career in bioethics without additional professional education and/or experience. Instead, through completion of the degree program, professionals and academics in other disciplines gain the theoretical foundation, practical knowledge, and skills in a rigorous degree program that is theoretically robust but also critically relevant to contemporary challenges.
Given the diversity of these challenges, advanced study in bioethics in the HMS MBE program is relevant to individuals in a wide range of academic concentrations and professions. Students and alumni of the program consists of a wide variety of people from recent college graduates and early career professionals to practicing physicians across medical disciplines and individuals with careers as varied as nursing, law, philosophy, theology, anthropology, social work, journalism, public health, biomedical research, and biotechnology. In addition to the one-year, full-time option, the program structure allows for substantial completion of studies in the late afternoon to early evening hours to facilitate an online part-time course of study over two or three academic years while maintaining employment in the candidate’s primary field. This structure also provides for a robust and vibrant interdisciplinary community of candidates engaged in synergistic learning about and tackling of ever-evolving challenges in bioethics.
Program Outcomes: As listed here are the program's overall goals towards providing a comprehensive training to students in the field of bioethics.
1. Foundational Knowledge in Bioethics
o Understand and apply core ethical theories, principles, and frameworks in bioethics.
o Recognize and analyze ethical issues in healthcare, research, public health, biotechnology, and environmental contexts.
2. Interdisciplinary Integration
o Synthesize knowledge from medicine, law, public policy, philosophy, theology, and the humanities to address ethical challenges.
o Engage with diverse perspectives to promote ethical decision-making in multidisciplinary contexts.
3. Critical Thinking and Analysis
o Critique and evaluate ethical arguments, policies, and scholarly work related to clinical practice, research, and emerging technologies.
o Develop original ideas and arguments that contribute to scholarly and practical debates in bioethics.
4. Ethical Decision-Making and Application
o Apply bioethical principles to real-world challenges in clinical, research, and public policy settings.
o Serve as advisors or consultants on ethics-related issues in professional and civic contexts.
5. Communication and Advocacy
o Communicate complex ethical issues effectively to broad audiences, including policymakers, healthcare professionals, and the public.
o Advocate for ethical practices in healthcare, science, and public policy.
6. Global and Cultural Competence
o Address bioethical challenges in global health and broad cultural contexts.
o Promote equity and inclusion in healthcare and research ethics.
7. Policy and Systems Understanding
o Analyze the impact of laws, regulations, and policies on ethical decision-making in healthcare and research.
o Develop and critique bioethics policies to ensure they are aligned with ethical principles and societal needs.
8. Practical Experience and Skills Development
o Develop an understanding of key skills used in ethics consultation, mediation, and conflict resolution through coursework, case discussions, and simulations.
o Gain awareness of professional roles and practices in bioethics that may be pursued in future careers.
o Engage in applied learning through the capstone experience when possible, recognizing it as a potential opportunity to explore practical issues that arise in real-world or professional settings.
9. Professional and Leadership Development
o Prepare for leadership roles across stages of career development in healthcare, academia, government, and private and non-profit sectors.
o Enhance interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork skills.
10. Ethics of Emerging Technologies
o Understand and address ethical challenges associated with new biotechnologies, artificial intelligence, and neuroethics.
o Critically evaluate the societal implications of scientific and technological advancements.
11. Lifelong Learning and Ethical Reflection
o Cultivate a commitment to ongoing education and self-reflection in the field of bioethics.
o Stay informed about evolving ethical challenges and advancements in healthcare and science.
II. Degree(s) Offered
The Master of Science in Bioethics degree, (SM in Bioethics “MBE”) is a 36-credit program that may be completed on a full-time or part-time basis. The full-time program is completed in one academic year, and the part-time program is typically completed in an online format over two or three academic years. The three-year option does not qualify for federal financial aid and must be selected and approved prior to the first add-drop period of the student’s enrollment. See Section 2.06 of the HMS Master’s Student Handbook for definitions of full- and part-time.
III. Prerequisites for Admission
In order to apply for the MBE program, applicants must have a bachelor’s degree. For applicants to the virtual program, we also recommend applicants to have a professional or academic degree, such as M.D., Ph.D., B.S.N/R.N., J.D., M.S.W. M.P.H., or M.B.A./M.P.A.
