Upcoming Courses
To see a list of past courses offered, click here
All Courses are held at the Center for Bioethics, 3401 Market Street, 3rd Floor. See a particular course for room number.
Spring 2012
Please note that our new Department chair Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel will be teaching with us for the first time, BIOE 575 - The Future of the American Health Care System: Health Policy and the Affordable Care Act.
BIOE 546/548 - Mediation Intensive II/IV (1 CU)
Instructors: Edward Bergman, Autumn Fiester, and Lance Wahlert
Times: (all days meet at the Center, classrooms 321 and 331) January 13-16, 9-5pm
This is an immersion experience of learning through role-playing mediation simulations. It has the same format of the other Mediation Intensives, but will NOT duplicate simulations. Students will:
- Learn to effectively manage clinical disputes among and between caregivers, patients and surrogates through mediation
- Discover how to define problems and assess underlying interests to generate mutually acceptable options
- Role-play in a variety of clinical situations as both disputants and mediators
- Practice mediation with professional actors
- Receive constructive feedback in supportive environments
BIOE 540 001 - Challenging Clinical Ethics: Managing patient/caregiver conflict through mediation
Instructor: Edward Bergman
Time: Thursdays, January 12, 2012 - April 19, 2012, 4:30-7:00, Classroom 321
In the contemporary healthcare system patients, families, institutions and a multiplicity of caregivers engage in disputes over a myriad of issues - appropriate care, authorized decision-makers, managed care, information disclosure, and behavior/personality conflicts - sometimes with life and death hanging in the balance. Such disputes are rife with legal, ethical, emotional and scientific complexity. They are frequently highly charged and are often emergent in nature. In recent years, mediation has grown exponentially as a dispute resolution mechanism of choice. Not surprisingly, the success of mediation, and a wider understanding of the process, has led to its application in the realm of healthcare disputes with encouraging results. This course will provide an overview of negotiation fundamentals critical to the practice of mediation followed by an introduction to classical mediation theory and practice. Similarities and differences between mediation in the healthcare field, as distinct from other contexts, will be examined as will special problems highlighted by various commentators in the field. All class members will participate in mediation role-plays designed to simulate disputes prevalent in the healthcare landscape.
BIOE 551 001 -Cinema of Contagion
Instructor: Lance Wahlert
Time: Tuesdays, January 17, 2012 - April 24, 2012, 4:30-7:00, Classroom 321
In reality and metaphorically, cinema has served for generations of moviegoers as a site of communal congregation, pedagogical dissemination, and sometimes disease infection. Accordingly, how and where we watch films are just as important as what films have to say about doctors, disease, and death. This course will consider the epidemiological and cultural implications of cinema on bioethics, including how movies and movie theaters themselves have functioned as spaces of contentious discourse regarding public health. Bearing in mind the recent scholarship of film and medical theorists such as Lisa Cartwright, Paula Triechler, and David Serlin, we will study not only the possibility for film to register and comment on cultural understandings of the clinic, but also the ways cinema itself works out, reimagines, and even changes how the clinic is put into practice. Focusing on themes such as quarantine, vaccination, sexual health, end of life care, professional competence, and globalization, we will be watching and discussing public health films and feature-length films by directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, David Croneberg, Tamara Jenkins, Edward Yang, Todd Haynes, and Pedro Almodovar. No background in either cinema studies or bioethics is required for this course.
BIOE 552 001 - Specimen, Patient, and Spectacle: An Anthropological Look at the Body in Medicine
Instructor: Nora Jones
Time: Wednesdays, January 11, 2012 - April 18, 2012, 4:30-7:00, Classroom 321
This course is about how the human body is literally being 'seen' by medical students, physicians, patients, and the public. Our focus will be on the ways in which the diseased or sick body is experienced and understood from the perspective of the various actors in contemporary medicine. We will begin with the 'body as specimen,' the patient's body as seen by Western biomedical physicians in training and then in clinical medicine. Here we examine the histories of medical education and medical imaging technologies (i.e. x-rays, CAT scans, photography) to understand the development and perpetuation of what is called in anthropology the ‘biomedical gaze,’ a distinct perspective towards patients that is expressed in the clinical encounter. We then turn to the 'body as patient,’ where we will explore how the experience of illness or disease in the clinical encounter can change one’s self-image and self-understanding. This portion of the class asks how, other than being a patient ourselves, we as social scientists and bioethicists can come to understand the patient’s perspective. We will evaluate various types of first-person sources, including art, literature, and accounts generated through social science research. We conclude with the 'body as spectacle,' in which we will examine how the diseased or ill body has been used in popular culture. We will focus in particular on recent trends in the art world of using the deformed body as subject matter. We will ask for what purpose the patients’ bodies are being used, and what this trend tells us about our cultural attitudes towards and beliefs about illness, disease, and medicine. The end goal of this course is to learn how a viewer's social, personal, and educational history influences how we see the human body, and then to be enabled to use this knowledge when analyzing the origins and complexities of contemporary bioethics problems.
