And if anything we can just run the webinar like we normally would.
So now I'm seeing a bunch of names, but I'm only seeing my name now under participants.
Also, it looks like we are got everyones coming in day.
Well hello everyone, my name is Sam and I will be kicking off our bioethics and medical Humanities Masters webinar. We I will go over the agenda real quick and then I will introduce our panelists and I'll be moderating questions.
So today's agenda is we will be going over the Case. Western Reserve University School of Medicine. We will be doing a program overview of the bioethics and medical humanities curriculum. Will also be talking about the programs outcomes, different options within student assistantships in financial aid options, along with the application process and deadlines which I know for a lot of students is always a big concern. Will also touch on Cleveland, which is where we are located.
And then Lastly, we will be going through a Cuban Hey.
Today, if you do have any questions, feel free to go over to the chat or the question box. Both will work. I'll be able to monitor those and I will help you out there today we have me and I am Sam. I am the assistant director of the moment management for this full of Medicine and then doctor Leah Jeanette who will be actually going over all of the items for bioethics and medical communities today. So I will pass the mic over back to doctor Jeanette and she will be able to walk us through.
All of the awesome parts of message program.
Alright, thank you so much. Welcome everyone. It's great to have you join us and as Sam said, if you have questions, feel free to put them in the chat or the questions an we can answer them by chatting back or I'll answer them live in our webinars so I am so excited to talk to you about bioethics and medical humanities. It is such a.
Field an discipline and area of study that is still pretty new in its.
Um development, and yet it is playing such a big role in our world, especially given everything going on with the pandemic. So it's it's almost taking on a new light to people, so our program, our Masters in bioethics, medical Humanities program, is located within the Case Western Reserve University School of medicine. We are.
Very blessed to have a wonderful School of Medicine. We are number one in Ohio and we're #24 in the nation in terms of medical education for research. So it's a very research active University move. A beautiful campus located in University circle in Cleveland, OH. There's a lot of healthcare going on throughout the city, which we'll talk about in a little bit when we talk about our clinical ethics rotations, but we have.
Or major teaching institutions hospital institutions near us. Cleveland Clinic. the VA is the 4th largest VA in the country. Actually, University Hospitals, an Metro Health Medical Center, which is the County Hospital. So we have an amazing city, an culture surrounding us.
An the School of Medicine really thrives in our city, which is pretty neat, so I'll move it forward. So the question that comes up really a lot of times, is why study bioethics and medical humanities and it's one of those fields that people who are in bioethics and medical humanities come from a lot of different directions, and ultimately, it's because healthcare touches all of us. So whether we are.
Seeking healthcare ourselves or our loved ones are seeking health care or it's an industry within our city. Somehow we are connected to health and healthcare and so the idea of bioethics and medical humanities is almost unavoidable for us.
There are constantly advancements that we are seeing in the news and in the media in Science, technology and it leads ultimately to big ethical concerns, big questions. So a question like should we intervene a question like what kinds of values should inform policy and practice?
Anne, what and also the question can we ensure justice and respect for persons and research and clinical practice?
You know, given everything going on with the pandemic, these questions are really significant, right? So we think about in light of COVID-19. Should we intervene? But what does that mean to intervene, right? Those questions are hard to in difficult to answer. What kind of value should inform our policy and practice again in light of the pandemic? That's a really hard question to answer to a certain extent.
An ensuring justice and respect for persons can be quite complicated given the issues going around Locali in the US and globally. So things to think about. The interesting thing I.
Is that bioethics and medical humanities can help answer those questions, and so bioethics and medical humanities really isn't interprofessional and a multidisciplinary area of study. And because of that, it allows us to answer those really tough questions. So we have people who work in our Department of bioethics and partner with us throughout the city and the in the hospital surrounding us, and they come from all different backgrounds.