Individuals currently enrolled in these degree programs may also add a year of study to include the MBE in anticipation of a professional or academic career in bioethics. Applicants completing
their undergraduate degree immediately prior to matriculating into the MBE program (postbacs) must display exceptionally strong qualifications and most commonly are planning to attend medical or law school or another graduate program. These students typically complete the MBE program in a “gap year” while applying to graduate or professional school.
Applicants must submit the following application materials:
Online application
Letter of Intent / Personal Statement
Curriculum Vitae
Undergraduate and graduate transcripts from all schools attended
Three letters of reference
Application fee
In addition, applicants for whom English is not the native language, and who did not receive their bachelor’s or graduate degree from an institution where English is the language of instruction, must submit results from the TOEFL, IELTS, or Duo Lingo. The Master of Science in Bioethics program requires a minimum score of 103 on the TOEFL and/or a 7.5 on the IELTS and/or a 130 on Duo Lingo.
Applications are open in fall of each year, with a deadline date no later than January 31 for post-baccalaureate and international applicants to the in-person program, and no later than March 31 for mid-career and all other applicants to the online program. Specific dates are noted on the program's website. Accepted applicants are invited to a virtual or in-person student event in the Spring prior to anticipated enrollment. Individuals are enrolled through the Registrar’s Office in late June for September matriculation.
IV. Academic Residence Requirements
The MBE full-time in-person program requires that all didactic coursework take place on Harvard's campus (HMS or other Harvard Schools). The capstone experience may be conducted on campus, at an HMS-affiliated hospital, or at another institution/organization with HMS faculty supervision in concert with a local mentor or supervisor. All capstone projects/ placements require formal approval of the program director or designee.
Students enrolled in the part-time virtual option are working professionals. Therefore, all required courses for the virtual program will hold synchronous class sessions in the evening hours (Boston time) to accommodate students’ work responsibilities. In addition, students are matched with capstone experiences that can be completed either virtually or located in communities in which students reside – without the need to travel to Boston. The mentoring and supervision available to students remotely meets or exceeds those available in person.
V.
Course of Study
A. There are no concentrations offered.
B. Curriculum
Successful completion of the MBE program is based on two core tenets. First, each candidate must complete foundational coursework representing broad exposure to and understanding of the foundation, theory, practice, and central challenges in bioethics. Second, each candidate must complete a capstone experience that demonstrates facility in and mastery of requisite knowledge and skill to engage meaningfully in bioethics inquiry and application in a specific area of professional expertise.
The course of study for the MBE, as described above, requires 36 credits, of which 32 are earned in classroom study and four are earned through the capstone experience broadly taking the form of a mentored academic project or externship/experience with a poster presentation in the Spring term and attendance at a weekly seminar.
The backbone of the MBE curriculum is the required year-long, ten-credit course, Foundations of Bioethics. This course is a multilayered approach to the core challenges in bioethics, from the philosophical underpinnings of the field to the application of theory to central challenges in bioethics and, beyond, to how policy and law shape and are shaped by moral challenges in the life sciences. The course combines readings from original texts, a moral theory primer, theoretical critiques, critical evaluation of key areas of bioethics inquiry, legal and policy approaches to subject matter areas (where applicable), and examination of other critical forces, such as religion, social science, and justice theory, that have shaped our understanding of and scholarship and practice in bioethics.
In addition to Foundations of Bioethics, degree candidates are expected to complete three required courses: Introduction to Clinical Ethics, Introduction to Research Ethics, and Health Law, Policy and Bioethics. Together, these required courses cover critical areas in the field of bioethics. It is the expectation of the program that, in order to complete the MBE's course of study, students will demonstrate knowledge and analytic ability in a substantial body of central bioethics topics. Restated, the foundational course is necessary but not sufficient to cover the breadth of the field, and additional coursework related to key concepts, subject areas, and challenges will be achieved through the required courses. Students with backgrounds and/or training that demonstrate proficiency in one of these core areas may petition the program to substitute an alternate class for one of the required classes but not for the Foundations sequence. This request must be made by completing the Core Course Exemption Request petition prior to the registration period when the student would be expected to enroll in the course.
