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Certification of Professional Achievement in Bioethics

Online or On-Campus

Increasingly, practitioners in medicine, law, and research must understand and make decisions on complex ethical and moral dilemmas related to advances in biology, biotechnology, and biomedicine. Solutions require specialized and cross-disciplinary knowledge spanning ethics, law, society, culture, public policy, philosophy, religion, economics, history, and even language.

Columbia’s non-degree Bioethics Certification program prepares students to address these challenges through an innovative learning experience featuring face-to-face instruction on campus, live webinars, multimedia, and collaborative course activities.

  • The program features select courses from the Master of Science in Bioethics program. It has been tailored to advance students’ knowledge and skills, using a multidisciplinary approach that draws on medicine, law, philosophy, history, sociology, religion, and other fields.
  • Courses focus on key areas including the history and philosophy of bioethics, clinical ethics, research ethics, and law and bioethics.
  • Courses are offered online and on-campus and are available in both credit and noncredit versions, making it possible for students around the world to study with distinguished leaders in the field.
  • The specially designed online curriculum gives a sophisticated analysis of the historical, philosophical, legal, social scientific, and practical aspects of bioethics.
  • Students who complete four or more courses with a 3.0 (B) or better in each course are awarded a Certification of Professional Achievement in Bioethics.
  • Students are required to maintain an overall minimum GPA of 3.0 (B). Every course creditable toward the certification must be taken for a letter grade. Courses with a grade below a C will not count toward the completion of the certification. Students may also apply to the program and take individual courses without pursuing a certification.

Who Should Apply?

The Certification of Professional Achievement in Bioethics program is ideal for healthcare professionals and medical practitioners, researchers, IRB members, attorneys, educators, and others interested in the field, including patients and caregivers who have confronted bioethical issues.

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Learn more about Bioethics at Columbia University School of Professional Studies, or contact the program admissions counselor.

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