Advanced Certificate in Health Care Ethics

Decisions about health care affect everyone in our society. The most controversial and pressing issues—from embryonic stem cell research to end-of-life care—require a clear understanding of the sociopolitical, economic, cultural, religious, legal, and professional values that inform personal choices and policy decisions. You can set yourself apart in the ongoing debate by earning a graduate certificate in health care ethics.

Fordham’s program is a four-course sequence that will provide you with the knowledge and critical-thinking skills to enhance your understanding of ethically relevant policy decisions affecting mental and physical health care treatment and research.

Designed for graduate students, lawyers, clergy, physicians, and other health care and business professionals, this multidisciplinary program draws upon the strengths and expertise of Fordham faculty from the humanities and social and physical sciences. You’ll be exposed to multidisciplinary perspectives and values underlying current ethical controversies on policy-relevant issues, such as:

  • advanced directives for treatment and research;
  • death and dying;
  • health insurance and managed care; and
  • federal regulation of gene therapy and reproductive technologies.

Program Highlights

  • Sharpen your critical thinking skills
  • Gain a multidisciplinary understanding of bioethical issues
  • Interact with leading scholars in law, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and theology
  • Enhance your marketability in business, law, health care, and other fields
  • Advance informed moral discourse and shape national policies in health care treatment and research

Program Basics

  • Designed as a one-year program, though students can move at their own pace
  • Four-course sequence includes at least one humanities course, at least one social science course, and a team-taught capstone course
  • Capstone course culminates in a mentored paper on a topic of interest