In addition to the above requirements, ten elective credits must be taken in either courses offered through the MBE program or in other parts of the University. The majority of the elective credits must be taken in elective courses offered in the MBE program. Students will be allowed to enroll in a maximum of two elective courses (full-time one-year students can take one elective course per semester; part-time students can take a total of two electives throughout the two-year or three-year course of study) through cross-registration across the University, subject to availability and approval by the program. This cross-registration option ensures opportunities for students to achieve learning objectives across disciplines and
Due to the reduced course-load, the three-year option does not qualify for Federal Financial Aid.
Assignment to the full-time in-person or part-time virtual program option
Students are admitted to one of the three programs during the admissions process and must follow that course of study through graduation (One-Year full-time in-person, Two-Year parttime virtual, or Three-Year part-time virtual). Students may petition the program to transfer from one option to the other between admission and the first Fall Add/Drop period of enrollment. Upon approval from the program, the request will be forwarded to the Dean of Graduate Education and Registrar for final approval. Variances from the student’s course of study resulting in extra time toward the degree will result in additional charges as outlined in section 6.02 of the HMS Master’s Student Handbook.
D. Course Descriptions
REQUIRED COURSES:
BETH 701 and BETH 702: Foundations of Bioethics I and II (10 credits total)
The Master of Science in Bioethics program requires Foundations I in the first term of study and Foundations II in the second term of study. The course is a multilayered approach to bioethics, from the philosophical underpinnings to the application of theory to central challenges in bioethics and, beyond, to law and policy. Foundations I and II combine readings from original texts, theoretical critiques, legal and policy approaches to subject matter areas, and examination of other critical forces such as social science and religion, that have shaped contemporary bioethics. The course of study combines lecture and discussion formats with a strong emphasis on student participation.
BETH 707 and BETH 708: Capstone Seminar I and II (2 credits each)
The Capstone Experience Program is a required and consists of two components: the Experience Seminar and the Mentored Experience. The Capstone Seminar engages intentionally-small sections of students led by a Seminar leader on a weekly basis with occasional larger group meetings on Zoom which bring together speakers and students from multiple sections to share content and increase networking opportunities. The part-time sections meet in the evening hours. The Mentored Experience (field placement or project) focuses on something developed or explored over the course of the year, an experience on learning through doing, with the guidance and support of a mentor. This can take many different forms – some with more in-person interaction and observation, and some with more virtual or distant interaction, and the amount of interaction/observation will vary based on the needs and availability of the mentor and student. Special Note: Students are matched with individual capstone mentors for supervision towards fulfilling the capstone requirement.
CORE COURSES:
BETH 703: Introduction to Clinical Ethics (4 credits)
This course covers major principles and themes in clinical ethics (e.g. futility, physician-assisted suicide, advance directives). Each session includes interactive case-based lecture and discussion, followed by a practicum. The practicum is modeled around the experience of a clinical ethics committee with small groups of students working through a case and crafting an interpretation and set of recommendations. The class will meet weekly with pre-recorded videos, required readings and discussion posts as pre-work. After taking this course, students will be able to discuss and explain the core principles and themes of clinical ethics, analyze the principles of clinical ethics within the context of historical and contemporary cases, apply principles of clinical ethics to new cases in a collaborative setting, and appraise and critique literature related to clinical ethics.
BETH 705: Introduction to Research Ethics (4 credits)
This course is organized in a highly innovative manner, designed to provide the student with a comprehensive foundation in research ethics. After taking this course, students will be prepared to manage many of the complex, real-life ethical issues that have attracted public attention in recent years, such as undue influence of research participants, concerns about therapeutic misconception and subject recruitment, concerns about social justice in the context of biomedical research, and uncertainty about new forms of biomedical research. Each class session will be built around a critical discussion of fundamental concepts and case studies that elucidate the complex interplay of philosophical, scientific, and practical considerations that characterize the field of research ethics.
