Clinical Ethics Fellowship

This competitive two-year fellowship offers the opportunity to train with the center’s nationally renowned faculty and staff who lead premier Clinical Ethics Consultation Services at adult, private hospital systems in the Texas Medical Center. In addition, the center’s faculty are heavily involved in national clinical ethics initiatives and training; and scholarly research and publication in clinical ethics.

Applications for this fellowship will be considered from professionals with a post-graduate degree in bioethics, medicine, nursing, religious studies, law, and other related fields. This fellowship offers a competitive stipend, excellent benefits, and opportunities for continued professional development. Upon completion of this fellowship, fellows will have the skills, training, and experience to make them competitive for positions in clinical ethics and academic bioethics.

• Comprehensive training in clinical ethics consultation including the opportunity to conduct ethics consultations for a high-volume clinical ethics consultation service at the Houston Methodist Hospital and its affiliates, including on-call duties
• Participation in biomedical ethics committee and subcommittee meetings
• Participation in activities related to our undergraduate and graduate medical curricula; including the award-winning Medical Ethics Pathway
• Preparation and delivery of presentations on clinical ethics-related topics for clinical audiences
• Opportunities for high quality collaborative ethics scholarship
• Participation in outcomes research related to clinical ethics consultation
• Faculty mentoring on educational development, teaching skills, and research
• Preparation for an active career as a clinical ethics consultant and scholar in clinical ethics and bioethics

The Center for Medical Ethics & Health Policy has 14 primary faculty members, three of whom hold endowed positions, and 25 support staff, housed on the main Baylor campus in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. Our center’s faculty teach in the undergraduate and graduate medical education curricula, direct an award-winning ethics pathway and newly-developed health policy pathway for advanced medical students, and have developed a comprehensive College-wide graduate medical education curriculum in ethics, professionalism, and health policy. Center faculty are actively engaged in funded research supported by the NIH, PCORI, and private foundations. Our faculty have published more than 700 papers in the peer-reviewed scientific, clinical, and bioethics literature and have authored and edited several seminal books in bioethics. Finally, our faculty are involved in national clinical ethics initiatives and publish on “best practices” for ethics consultation and challenging issues in clinical ethics.

Houston Methodist Hospital System

Houston Methodist comprises a leading academic medical center in the Texas Medical Center and six community hospitals serving the Greater Houston area. Each hospital is staffed by committed personnel who exemplify our values of integrity, compassion, accountability, respect and excellence. Patient safety, quality and service are our highest priorities. Houston Methodist Hospital, the system's flagship, is consistently listed among U.S. News & World Report Emergency Care Centers, the Houston Methodist the Houston Methodist Imaging Center, the Houston Methodist Breast Care Center and the Houston Methodist Outpatient Center.

New York – Houston Medical Ethics Consortium

The fellowship will be part of the New York-Houston Medical Ethics Consortium, which will bring together Houston Methodist Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. The aim of this consortium is to provide fellows an outstanding opportunity in clinical and research ethics by drawing upon transcontinental expertise and varied practice settings. Fellows will learn from a distinguished faculty and each other through various joint activities: video-conferenced seminar series, case conferences, and journal clubs; visiting observerships at consortium hospitals; and retreats in Houston and New York. We also focus on collaborating to publish research on key areas in the field; see our recent piece in the J. Med Ethics.