The Program in Medical Ethics and Human Values

Program News

The Program in Medical Ethics and Human Values is pleased to announce the provisional approval of a new graduate program at Tulane University School of Medicine: the Master of Science in Bioethics and Medical Humanities. This program, starting in the summer of 2020, is a two-year, 33 credit hour post-baccalaureate program leading to a Master of Science in Bioethics and Medical Humanities. This program is designed to improve the credentials of learners who are:

1. Dual-degree students in Medicine, Law, Public Health, and Social Work
2. Post-baccalaureate students who are interested in applying for admission to medical, dental, and other professional schools
3. Mid-Career Professionals who wish to enhance their scholarly and clinical background in these areas for future service or scholarship.

Click on this link to learn more about the new MS in Bioethics and Medical Humanities.

Mission Statement

The Program in Medical Ethics and Human Values is responsible for innovating and executing the educational integration of medical ethics, humanities, and humanism toward professionalism at Tulane University School of Medicine, with a focus on the relationship of human values and medical ethics. These activities will take place in preclinical, inpatient, and outpatient and graduate school settings, with particular emphasis on excellent clinical care. The mission of the program is to become a national leader of original education and educational research in medical ethics, humanities, and humanism through clinical ethics and human values teaching at the medical school and house officer level. The program will engage in collaborative teaching within the School of Medicine, in the various schools of Tulane University, and with other universities in New Orleans in the fields of ethics, history, fine arts, sociology of medicine, anthropology, law, and social psychology. The program will mentor faculty in medical ethics, humanities, and humanism to become better teachers in these topics and facilitate collaboration with other interdisciplinary centers at Tulane, bringing these concepts and principles to research teams. In support of this purpose, the most critical functions the program will perform are:

1. The improvement of ethical and humane clinical care through education of learners regarding human values and ethics in clinical care.
2. The conduct of original research in medical ethics and humanities pedagogy.
3. The development of an overarching educational program agenda at Tulane University to maximize integration of essential skills and knowledge of ethics and humanities with institutional multidisciplinary collaboration as well and inter-institutional collaboration.

Core Values

The core values and principles that will guide the program in the fulfillment of this mission are:

1. Respect for the diversity of values of patients, residents, students, staff, and faculty.
2. Integration of bioethical and humanism-based principles in all educational efforts at the Tulane University, and to contribute to scholarly research in medical ethics and humanities pedagogical research.
3. Fostering collaborative relationships toward professionalism through medical ethics, humanities, and humanism education.

The Program in Medical Ethics and Human Values anticipates a future Professorship or Visiting Professorship program to permit nurturing of junior or mid-career faculty in collaboration with scholars and educators at Tulane School of Medicine. Types of activities in which he/she may engage in will include: advancing the efforts of Tulane’s educational mission, conducting empirical educational research; writing target articles for scholarly journals such as Academic Medicine; and helping to plan and participate in a major course, or educational conference here at Tulane University.

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