Health Law and Policy Core requirement:
BETH 706: Health Law, Policy and Bioethics (4 credits)
The Health Law and Policy Core requirement is met through completion of BETH 706: Health Law, Policy, and Bioethics. This course is an introduction to legal topics in health policy and bioethics. It requires no experience in law and begins with a brief primer on American law and how it works. Topics covered include legal aspects of the doctor-patient relationship, medical malpractice, privacy issues, health care finance, end-of-life issues, organ donation, disability, mental health, public health, medical product regulation, food regulation, and intellectual property. The course does not cover issues in reproductive ethics or human subjects research regulation, as those are part of other Master’s courses. Sessions are a mix of lecture and seminar-style, with occasional guest speakers.
ELECTIVE COURSES:
BETH 704: Neuroethics (2 credits) – VIRTUAL ONLY
This course undertakes a survey of the ethical issues related to current and future neurotechnologies. These include consciousness, selfhood, and free will; human-computer interaction (including artificial intelligence and deep learning); brain-computer interfaces; the use of neuroscience in the courts; and cognitive enhancement. The course covers many topics related to medical care for patients with neurological disorders, including disorders of consciousness, deciding for others, preclinical imaging and genetic testing for patients with neurological disorders, and clinical research on neural engineering devices.
BETH 710: Global Health Ethics (2 credits) – VIRTUAL ONLY
This course examines foundational normative problems and pragmatic ethical challenges facing those who work in some capacity to improve health outcomes for very poor populations living under conditions of severe resource scarcity. Participants interrogate basic conceptual ideas such as “what do we mean by ‘global health equity’?” and the nature and root sources of “resource scarcity”, in addition to focusing on specific practical concerns such as 1) how to conduct ethical responsible research on and with socially and economically disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, 2) macro-economic and micro-bedside resource allocation dilemmas, and 3) health care worker “brain drain” from poor to rich locales.
BETH 715: Pediatric Bioethics (2 credits) –
VIRTUAL ONLY Pediatric bioethics addresses not only the complexities of a developing child but also the role of the parent in healthcare decision-making for children. This course tackles these unique complexities, examining bioethical considerations at different times (e.g., infancy, adolescence, end-of-life) and in different locales (e.g., intensive care unit, nursery, outpatient clinic) in pediatric healthcare and investigate fundamental ethical dilemmas through the lens of pediatrics (e.g., considerations of disability, gender, and treatment refusal). Utilizing interactive lectures, case analyses, and facilitated discussions, the course will examine what makes pediatric bioethics unique, fascinating, and challenging. Through writing assignments, critiques of the literature, and class discussions, students will become familiar with the foundational readings and core clinical/legal cases that have shaped modern pediatric bioethics and gain the skills to critically analyze ethical dilemmas in pediatric healthcare.
BETH 718: Race, Gender and Sexuality in Bioethics (2 credits) – VIRTUAL ONLY
In their attention to gender, race, and sexuality, social approaches to bioethics challenge and expand contemporary bioethical theory and practice. Drawing from philosophy, theology, law, medicine, public health, and the social and biological sciences, this interdisciplinary field is both critical and constructive in addressing theory, method, and substantive ethical concerns across the clinical, research, organizational, public policy, and global spheres. In a (largely) seminar format, we will review the theoretical landscape and social movements that prompted the emergence of feminist bioethics, diverse frameworks of justice, critical race bioethics, queer bioethics, and more as they inform our analyses of particular historical and present-day ethical issues. Special attention is paid to the structuring force of anti-Blackness in various clinical and research settings, the development and racialization of transgender medicine, and what it means to view state violence as a bioethics and public health issue.
BETH 721: Narrative Ethics (2 credits) – VIRTUAL ONLY
This elective course focuses on narrative approaches to ethical issues in clinical medicine. Using literary narratives and poetry as the primary readings, the course methodology emphasizes the importance of particularity, contingency, change, voice, context, and time in recognizing, evaluating, and resolving moral problems. The course aims to develop skills in critical and reflective reading and writing that enhance competence in clinical ethics. Texts include fiction, essays, and poetry. Approximately two hours of reading is assigned for each class hour. The instructor provides necessary philosophic and literary context at the beginning of each class session, the balance devoted to discussion. The course also focuses on how to use narrative in bioethics writing. Students write six short essays that examine ethical issues in medicine in such areas as the meanings of illness, the patient-doctor relationship, the moral role of the care giver, and the relevance of emotions, culture, ethnicity, faith, values, social context, and life histories to ethical patient care.