BIOE 553 001 - History of Bioethics
Instructor: Art Caplan
Time: Mondays, January 23, 2012 - April 23, 2012, 4:30-7:00, Classroom 331.
As the field of bioethics has evolved it has developed a set of canonical topics and analyses that every student of bioethics should be familiar with. This course will explore the evolution of bioethics, identify key issues such as rationing, reproductive ethics, research involving children, organ donation and informed consent that have shaped the field, and examine how bioethics has made substantive contributions to public policy, corporate responsibility and individual human rights. The course will also examine the development of bioethics outside the USA and how different cultural and economic points of view differentiate bioethical analyis and the response to American bioethics. The goal of the course is to both critically examine the history of the field and to illustrate how work in bioethics has been given practical application to a wide variety of issues and problems.
BIOE 575 The Future of the American Health Care System: Health Policy and the Affordable Care Act
Instructor: Ezekiel Emanuel
Time: Wednesdays, January 11, 2012 - April 18, 2012, 4:30-6:30; Required discussion section: One of the following:
- BIOE 575 201
Wednesdays 3:30-4:30, Location TBA
- BIOE 575 202 Wednesdays 6:30-7:30, Location TBA
- BIOE 575 203 Thursdays 3-4, Location TBA
- BIOE 575 204 Thursdays 4-5, Location TBA
***NOTE: This course meets as a lecture by Dr. Emanuel on Wednesday afternoons from 4:30-6:30. Course also requires attendance at one of the TA-led group discussion section.***
This course will provide students a broad overview of the current U.S. healthcare system. The course will focus on the challenges facing the health care system, an in-depth understanding of the Affordable Care Act, and its potential impact upon health care access, delivery, cost, and quality.
The U.S. health care system is the worlds largest, most technologically advanced, most expensive, with uneven quality, and an unsustainable cost structure. This multi-disciplinary course will explore the history and structure of the current American health care system and the impact of the Affordable Care Act. How did the United States get here? The course will examine the history of and problems with employment-based health insurance, the challenges surrounding access, cost and quality, and the medical malpractice conundrum. As the Affordable Care Act is implemented over the next decade, the U.S. will witness tremendous changes that will shape the American health care system for the next 50 years or more. The course will examine potential reforms, including those offered by liberals and conservatives and information that can be extracted from health care systems in other developed countries. The second half of the course will explore key facets of the Affordable Care Act, including improving access to care and health insurance exchanges, improving quality and constraining costs through health care delivery system reforms, realigning capacity through changes in workforce and medical education, and potential impact on biomedical and other innovation. The course will also examine the political context and process of passing major legislation in general and health care legislation in particular, including constitutional arguments surrounding the Affordable Care Act. Throughout lessons will integrate the disciplines of health economics, health and social policy, law and political science to elucidate key principles.
BIOE 580 Research Ethics
Instructor: Jon Merz
Time: Mondays, January 23, 2012 - April 23, 2012, 4:30-7, Classroom 321.
This seminar is intended to give students a broad overview of research ethics and regulation. The students will come out of the class with an understanding of the moral bases of scientific ethics and the historical evolution of biomedical research ethics. Students will be fully conversant with the development, implementation, and limitations of US human subjects regulations. The course includes reading assignments, lectures, discussions, student-led case-based and topical discussions addressing the following topics: ethics and morality in science; science in society; scientific integrity; misconduct; whistleblowing; conflicts of interest; collegiality, publication and authorship; peer review; human experimentation and regulations (HHS, FDA), Institutional Review Boards; informed consent, waivers, vulnerable populations; privacy and the confidentiality of records; epidemiology; and, finally, research on animals.
BIOE 602 001 - Conceptual Foundations of Bioethics
Instructor: Autumn Fiester
Time: Tuesdays, January 17, 2012 - April 24, 2012, 4:30-7:00, Classroom 331
This course examines the various theoretical approaches to bioethics and critically assesses their underpinnings. Topics to be covered include an examination of various versions of utilitarianism; deonotological theories; virtue ethics; ethics of care; the fundamental principles of bioethics (autonomy, beneficence, distributive justice, non-maleficence); casuistry; and pragmatism. The course will include the application of the more theoretical ideas to particular topics, such as informed consent, confidentiality, and end of life issues.
