Dr. Dana Howard
- Director, Bioethics Undergraduate Programs
Bioethics Minor
The Bioethics Minor is designed to support and further undergraduate students’ learning about the ethical issues surrounding advances in biology and medicine. As a subfield of ethics, bioethics explores the moral landscapes related to the life sciences, hence offering students the opportunity to engage key issues ranging from clinical medical ethics, the boundaries of life, biotechnology, healthcare resources, human subjects research, human enhancement, etc.
As an interdisciplinary study, bioethics draws from a diversity of fields for courses that illustrate the social, political, moral, and humanistic context surrounding medicine and healthcare. Students seeking graduate work and/or careers in any of the health professions will benefit from this minor. Equally, students in the humanities who wish to understand the social and cultural dimensions of healthcare ethics beyond professional scientific and medical knowledge will benefit from the Bioethics Minor.
Dr. Abe Graber
- Assistant Director, Bioethics Undergraduate Programs
Bioethics Minor at a Glance
- 15 credit hours total with 9 hours in Bioethics and 6 hours of approved electives
- 2.0 cGPA
- 6+ hours at 3000+ level
See the Minor Guide for full information
How Do I Declare the Bioethics Minor?
- Review the Bioethics Minor Guide
- Complete the Bioethics Minor Form
- Email to bioethics@osumc.edu
- After approval, submit with your advisor
Questions? Contact Susan Potter at bioethics@osumc.edu
Undergraduate Course Offerings
Explores moral concerns and ethical decision-making in medicine and health care. Topics include health care reform informed consent, quality of life decisions, decisions to allow to die, rationing, futility, and scarcity of resources. In particular, we will analyze concerns regarding equality, justice, and individual rights to health care.
GE cultures and ideas course.
Provides a foundation in traditional ethics, a consideration of the subcategories of bioethics, neuroethics, and eugenics and instructs students in how to apply ethics to contemporary issues in research and technology. This course also satisfies the basic components of Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) education.
GE cultures and ideas course.
This course is designed as a forum for identifying and discussing moral, societal, and political issues in bioethics as represented through various forms of moving-image culture, primarily in film but also including still photography, television, and digital media.
The field of medical ethics has been and is continually shaped by major cases, both famous and infamous. This course surveys the causes and contexts, as well as the philosophical and ethical issues embedded within these cases.
Readings in Bioethics entails a close reading of classic bioethics texts from Hippocrates through the beginning of the modern bioethics period (i.e., Fletcher, Ramsey, and Singer) and through the contemporary era. Religious and secular writings from diverse perspectives will be included. This course combines lecture presentation, class discussion, and student presentations.
This course serves to introduce students to the study of neuroethics, which concerns itself with ethical problems arising at the interface between philosophy and neuroscience. Reading broadly, it explores both how philosophy animates ethical discussion within neuroscience as well as how neuroscience has much to say to philosophers. Prereq: 2 courses in BIOETHC, or Grad standing, or permission of instructor.