And I don't just mean socio economically and demographics, but I mean areas of expertise and study as well. So bioethics is not just made up of doctors, it's not just made up of nurses. It's not just made up of people who have PHD's in philosophy. There are lawyers. There are anthropologists. There are those of us like myself who have a PhD in bioethics. And so since it's beginning its origins, it's always been this interprofessional, an multidisciplinary practice which is.
Really incredible and it allows our students to hear and learn from an enter professional group of people.
And ultimately, it helps launch students into a variety of professional careers, and so they can go on to clinical an legal professions. Alot of our students come in with the goal of going to Med school, whether that's MD or DO or they want to go into law school. And this is a great place to think about these bioethics and medical humanities questions, and to beef up your resume before applying to those schools. We have students who go on to regulatory work so they work in the research industry.
They go on to do arts and Humanities and we have students every year that go into bioethics or academics itself, including clinical ethics and our program, Lastly, provides a really great opportunity for students who are undecided because bioethics is so interprofessional and multidisciplinary. It also allows students to think about other directions that they may not have thought of before or fully understood.
I think of a student that I was speaking with not too long ago and she did our program and she actually had every intention to go on to medical school. And in doing this program she decided that Med School wasn't quite the right fit for her and instead she's now going to be doing chaplaincy work in hospitals and so she's applying to chaplaincy programs, and she was very upfront with me in saying that.
Without our program, she would not have fully understood what it meant to be a chaplain in a hospital. She assumed it meant being a very religious person that had doctrinal beliefs an her understanding of Chaplaincy and the work that a chaplain doesn't hospital completely changed because she was able to see first hand what a chaplain does, which was pretty incredible.
So let's talk a little bit about our program specifically, so we are a one year Masters program. So in students typically start in fall. So in August sometime and by May they have earned a Masters degree. The 30 credit hour program and we have 13 1/2 credits that are considered electives. But that doesn't mean that those other 16 1/2 are not customizable. So there are aspects of that that you still have a lot of flexibility.
To focus on your areas of interest.
Some of the really unique things about our program is we offer clinical ethics rotations so students are able to go to the hospital systems local to us, assuming there is the ability, you know, given all the parameters with the pandemic currently and observe and see what it looks like to be involved in ethics in a hospital, not just in the clinical ethics or the clinical emphasis work itself, but also what it looks like for a doctor, a nurse, a genetic counselor.
A chaplain, a social worker and a whole list of people. We offer short-term study abroad courses. Again. The pandemic withstanding, these typically are offered either winter break, spring break or may abroad and there again, really great opportunities for students to get immersed in a different culture for a short period of time to better understand bioethics and medical humanity issues, we have personalized advising so students are assigned.
One of our faculty to be their advisor, and you're able to sit with them and talk about what you want to get out of this program, what your goals are, and how our courses, an extra curricular activities can help you along that path. And then Lastly, we have something called student assistantships. These are highly competitive, but they are an amazing way to help fund your education. In addition to getting experience in teaching, research, or administration will talk about that in a little bit as well.
So as I mentioned, we have this opportunity for students called clinical ethics rotations and I am very proud of these. I'm actually our course director for these these opportunities. Students are assigned to either observe at the Cleveland Clinic, which is a very large private hospital system. It's very well known throughout the world. We have Metro health, which is the County Hospital which, let's be honest of public hospital that's funded by the County.
It serves a very different demographic than a private hospital like Cleveland Clinic. Would we have the VA hospital which is the 4th largest VA in the country? So it is quite an extensive hospital here in Cleveland. And Lastly, we have University Hospitals which is also another private hospital system in Cleveland. They also are very well known for their pediatric care and their rainbow. Excuse me. Rainbow babies and Children's Hospital. So while students are assigned to these sites
they meet weekly with a preceptor who has experience at that hospital system in a variety of ways to talk about the ethical issues that students see during their their time in the hospital. So students can go to morning rounds, they can go to committee meetings. They can go to emergency department's but and see these large larger group meetings, but they can also go one on one with social workers or pharmacists.
