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*NEW* Berman Institute Faculty Discuss their Careers in Bioethics
In the hopes of providing valuable advice for students pursuing a career in bioethics, the Berman Institute of Bioethics interviewed faculty members and graduate students about their individual careers and studies. The faculty members and students interviewed come from a variety of disciplines, including medicine, law, public health, and philosophy, and each interview offers a unique story and perspective. In the following interviews, these faculty members discussed their initial interest and involvement in bioethics, and the paths which led them to their current positions. Faculty members also gave advice on the best bioethics resources, including academic and professional experiences to Internet resources, and critically looked at the current bioethics world to determine what the future generation of bioethicist ought to bring to it. These interviews serve not as a strict model for students to follow to become a bioethicist, but rather reveal the many opportunities and possibilities for achieving a bioethics career.
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Research Interests: Research ethics, including identifying simpler ways of conducting informed consent in order to increase research participants understanding; public health ethics and the ethics of infectious diseases |
Areas of interest: Bioethics, global health ethics, international research ethics, moral philosophy, and moral psychology |
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Areas of interest: Research ethics, local implementation of Federal policy relevant to human subject research, HIV/AIDS policy, and qualitative research methods |
Areas of interest: Empirical bioethics and health services research related to Sickle Cell Disease, Respect for persons, Trust, Social justice, African American perspectives in bioethics |
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Areas of Interest: Surrogate decision-making and the role of children and providers in facilitating shared decision-making among all relevant parties, moral issues that frequently arise in the context of pediatric hematology |
 Interview with Dr. Joseph Carresse- To be updated soon
Areas of interest: Clinical Ethics, with a particular interest in ethical issues that arise in the context of cultural diversity; Research Ethics; Ethics Education at all levels |
Educational opportunities:
Thus far, the field of bioethics has been multidisciplinary. This diversity in training has been an asset, providing a rich set of experiences and tools that can be brought to bear to confront ethical challenges. This diversity is also reflected in the multitude of offerings for those seeking training. Programs and offerings range from undergraduate to Masters and terminal degree programs and also to various internships and fellowships. In many cases, bioethics training is combined with a variety of relevant terminal degrees (PhD, MD, JD). Those seeking to advance their training in bioethics should consider which of the many alternative paths fits best with their backgrounds, skills and interests.
Links to programs:
Careers in bioethics:
Opportunities for those interested in pursuing a career related to bioethics are expanding. These are examples of the sorts of opportunities available:
1) Academic bioethics: A wide variety of career opportunities engaging in teaching and generating new scholarship on policy and ethics issues within the purview of bioethics are becoming available within academically based bioethics institutes/centers. Similar work is conducted and, career opportunities are becoming available within independent organizations such as The Hastings Center or The American Medical Association. In addition, there are both liberal/conservative bioethics think tanks such as The Center for American Progress; and The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity.
2) Research ethics: IRB/ESCRO/IACUC staff or committee members. Career opportunities are created by the need for various committees to review research proposals and ensure the ethical conduct of scientific/biomedical research.
3) Clinical Ethics: Hospital-based clinical ethicist/consultant/Hospital ethics committees. Hospital ethics committee members are typically not paid for their service. However, some few hospitals do employ consultants to serve as clinical ethicists, hearing cases with conflicts or ethically-challenging dimensions.
4) Be Creative: The expansion of careers in bioethics is a relatively new phenomenon – don’t be afraid to be creative in encouraging the integration of bioethics into existing career paths. Some obvious examples: cell biologist-bioethicist, NICU nurse-bioethicist, historian-bioethicist, hospital administrator-bioethicist. Careers offer significant exposure to the sorts of challenging issues that define bioethics can also bring novel and useful tools and experiences that can be added to the problem-solving armamentarium.
Links to more general info about bioethics careers:
Links to job search sites:
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