topic with the bioethics program director prior to the Course Offering Submission Deadline (typically one to two semesters before teaching the course).

Fall Year 1 - BIOETH 501: Foundations of Bioethics I 

Spring Year 1 - BIOETH 503: Foundations of Bioethics III 

Fall Year 2 - BIOETH 502: Foundations of Bioethics II 

Spring or Summer Year 2 - BIOETH601: Practicum

Fall/Spring/Summer Year 3-4 - BIOETH 603: Co-Teaching MA in Bioethics Course 

Please note that with the permission from your PhD thesis advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies, it is possible to start the Doctoral Certificate in Bioethics even if you have already started your candidacy.