Or music therapists or a living donor advocate to better understand what they do and the ethical issues that come up for them. So all of our students are required to take one semester, so typically students complete 80 hours of rotation in the fall and then in the spring the majority of the students do a second semester, which is 80 hours for students who are in our concentrations, which I can talk about in a minute.
The concentrations allow students to adjust whether they do their clinical rotation or not, so.
Students could leave our program doing 160 hours of observation in two different healthcare systems with a variety of disciplines, experts and really understand what it means to have clinical ethics in a hospital system. And that's a pretty amazing opportunity for students.
One question that continually comes up is financial aid, so we have, as I mentioned before, student assistantships are student assistantships are a way for students to submit an application. This is an additional application beyond the program application.
To explain their interest in teaching, research, or administrative opportunities that we offer an in exchange, students are able to get a partial tuition waiver. Students who complete the teaching. Student assistantships aid with our undergrad bioethics and medical humanities courses. We have an undergraduate minor in bioethics and medical humanities, and so we always have a variety of.
Undergrad courses that are offered in any given semester.
We have research opportunities. Our faculty are very, very research focused.
In addition to their teaching and educational initiatives, but our faculty are grant funded. They're working on all kinds of interesting projects, and so it's a great way to learn from them and to help with different research projects.
And then we have administrative opportunities as well to help in our Department.
Sam, do you want to talk a little bit about the financial aid office and kind of that information for us?
Yeah, absolutely so with when it comes to financial aid, I recommend for all students to fill out the fast before the graduate side 'cause there are two different separate applications for undergraduate versus graduate. And so I always recommend for you to apply that way, so that way the financial aid office can get all the materials they need to help not only determine what needs you may have and what University aid can be given if any, but then also that helps us.
With determining need based scholarships as well as part of that student assistantships portion for that need beside the other thing to do, I always mention it. If you are an international student. The nice thing too is even though you will be able to fill out the fast, but you can always fill out. There is a separate application for international financial aid and we will accept that application as well and that will just depend Department to Department within the financial aid office of what will be accepted will be used in those types of things.
But I always recommend talking them first to be of great counselors over the financial aid office that are here to help you. Try to figure out navigate those waters on top of myself and Leah to be able to figure out anything within within the Department. But those are, I would say the big key takeaways when it comes to financial aid. For this at this top level overview.
Great, one thing I did want to go back and mention, so I'm going to jump back a slide. It's not directly on this slide, but I did want to talk a little bit about is our concentrations within our program. So our program, while on this page as you can see it's one year program, it's 30 credit hours we also have.
concentrations within the program so students do not have to choose a concentration. Concentrations are optional, but for those who are interested, that might be the right fit. Our first concentration is called the medicine society and culture concentration. This concentration is.
Pretty incredible in its scope. It's a way for students to really dive into the question of how other cultures and societies approach health and Wellness and health care and medicine. And so you will be able to learn from people who are working in this in these areas, including medical anthropologists, historians, psychological anthropologists, individuals who have expertise in literature.
And it's the great way to really think beyond the typical scope of Health and health care that we think of. Students who do this have an opportunity to attend reading groups that focus on medical, humanities and Medicine, Society, and culture. They have a wonderful foundations of Medicine, study, and culture course that they take where students do a lot of reading and writing. But by the end of the semester, they.
Have really gained the skills needed to write well and to write at a graduate academic level, which is pretty incredible.
And then in the spring semester, students who do the medicine society and culture concentration had the option of doing a practicum, and so if they identify a project that they want to work on, they can work with the the concentration director to identify that our second concentration is our research ethics concentration. This concentration focuses on exactly what it says, research ethics so that could be the ethics of research or the ethics in research.
So we have researchers who work in our Department who focus on research projects. They are grant funded. As I mentioned before, but we also have faculty in our Department who focus on the ethics in research. So how do we ethically conduct a research study? How do we ethically enroll participants? And honestly, today with everything going on with the pandemic and COVID-19.