BETH 722: Bioethics Beyond Humans: Animal, Food, Environmental Ethics (2 credits)
This interdisciplinary course examines bioethics "beyond the human", focusing on our relationships with animals, food systems, and the environment. We will explore how everyday
choices - what we eat, how we use animals, and how we treat the natural world - express personal values and shape questions of justice, dignity, intrinsic value, prejudice, and identity. Drawing on animal ethics, food ethics, and environmental ethics, the course investigates how we assign value to nonhuman life, what ethical duties we owe to animals and ecosystems, and how human health is inseparable from planetary health, sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity. Students will analyze practical controversies such as industrial agriculture, food justice, zoonotic disease, conservation, and biomedical uses of animals, while considering the ethical responsibilities of biomedicine toward the natural world.
Much of the learning will be experiential: in addition to seminar-style discussions and case studies, students will engage in field trips, meetings with practitioners and innovators, interactive sessions, and creative assignments that illuminate the workings of food systems, human-animal relations, and environmental impacts. By the end of the course, students will have a grounded framework for answering normative questions such as "How should we treat animals?", "What should we eat?", and "What do we owe the planet?", and will be prepared to integrate nonhuman ethics into broader bioethical practice and policy.
BETH 725 Frontiers of Bioethics
Frontiers in Bioethics is a two-credit course in which students will learn about emerging technologies and the unique moral considerations raised by these advances. In this course students will gain familiarity with emerging technologies, including current and future neurotechnologies, robotics, artificial intelligence, genomics, synthetic biology, and how bioethics informs these advances and the bioethics implications of technology. Finally, the course will explore how bioethics considerations may influence policy towards technological advances. Class will be taught in seminar format with an emphasis on group participation.
BETH 738 Perspectives in Bioethics: Culture, Religion, and Meaning (2 credits)
This interdisciplinary seminar examines how religious traditions, cultural worlds, and spiritual practices shape ethical reflection and decision-making in health care. Drawing on theology, anthropology, and social medicine, the course explores how theological positions and diverse religious communities have contributed to the development of bioethics while also situating those contributions within global histories of health, illness, and care. Students will consider key principles from religious and spiritual ethics and how they guide clinical decisions about suffering, healing, personhood, community, and justice.
Building on the foundations of social medicine, the course uses insights from the interpretive social sciences to analyze how colonialism, racism, neoliberalism, caregiving arrangements, and environmental conditions structure experiences of illness and access to care in different cultural and religious settings across Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and North America. Through historical and contemporary case studies, we will ask how religious and spiritual perspectives both respond to and are shaped by these forces, and how they can be brought into dialogue with bioethics and social medicine to alleviate suffering and advance equity.
Class sessions will combine short lectures, close reading, discussion, and student-led presentations. By the end of the course students will be able to critically assess the role of religion, culture, and spirituality in bioethical debates; articulate how anthropological and social medicine approaches reframe familiar clinical dilemmas; and propose more context-sensitive, justice-oriented responses to ethical challenges in health care.
BETH 743 Pharmaceutical Ethics (2 credits) – VIRTUAL ONLY
The pharmaceutical industry plays a critical role in global health, driving innovation in drug development while operating within complex regulatory frameworks designed to balance safety, access, and affordability. This course will explore the ethical dimensions of the pharmaceutical landscape, examining the responsibilities of key stakeholders - including drug manufacturers, regulators, healthcare professionals, and patients - through the lens of contemporary bioethics, law, and policy. We will examine the key ethical challenges shaping pharmaceutical regulation, including tensions between innovation and access, profit and patient well-being, regulation and autonomy, and transparency and commercial interests. Topics will explore the ethical challenges of drug regulation, obstacles in clinical trials, pharmaceutical pricing and access, the impact of drug marketing and promotion, post-approval safety concerns, and emerging issues in AI-driven and personalized medicine.
