Master of Arts in Bioethics

Lisa S. Parker, PhD , Director

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Joint Degree in Law and Bioethics (JD/MA)

Joint Degree in Medicine and Bioethics (MD/MA)

Directions for Applying to the Master of Arts in Bioethics Program

Master of Arts in Bioethics

The Center for Bioethics and Health Law and the School of Arts and Sciences offer an interdisciplinary Master of Arts (MA) in Bioethics. This course of study may be completed in one or two years, depending on the student's prior experience and training. Designed for clinicians, lawyers, and students of the humanities and social sciences, the program emphasizes the philosophical foundation of bioethics and offers opportunities for students to observe clinical ethical reasoning in clinical practica at the UPMC Health System and to pursue in-depth research. This interdisciplinary program allows students to combine study in ethics theory, philosophy, history of medicine, cultural studies, health law, public health, and the social sciences. It utilizes an interdisciplinary approach consisting of a combination of clinical experience and education in ethics theory. The program of study includes core courses, a thesis course, clinical practica, and several elective courses. It is intended to be an adjunct to other graduate or professional education. Thus, students either already possess a graduate or professional degree, are in the process of obtaining one, or intend to do so after completion of the bioethics program. Partial tuition scholarships are available to highly qualified applicants. Applicants who wish to be considered are strongly encouraged to apply.

Requests for further information (including an informative brochure) should be directed to Director of Admissions, Master Degree in Bioethics, Center for Bioethics and Health Law, 300 Medical Arts Building, 3708 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3405 (412/647-5700). Email inquiries may be sent to bioethic+@pitt.edu.

Required Courses for Master Degree In Bioethics

Core Courses

An examination of philosophical issues that arise in conceptualizing the aims and practices of medicine and medical science and their relationship to broader frames of reference, both cultural and scientific.

The seminar examines philosophical issues that arise in conceptualizing the aims and practices of medicine and medical science and their relationship to broader frames of reference, both cultural and scientific. It interrogates such fundamental concepts as health, illness, disease, pain, and care; examines relevant modes of reasoning and paradigms of knowledge; explores the role of narrativity, argument, and image systems in the internal and external understandings of medicine; considers ways that medical knowledge and understanding relate to other domains of knowledge and culture; and attempts to understand the tensions that arise in seeing medicine both as patient care and a field of research, as having both individual and social responsibilities, and as ministering to both body and mind. There will be common readings and short writing assignments for each class meeting, as well as a final paper.

Theoretical Foundations of Applied Ethics
BIOETH 2661
(Mark Wicclair)
This is a survey course of major ethical theories and their relation to applied ethics, especially bioethics and health policy. In this course, students will examine ethical theories such as consequentialism, duty-based theories, rights-based theories, contractarianism, virtue ethics, and casuistry. Readings will include selections by Mill, Kant, Rawls, Williams, Smart, Jonsen and Toulmin, Pellegrino and Thomasma, and others. This course addresses various questions about ethical theory and applied ethics, such as:

• What are the major ethical theories?
• What are the criteria for assessing competing ethical theories?
• What is the relation between ethical theory and applied ethics?

Bioethics
BIOETH 2664
(Lisa Parker)
This seminar serves as a graduate-level introduction to some of the topics, texts, methods, and normative assumptions of the field of bioethics. In addition to being exposed to these aspects of the field, students will be asked to think critically about them. The course will begin with an examination of informed consent, which has become a cornerstone doctrine of bioethics, and will proceed by considering other topics in relation to this doctrine and the assumptions and values that ground it. A series of questions will guide the semester-long discussion. These include:

• What are the assumptions and norms underlying the theory or doctrine of informed consent?
• How do the theory and practice of informed consent compare?
• How are the norms and requirements of informed consent related to the demands of distributive justice?
• How is bioethics defined?

Thesis Course

Clinical Practica

Clinical Practicum II
BIOETH 2606
This second practicum allows students to observe clinical practice in a medical context related to their thesis research and to have an intensive month-long experience in that setting. In recent years, students have chosen case management and social work, ethics committees and consultation, genetic counseling, geriatrics, HIV clinic, hospital legal counsel offices, oncology, pain management, and psychiatry (both intake or emergency departments and wards). Students meet regularly with a Center for Bioethics and Health Law faculty member to discuss their observations and to relate the clinical ethics issues to both theory and their own research.

Restricted Electives

Electives

Application Information

Students seeking admission to the Master of Bioethics Program should contact the Department for detailed information about required materials for admission to graduate study and the admissions process. For a downloadable Application Materials Checklist (PDF file), click here.

Request the Center to mail you any supplementary application materials or information by contacting the Director of Admissions by postal mail, telephone, or E-mail:

Students interested in the joint degree programs must also apply through either the School of Law or the School of Medicine.

Students interested in applying to the joint degree program must provide permission for the release of their application materials from the School of Law and/or School of Medicine. Please email the following statement to bioethic@pitt.edu:

"I hereby authorize the University of Pittsburgh School of Law/Medicine to release my application materials, including LSAT scores, letters of recommendation, and transcripts to the Admissions Committee of the Master’s Program in Bioethics."