We're hearing a lot about the process of research, so the idea of researching medication or treatment options, or even how we research vaccines. So there's a lot of discussion in our world today about these things. So students who do the research, ethics, concentration are able to take a research ethics, an regulations course in the fall, or they really dive into research ethics and regulation, and then in the spring semester they actually have.
practicum where these students are embedded in with an IRB with a research team and they work on a project for that semester and that research ethics practicum actually replaces the second semester of clinical ethics rotations. Students that have done our practicum have gone on to publish with.
Some of the folks that they've worked on that's in their practicum project semester, and then the third thing that the research ethics students participate in something called Research Ethics, Journal Club, and the students get together on a weekly or every other weekly basis depends on what the schedule is for the semester.
And they identify a research article to discuss as a group, and so it is exactly what it sounds like. It's it's a club to be able to discuss research ethics, and it's an amazing opportunity to hear from your fellow students, but also experts in different research ethics areas. And so those two concentrations are really special. But like I said before, it's not required that a student would choose a concentration. We have students who come in and do the program without a concentration.
But still may have an interest in medicine, society and culture or have an interest in research ethics and are able to take those courses without being in the concentration as well.
Alright, so I'm going to jump us back.
In this slide show. So the question that often comes up then is the application process. What do I need for my application?
Always, you know the next step in this process. So in order to have a complete application package, students are required to have transcripts from all your undergrad and graduate programs for the purpose of application review an interview. They can be unofficial transcripts, but once you are accepted into the program and you decide to enroll, you would need to submit official transcripts. We would ask for a statement of purpose, so the statement of purpose has.
Two kind of purposes. One is to understand your interest in bioethics and medical humanities and also to understand how it fits into your career path. So what, what are you hoping to get out of this program? And so we would love to be able to understand that from your statement of purpose, your statement of purpose is also a place to identify any weaknesses in your application that you feel like need to be addressed as well.
We also would ask for your CV or resume and then two letters of recommendation, including a faculty.
That, or a professor that you've had in the past, once we receive a complete application, it then is reviewed by our admissions committee, so it is sent to one individual to review and is sent to another individual to interview. You are interviews are not meant to be high pressure in any way. They are meant to be a way to get to know you as a person and to understand your interest in bioethics, bioethics, and medical humanities, and kind of.
The next step for you in your career path.
So we don't do the interview process until we have a completed application and so one of the things that can sometimes hold up that review process is those letters of recommendation. So while you can submit your application and get those names, it's also important that we actually receive the letters as well.
Sam, do you want to talk a little bit about our timeline?
Sure, so obviously today you guys are attending a webinar, so that is the first step. The next step then is starting to look in figuring out when the actual timeline for you for best time to turn in your application would be so our application for admission is open currently so you are able to go online and to apply today. The next priority application deadline, which just helps you to kind of make sure that you're all set and prepared for next fall.
If that is the application that you were looking to apply for us within next fall would be December 1st. After that, if you are a student that is looking at our integrated graduate stage program and that means that you're a Case Western University student, that deadline is going to be for March 1st. Other than that, we have a deadline that is for May 15th. And then Lastly we have a student assistantship deadline for June 1st and that priority deadline for May 15th is if you would like to apply for student edition ships, you're going to want to apply by that.
State and then finally, our last deadline is going to be August 1st and so that would be the last day that we can accept applications for the fall cycle, which will begin in middle of August in 2021 and then the cycle starts all over again for the next year for fall of 2022.
Alright, so one highlight of our program that comes up is our study abroad courses. Now unfortunately, due to the pandemic we did have to cancel the travel components of our study abroad courses this past or this upcoming winter break spring break and may abroad. So we are hopeful that in fall of 2021 and spring of 2022 that will be able to offer these.
What's really unique about these courses is our faculty have developed relationships with a lot of different people in these countries, and so overtime we've developed these relationships. And because of that, we're able to bring students and really get a good understanding of the bioethics issues going on in these countries. So I'll give you a great example. So our Netherlands course has been going on for, oh 10.