BETH 746 Reproductive Ethics, Law, and Justice (2 credits) – VIRTUAL ONLY
This is a class intended to promote knowledge of ethics, policy, reproductive liberties, law, and healthcare. The class will include two weekly 2-hour classroom components. During this time students will receive classroom instruction and advising from the instructor. The class will focus on reproductive health, law, and ethics. Understanding and learning about the legislative process is essential to this class. Reproductive justice issues span not only constitutional law considerations, but also other aspects of law, medicine, society, and the political process. Topics researched and discussed will include abortion, contraception, treatment of pregnant inmates, pregnancy exclusion laws, rape and statutory rape laws, personhood and feticide laws, artificial reproduction, surrogacy, the use of child endangerment laws to prosecute women for their conduct during pregnancy and parenthood. All students will gain exposure to legal research and writing and will work closely with the instructor to develop and hone these critical skills.
BETH 751: Health, Human Rights and Advocacy (2 credits)
This course will examine health and health care in the context of human rights. This course will be taught in seminar format with multiple guest lecturers who are experts in their fields. Students are expected to be active participants in discussion of the seminars and readings. Questions and issues that will be addressed in the course include but are not limited to: how do the frameworks of bioethics and human rights differ? Where do they overlap? If we have a right to health, does that include the right to health care or the right to receive medications? If so, what are some of the systematic obstacles to obtaining needed care? In addressing these issues, we will examine some of the social determinants of health, including education, poverty, the social safety net, the treatment (or lack thereof) of minority groups and vulnerable populations, and the profit driven elements of much of our health care system. We will also
explore health at the interface of global conflict, including such issues as torture. Students from all programs are welcome although priority for registration is given to MBE students.
BETH 762 Intersectionality and Centering Voices in Bioethics: Disability, Race, Gender, and Sexuality (2 credits)
This interdisciplinary seminar examines how disability, race, gender, sexuality, and other axes of difference structure access to health, autonomy, dignity, and civil and human rights. Using disability studies and disability law alongside feminist, queer, and critical race bioethics, students will explore how social and legal systems conceptualize and regulate bodies and minds, and how stigma, anti-Blackness, racism, ableism, cisnormativity, and heteronormativity shape clinical practice, research, and public policy. Topics include contested understandings of autonomy and personhood, the social and legal treatment of disabled people, the development and racialization of transgender medicine, and the framing of state violence as a bioethics and public health issue.
Grounded in intersectionality as an analytic of power and structures of domination - not merely identity - the course traces the emergence of intersectional resistance movements and collective struggles for health justice. Students will examine engagements between bioethics and critical race theory, feminism, Marxism, disability justice, religion, migrant justice, and queer and trans liberation, with particular attention to Indigenous perspectives in Africa and the Americas. Through close reading of scholarship, legal and policy documents, first-person narratives, and case studies - supplemented by films and other media - students will critically assess both the promises and tensions of intersectional approaches in contemporary bioethics. The seminar format emphasizes short lectures, collaborative discussion, and structured group work to foster rigorous, collegial dialogue about difficult and controversial issues, and to equip students to envision more just and inclusive bioethical practices.
BETH 711 Specialized Topical Analysis in Bioethics: Bioethics and Artificial Intelligence (2 credits) -- VIRTUAL ONLY
Increasingly, clinical medicine, biomedical research, and health interventions are utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) algorithms, natural language processing, and autonomous robots. This seminar will explore the many bioethical implications of this rise in algorithms, artificial intelligence, robots, and brain-machine interface. Through assigned readings, weekly discussion, and engagement with local experts in fields such as reliance on black-box algorithms for clinical diagnosis; informed consent for procedures and research using AI; use of AI in surgery; robots for patient care; AI-based algorithms for suicide prevention; computational phenotyping; use of AI to identify incidental findings; and use of AI as a bioethics research tool. These topics will be examined through the lens of the foundational bioethics principles—autonomy, justice, beneficence, and non-maleficence—and also with consideration of privacy, racial bias, economic inequality, and social justice.