** ALSO OFFERED ON THURSDAYS **
BIOE 602 002 - Conceptual Foundations of Bioethics
Instructor: Autumn Fiester
Time: Thursdays, January 12, 2012 - April 19, 2012, 4:30-7:00, Classroom 331
Summer 2012
SUMMER I: BIOE 545 910/547 910 Mediation Intensive I/III (1 CU)
Instructors: Edward Bergman, Autumn Fiester, and Lance Wahlert
Times: Thursday-Sunday, May 17-20th.
This is an immersion experience of learning through role-playing mediation simulations. It has the same format of the other Mediation Intensives, but will NOT duplicate simulations. Students will:
- Learn to effectively manage clinical disputes among and between caregivers, patients and surrogates through mediation
- Discover how to define problems and assess underlying interests to generate mutually acceptable options
- Role-play in a variety of clinical situations as both disputants and mediators
- Practice mediation with professional actors
- Receive constructive feedback in supportive environment
***Also offered Summer II***
SUMMER II: BIOE 546 920/548 920 Mediation Intensive II/IV (1 CU)
Instructors: Edward Bergman, Autumn Fiester, and Lance Wahlert
Times: Thursday-Sunday, August 9-12th.
BIOE 550 900 - Public Health Ethics
Instructor: Jason Schwartz
Time: Tuesdays, 4:30-7, May 22-August 7, 2012. Classroom 321.
This course will examine issues at the intersection of ethics, politics, and public health, paying particular attention to the centuries-long tension between individual rights and the common good. Ethical considerations are increasingly visible in public health programs and policy in the United States and worldwide. Mandatory vaccination laws, taxes on soft drinks, the regulation of tobacco, and controversies over the risks of pharmaceuticals are just a few examples of the continued relevance of long-standing debates over the proper role of government in protecting the health of individuals and communities. Through case studies reflecting the remarkable breadth of public health regulation and oversight, we will consider the historical context of contemporary policy debates; the scientific, medical, public health, and ethical arguments offered by advocates and critics; and the institutions and individuals responsible for developing and implementing public health policy.
BIOE 551 900 - Bioethics and AIDS
Instructor: Lance Wahlert
Time: Wednesdays, 4:30-7:00, May 23-August 8, 2012. Classroom 331.
Description: Coming Soon!
BIOE 585 900 - Research in Vulnerable Populations
Instructor: Jon Merz and Francis Barchi
Time: Mondays,
4:30-7:00, May 21-August 6, 2012. Classroom 321.
This is an advanced seminar focused on human subjects research in resource-constrained regions of the world. Students are expected to have a grounding in US regulations and policies. The students will come out of the class with an appreciation for issues raised by research involving populations vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation, a sensitivity to cultural issues, and an awareness of methods for appropriately engaging communities and performing ethically sound research. The course includes reading assignments, lectures, case-based and discussions addressing topics ranging from social and anthropological research, vulnerability and exploitation, biomedical research, pharmaceutical sponsorship, traditional knowledge and biopiracy, and equity and access. Grade will be based on 3 written case evaluations (70%) and class discussion and participation (30%). Please note that if you haven't taken BIOE 580: Research Ethics, you will be required to complete a short on-line training module on research ethics.
Fall 2012
BIOE 552 001 - (Medicine and Bioethics through a Philadelphia Lens)
Instructor: Nora Jones
Time: Mondays, 4:30-7:00, September 10-December 3, 2012. Classroom 321.
Description: TBA
BIOE 555 001 - Neuroethics
Instructor: Jonathan Moreno
Time: Tuesdays, 4:30-7:00, September 11-December 4, 2012. Classroom 321.
BIOE 565 001 - Rationing
Instructors: Ezekiel Emanuel and Art Caplan
Time: Wednesdays, 4:30-6:30, September 5-December 5, 2012. Location TBA
ALSO REQUIRED RECITATION SECTION - dates, times, locations TBA
BIOE 601 001 - Introduction to Clinical Bioethics
Instructor: Autumn Fiester
Time: Tuesdays, 4:30-7:00, September 11-December 4, 2012. Room 331
** ALSO OFFERED ON THURSDAYS **
BIOE 601 002 - Introduction to Clinical Bioethics
Instructor: Autumn Fiester
Time: Thursdays, 4:30-7:00, September 6-December 6, 2012, Classroom 331