Plus years, which is pretty neat and incredible and students are able to spend a week either spring break or week in May and during that week you get to attend talks by experts in public health experts in sex work, experts in drug use, experts in decriminalization, experts in detention an jails, and really understand the cultural, the bioethical.
And the public health differences between the US and the Dutch context. And students love this opportunity because it's a three credit hour course. But you spend the week in that country really diving into these topics. One course that we are excited about is our US National Parks course. So in previous years we had the course taking place in Yellowstone National Park, again due to the pandemic, we've shifted it.
A little bit. And so this year it's going to be offered through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This is a National Park that is located fairly close to Cleveland, OH where we're located and students may be able to do some in person learning in the National Park. We're very excited about it. The the focus of that course is really on environmental ethics and human health.
So those are just like as little snippet of these courses they like as it says on the slide. It's there one to two weeks. Each course has a little bit of a different timeline and of course you know if you choose to join our program will give you a lot more details about these study abroad courses an what specific courses we will. We are hopeful to offer next year.
So I feel like I should tell folks that I'm a little biased. I I am a native clevelander and so I definitely have a love of Cleveland. But Cleveland is is one of those cities where there's a lot going on. But unless you're in Cleveland or from Cleveland, you may not know it. And so this is just a small sampling of some of the.
Great places, locations, and activities that can be done in Cleveland. Sam, do you want to speak a little bit about this? Since you are not a native clevelander?
I was gonna jump in. 'cause you're correct, I am not a native clevelander. I'm actually originally from Michigan and so I moved here in 2012, moved away and then moved back and the things that I've learned about Cleveland is that it's kind of a really a hidden gem within the Midwest in terms of Culture, Food, and even like the arts. So like for instance, the Cleveland Orchestra is not just nationally renowned. It's internationally renowned Playhouse Square is the largest district within the US outside of Manhattan.
And Broadway for a intercity Playhouse District. Cleveland Museum of Art is actually a historic building, little Italy's, just amazing for food. And then of course we have our flagship sports teams and even some of our minor League teams. Whether it be for hockey are two baseball teams, arena football. We used to have hooked or soccer teams, so I mean like there's all sorts of different things happening athletically and then. Also, if you're.
Interested in food and Nightlife? E 4th is a Greek spurt to stop that, but there's a ton of stuff that's not even on this slide that I could go on about. Whether it be about just just like I said, hidden gems and things like that. If you're really interested in food, there's so many different types of cuisines that are in the area that I found to love whether it be for your vegan and vegetarian folks for your hardcore meat eaters, if you're really interested in checking out some craft breweries or wineries in the area.
There's just a little bit of something for everyone, which I think is the cool part about Cleveland, 'cause it's a big city, but it's still very small in comparison to your Chicago's and New York's in allays. So it's definitely manageable and bite sized for everyone, I think.
Yeah, that's perfect. You know, one of the other things that he isn't even displayed on here that I love about Cleveland is our park system. So Cleveland and this area has a wonderful Metro parks that.
Suit that anyone can take advantage of.
It is not just limited to the US National Park I mentioned earlier, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, but the actual city and County parks are wonderful. They're beautiful. Cleveland has one of the largest acreages of public parks in the country, so it's a pretty incredible way to spend some time outdoors.
And its nickname is actually called the emerald necklace, which is my favorite nickname for any sort of perk system ever.
Alright, so questions from folks. We'd love to hear from you if you have questions about anything we've talked about, or maybe something we haven't talked about that you may have seen on our website or in emails.
Absolutely, it looks like we already have one submission so far and the student wants to know if we only have a Masters Program or is there a doctoral side to our bioethics and medical humanities program?
That's a great question, so we do have a PhD in bioethics. We were very excited that we re launched it, so the last time we took a class cohort of students was fall of 2010.
And this past fall we just accepted our first group in 10 years. So we have four students who are currently completing their or starting. I should say, their PhD in bioethics with us. The plan is that the PhD in bioethics will actually transition to a PhD in bioethics and medical humanities, and the next cohort will start in fall of 2022. So a year from now, the application for.