BETH 736 Sports and Bioethics (2 credits) -- VIRTUAL ONLY
This course introduces students to key public health and bioethics debates in the world of sports. First, we examine the ethics of using (and administering) performance-enhancing drugs,
conflicts of interest that arise with team physicians, and the ways that coercion, consent, and paternalism are conceptualized in the treatment of sport injury and the practice of sport medicine. Second, students are introduced to various moral considerations involving sports and mental health. This includes elite athletes deciding to prioritize their mental health over public pressure to win or compete, recent public health studies on sports gambling, and how the use of native mascots in team sports impacts the mental health of Indigenous communities. A substantive part of the course focuses on the prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in American football. Throughout this discussion, students are invited to consider why the ethics of fandom deserves serious bioethical inquiry, especially in light of the role fans play in encouraging, celebrating, and taking pleasure in violent sports. Because sport plays a central role in naturalizing hierarchies of bodies and producing racialized and gendered norms, the seminar also explores timely subjects like: the rise of trans moral panics in sport; how sport governing bodies rely on colonial logics of ability and disability to reinforce racialized ideals of sexual difference; and the ways that sport’s “culture of risk” relates to dominant views of race, masculinity, and femininity. Finally, the seminar considers various ethical arguments made against the very nature of competition and how these arguments can inform public health conversations around sports, work, schooling, and other activities central to the “culture of competition.”
BETH 741 Bioethics and Infectious Disease (2 credits) -- VIRTUAL ONLY
This course covers selected topics related to bioethics and infectious disease. Drawing upon historical and contemporary examples of disease outbreaks in the United States and abroad, the course addresses how concepts like beneficence, human dignity, utility, individual liberty, solidarity, and equality inform decision-making with respect to individual wellbeing and population health. Students will pay particular attention to the unique feature of contagion and examine how it generates complex and distinct challenges for bioethics. The course begins with an exploration into the ethical implications of conceiving the diseased patient as a person in need of care and simultaneously as an agent of infection. Next, students will consider the challenges of responding to potential or actual infectious disease outbreaks amid circumstances of fear, urgency, and uncertainty. The course will enrich students’ understanding of the unique and complex interplay of scientific, social, economic, and cultural factors related to infectious disease ethics. The goal of the course is for students to gain competency identifying and assessing the moral justifications for practical decisions and policies related to infectious disease detection, management, treatment, and prevention.
BETH 712
Theological, and Religious Perspectives in Bioethics (2 credits) – VIRTUAL ONLY
This seminar course is designed to reflect on the role and contributions of theological positions and various religious traditions to the interdisciplinary field of bioethics. Attention is given to the unique influence of theological voices on the development of bioethics in the North American context. Moreover, it identifies some of the principles embraced by these approaches and how they guide decisions in health care. Thus, it surveys a few examples of how theology engages the perennial and emerging questions in bioethics. Throughout the course emphasis is placed on how these insights can assist bioethicists in resolving some of the concerns that emerge particularly in clinical bioethics. Reflection also is given to the interplay of religious
bioethics and public discourse. The course combines lecture, discussion, and student presentations.
BETH 732 The Practice of Clinical Ethics Consultation (2 credits) – VIRTUAL ONLY
This course will familiarize students with the various components of the practice of clinical ethics consultation, including such aspects as formulating an ethics question, performing ethical analysis, writing an ethics note, and overall learn how principles of clinical ethics are applied in the practice of clinical ethics. Students will become familiar with important literature and standards around the work of clinical ethics and have the opportunity to do conduct clinical ethics consultations in various immersive simulations, role-playing activities, and discussions by experiencing varied tasks/jobs of a clinical ethicist and the various paths clinical ethicists take to arrive in their roles.
BETH 771 Narrative Ethics, Humanities, and the Arts (2 credits)
This interdisciplinary course offers an immersive exploration of bioethical issues through two important perspectives: 1) narrative approaches to ethical issues in clinical medicine, and 2) the arts and humanities.
Section I - Narrative Ethics: Narrative competence is fundamental to the ethical practice and study of medicine. This elective course focuses on narrative approaches to ethical issues in clinical medicine. Using literary narratives and poetry as primary readings, the course methodology emphasizes the importance of narrative components such as particularity, contingency, change, voice, context, and time in recognizing, understanding, and resolving moral problems. Narrative ethics aims to develop skills in critical and reflective reading and writing that parallel skills needed for varied professional work in ethics. Texts include fiction, essays, and poetry. The course director provides necessary philosophic and literary context in videos, required readings, or short comments at the opening of each session. Class time is devoted primarily to discussion. Writing for the course explores the confluence of personal experience with moral thinking in biomedical ethics.
