Welcome from the Department Co-Chairs
Since its founding in 2015, the Department of Medical Ethics, Humanities, and Law has witnessed tremendous growth at the medical school. We owe enormous thanks for the outstanding support we have received from WMed leaders, our partner institutions, Western Michigan University, Ascension Borgess, Bronson Healthcare and the Southwest Michigan community. We have developed one of the most robust medical student and resident educational programs in the country, an exceptional clinical ethics consultation service, and a burgeoning research program.
We remain focused on our original purpose: to offer a unique, multi-disciplinary academic program focused on historical, perennial, and emerging issues related to the practice of modern medicine. Together, our mission is to promote robust inquiry, interprofessional dialogue, meaningful educational opportunities, and professional and humanistic development in aspiring physicians, as well as others who are engaged in the delivery of health care.
Our faculty boast diverse professional and academic backgrounds, normative frameworks, and broad research interests. Together, we integrate ethics, humanities, and legal instruction throughout the medical school and residency curricula. We provide ethics education and clinical ethics consultation support at Ascension Borgess and Bronson Healthcare. We advance research in diverse areas, including clinical ethics, ethics education, neuroethics, psychiatric ethics, moral psychology, Catholic healthcare ethics, health care provider misconduct, the philosophy of medicine, the use of literature in medicine, and integrating the visual arts into medical education.
Please explore our website to learn more about our activities and please contact us if you have any questions. We welcome the opportunity to share our work and build relationships with those similarly interested in the advancement of the good in medicine.
If you would like to stay up to date about upcoming events hosted by our department, please contact us at ethics@wmed.edu.
Program News
- WMed professors co-author article in the New England Journal of Medicine offering a framework to address professionalism lapses by medical students and residents
- Inauguration ceremony marks establishment of the WMed Unit of the International Network of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics
- WMed professors providing key guidance for community doctors, resident physicians and students through medical ethics consultations
- Fourth-year students take part in mock trial, medical humanities events as part of POM 7 course