Awesome and then I actually have one question for you Leah. I know that you also have not only a Masters but a PhD in the in, the in bioethics and medical humanities. So I guess my question is, why did you choose this degree path? Why did you choose this field? Why just? I guess the Big Y?
That's that's a great question. So yeah, I started out.
Being interested in just medicine and healthcare and I originally was premed and I wanted to take time before going to Med school and so I just had a undergraduate course in bioethics and end up really enjoying it. An then I looked for different Masters programs.
In bioethics and at the time, it just so happened that my topic was Case Western Reserve, not just because I'm from Cleveland, but ultimately the reason why I chose this Masters program to get my to get my degree is because of the clinical ethics rotations. I loved the idea of spending that many hours in a hospital, observing really diving into the clinical ethics.
Questions and issues and being able to talk about it with my fellow students. Anna clinical ethicists on a weekly basis, and so that was why I initially did that. But then in doing this program, I realized that I loved bioethics, and so that ended up changing my career path. So instead of going to Med school, I decided to get my PhD in bioethics and actually focus on clinical ethics, and so that is one of my areas of expertise.
Is clinical ethics and so? Yeah, that's kind of you know, this program was.
Helping me, I didn't know I was undecided, but midway through the program I suddenly became an undecided student and by the end of the program I had a new direction.
Awesome, thank you. We have a few more questions that I rolled in since I've posed my question to you. The Next One is for the PhD program. What are some of the requirements for admission if they have been established already?
Yeah, that's a great question, so because the admission cycle doesn't start for another year, we don't have that information finalized. One thing I would say is that because we are a research active Department and University, we do like to see that students have a vested interest.
In bioethics and medical Humanities research, we would want to, you know, in your personal statement we would want to see what areas of Bioethics, Medical, Humanities you want to focus in and do work in. We look for individuals who are published or potentially published.
So those are just a couple of things. I would also say you know your typical.
Requirements, including letters of recommendation.
Transcripts, you know those things are also required. One thing that we are unsure of is test scores. So if I'm going to jump back to our application process so this is for our Masters program but we decided to make test scores optional this year and some of that was directly because of the pandemic, an access to testing has been challenging for some and so the same is true for.
The PhD program, if we were doing application cycles this year, but we're not so I don't know if we will require test scores for applications for fall of 2022.
So I hope that answers some of your questions. The other thing I would say is if you're interested in the PhD program, keep an eye out on our website. We're going to be adding more information to our Department of bioethics website about the PhD program, probably starting in January, and then leading up to opening the application cycle next fall.
Awesome, thank you. One student actually asked what are some of the examples of ongoing research projects that are currently at Case Western Reserve University and I'd love to hear some examples of in the Department signal. There are so many going on.
Yeah, so yeah, I can only speak to the projects that are going on within our Department so we have. Actually we have a number of grant funded NIH projects currently going on. One that is in its final year.
Focuses on Chimera Zaan, asking research scientists and those who are doing oversight on kaimer research what.
Ethical issues they think are present and so and hopefully the goal is to develop some type of ethical guidelines for Chimera Research. Doctor in Soohyun and doctor Patty Marshall are leading that Grant and Caitlin Craig is conducting the research with them. So that's just one example. Doctor Marcia Mickey is currently working on a research project that's looking at how individuals.
Responde to learning of genetic diseases or genetic test results while pregnant. So if a woman is pregnant and she is recommended to have genetic testing, what does she do with that information? So there is a quite large research study that they're just starting and then our faculty are involved in all kinds of different levels of projects so.
Doctor Aaron Goldenberg is on some national boards that are working on different types of guidelines.
Regarding newborn screening regarding precision medicine, so there is always research projects going on. Those are just some examples of the research.
Thank you, that's I think that's very enlightening. Of all the different facets that you could go into within research, we do have another question from a student that is currently a physiotherapist and they already have their Masters in science in physiotherapy. So they're wondering what do they advise? Would you go to a Masters program? Would you go to a PhD program? How would you move forward?