Section II - Arts and Humanities: The class invites students to delve deeply into the intersection of aesthetic experience and moral inquiry, using artistic modalities to enrich their understanding of bioethical principles, theories, lenses, and frameworks. Through analysis of visual and performing arts, literary works, and diverse media, we will cultivate essential bioethical skills, including critical thinking, ethical reasoning, empathy, and self-reflection. Class sessions will integrate lectures, dynamic discussions, and close readings of texts. Additionally, interactive narrative medicine workshops will provide students with experiential opportunities to humanize abstract bioethical concepts, apply visual thinking strategies, and focus on personal moral development. By the end of the section, students will emerge with a heightened awareness of bioethical complexities and practical tools necessary for ethical decision-making.
E. Expectations for Students
30 credits of didactic coursework as described above must be completed over the course of two terms (for the full-time program) or four/six terms (for the part-time programs). Term 1 each year is late August to mid-December and term 2 each year is January – May. The capstone experience is to be completed over the course of one academic year. For full-time students, some credits must be earned through short courses offered in January. Part-time students may elect, but are not required, to enroll in January coursework.
Students are expected to attend all classes, arrive on time, and be fully prepared to participate actively in the class. See Section 2.02 of the HMS Master’s Student Handbook for the Attendance Policy.
F. Capstone Experience
The capstone experience is a mentored practical experience culminating in a poster presentation in May. Each capstone experience is overseen by a faculty mentor/adviser with review by the Director of the Capstone program and the Director of the MBE program or designee at regular intervals to monitor successful progress. For part-time students, the capstone experience will be completed in the final year of the program. Students also take the year-long Capstone Seminar during the year they complete their capstone experience. The Capstone Seminar engages intentionally small sections of students led by a Seminar leader on a weekly basis with occasional larger group meetings on Zoom which bring together speakers and students from multiple sections to share content and increase networking opportunities. The part-time sections generally meet in the evening hours.
G. Assessment
The MBE program's core courses at HMS are graded with letter grades. Courses taken at other Harvard schools are graded in accordance with that school’s policies. Students are considered to be achieving satisfactory academic progress through the attainment of a B or higher in all required and core courses (including the capstone) and by maintaining a B average (numeric value of 80%) or above overall, achieving a “SAT” for electives, tutorials and seminar courses, and by demonstrating ongoing progress with the capstone experience.
H. Length of Time to Degree
MBE students are expected to complete the program in one year if enrolled full-time and two years if enrolled part-time. A three-year option is available to a limited number of students. The three-year option does not qualify for Federal Financial Aid. Students may petition the program director in writing for an extension of time. Additionally, students must formalize any requested enrollment changes through the student information system (See Section 2.06 for definitions of full-and part-time and Section 2.07 for the policy on length of time to degree.)
I. Requirements for Graduation
The curriculum and course of study for the MBE is geared to the HMS requirements that degree recipients will both achieve mastery in a core curriculum that enriches the career of the student and complete courses that provide appropriate didactic training to match the program’s focus.
Students must maintain satisfactory academic progress in all coursework and complete the capstone project with a satisfactory grade (B or above) to graduate. A degree will not be granted to a student who is not in good standing or against whom a disciplinary charge is pending. In addition, a student’s term bill must be paid in full before the student is awarded a diploma.
VI. Advising
Each student is assigned a faculty advisor who meets with the student at least once per term.
VII. Financial Aid
Currently, the program does not have any other resources for scholarship support. Program applicants are encouraged to apply for external grants and individual fellowships whenever possible. Accepted students will be provided with information from the HMS Financial Aid office on the process for applying for Federal Loans and Federal Work Study. U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents are eligible to apply for these types of aid through the HMS Financial Aid office.
Students who are enrolled at least half-time may be eligible for other federal or private aid. See Section 6.07 for financial aid information.