That's a really great question, so I before I would give you a specific like you should earn a Masters. You should earn a PhD. I would ask the question of what's your interest in bioethics and medical humanities and what would you want to do with that knowledge? So our degree Masters degree in bioethics and medical humanities is not really a terminal degree, so for people who want to.
Get involved in bioethics and medical humanities full-time there. There is an expectation, I would say, within the larger community, to have some type of terminal degree. We really view our Masters degree as.
One step in the larger career path. That being said, You know a Masters of Science and physiotherapy. Maybe you know a terminal degree for your area of work and so getting the Masters maybe enough if you want to pursue that, you know. So without knowing too much about you, know your background and kind of what you want to get out of this, it's hard to say. Do the Masters or do the bioethics PhD. I would say that if you're.
New to bioethics. A Masters is a good place to start to really understand the nuances of it.
Then to make sure that's the direction you want to go. And I also see a second question that's a little bit along these lines. Someone who wants to pursue more of the social work end of things, would bioethics still be a relevant path to take? Absolutely So what I would say is you know, with social worker, really great example. So folks who are in social work.
Then do a Masters of social work an that is considered a terminal degree in that field and so having experience in bioethics and a Masters in bioethics is completely relevant to that. We actually have dual degree program, so we, in addition to earning your Masters in bioethics, we have other.
Programs across the University that we can partner with to help pursue dual degrees. So social work is one of those social work is.
Over the years has really started requiring ethics education for social workers. I know social workers who work in the hospitals have to have some type of ethics.
Continuing education credit every year and so it's a very relevant path. We work very closely with our social workers in the clinical ethics world, so it's definitely would be a relevant path to take.
Also, thank you, the student who is the physiotherapist did write back and so that they are new to bioethics, and they honestly actually have an interest in coming back to develop the aspects within the Nigeria health system. So that sounds very interesting.
Wow, that's a very interesting what I would say is I would love to have a separate conversation with you one on one to really dive into what your interest is an what our program Masters or the PhD can offer an how we can. We could work with you on that, so that's that's.
Completely amazing and interesting, so I would love it if we could have a separate conversation to kind of dive into that. 'cause That's a very important work.
Absolutely. And goodness knows that I feel like that even goes to show like there are just so many unique ways to be able to build ophof bioethics. I mean, you can tell me if I'm wrong, but based on everything I've learned from you thus far, there's just so many different pathways. It's almost like a tree and all the tree branches, 'cause they're just so many unique ways to take it.
Yeah, I would say so. Our program director Doctor Eileen Anderson Phi. She almost describes it as.
Like an hour glass like you have all these different people in all different areas and backgrounds and then they come through this very narrow area of bioethics, medical humanities, and then come out and go a lot of different directions because it just be with it being so interdisciplinary. So this program is, you know, is 1 year. It's intense, but you learn a lot and then you go on to do amazing things.
Awesome, and I think that what we just said kind of leads into this. Next question is do we think that this master degree would be suited for someone with an undergraduate degree within linguistics?
That is a great question, so we do not have any preconceived notions of what type of undergraduate degree or major our students come in with.
We have had students who have degrees in linguistics and literature in political science. In public health. We have students who do our Masters program and they actually studied bioethics and medical humanities in undergrad, but they may not have. They may have only taken a class, or maybe they haven't taken any classes, but they just had become interested in it. 10 gently from other areas of interest. So yeah, so it absolutely can be suited for someone with.
Our newest faculty, doctor Aaron Lam. Not exactly the same as linguistics, but she. She joined us in January. We're very excited to have her. She's one of the foremost experts in health humanities, but her area of study is American literature and eventually she's found herself in the world of bioethics and medical humanities, which has been neat to kind of see her career trajectory and just kind of how it changes. And some of the areas that she is now interested in have to do with.
Aging with embodiment with disabilities with death and dying, but all about initially came out of her having a PhD in focusing on American literature, so it's a really unique way to come to bioethics and medical humanities. But everyone has a unique path and it's a very interdisciplinary multidisciplinary interprofessional field.
Wow, you keep leading right into the next question. So the next question is would it be possible to take out electives outside of bioethics and medical Humanities?
Yeah, so we have some courses in our Masters program that are absolutely required so our foundations of bioethics, one foundations of bioethics, two are really our core courses. Clinical ethics rotations is a core course, but as was mentioned earlier, we have 13 1/2 credits of electives, and those electives do not have to be offered directly by our Department.
They can be taken from anywhere across the University, so we have students who take electives in the law school or in Mandel School, which focuses more on social science and social work. The Public Health Department's or PQHSI can never remember all the letters, but focusing on public health courses or health disparity courses, we have students who have taken anthropology or philosophy or history courses, so we are very flexible.
In taking electives outside of our Department, absolutely.
And so this next student wants to know 'cause they're considering applying to. Actually, they're planning to apply, not considering 2 cases last school, so they want to know what time they should apply as a dual degree student to our program.
Yeah, so for dual degrees that are the JD MA, the cycles are a little different so I would say you know make sure that you're still applying to the law school whenever their cycle and their deadlines are for bioethics.
You can still follow our typical cycle, so I'll jump back to the slide. So if you want to submit by December 1st, you know that is fine for an early decision. If you want to wait till later. If you want to wait to hear from the law school about, you know your law school application. That is fine. The one thing I would say is that for those who are doing the JD MA, it's important to know that you don't actually take.
Any of the bioethics and medical humanities Masters courses during your first year of Law School? So the L1 year is so intense, there really isn't room in the schedule to start the master, so you actually don't start the Masters degree until L2. The second year, law school, and so you can apply for our Masters program while you're applying to law school. Or you could even wait till partway through your first L1 year if you want to even wait.
Because you wouldn't start classes till L2.
And the student also said thank you.
Alright, there's any other questions we'd love to be able to answer them.
But I guess the one question that I do have while we're waiting for questions to come in. Oh cool, we have another one. They want to know. What is the minimum GPA required for admission?
So we don't have a minimum GPA requirement. That can be a tricky thing because our students come from such different directions and sometimes we have students who do our program that are undecided or their changing directions.
And so they may in undergrad have focused on being for instance, premed and taking a lot of science classes and realized that maybe you know science is not their their area of expertise or or you know classes that they Excel in and so that may affect their overall GPA. What I will say is we look at the individual transcript, so when I review an application I'm looking to see what courses did you get A's and B's and.
What courses did you Excel in and do those relate to bioethics and medical Humanities in some way? And that's a pretty broad thing, right? You know whether or not you can pass organic chemistry doesn't tell me if you're going to succeed in bioethics and medical humanities. Necessarily. We are very reading and writing intensive program, and so we want to see that reflected in a transcript. Can you Excel in reading and writing intensive courses? So yeah, we don't have a minimum GPA.
Awesome, thank you. I don't see any other questions coming through, but I did want to ask you as my final question to you was what would be a Pearl of wisdom that you could give to someone who is looking to apply to this program and is looking to kind of figure out themselves and where they're going, especially if they are one of those undecided folks. What kind of pearls of wisdom could you give them?
Yeah, you know, the one thing I would say is just ask a lot of questions you know. Don't be afraid to reach out, you know. Send us an email set up. You know I'm happy to set up zoom meetings and I can talk to you one on one about your specific case. Whether or not you end up applying for our program.
You know, I think asking questions and just putting yourself out there is can go a long way in trying to navigate, especially for those who are undecided.
Awesome, thank you. We did have another question come in and the student is interested in applying to medical school, especially at case they are wondering for people who applied to professional programs, were they able to do so while they were in the program?
Yes, absolutely. So students that are doing our Masters program some choose to work on their MD applications or their JD applications while they're in our program or PhD or whatever type of professional programs they are looking at. So absolutely, you can absolutely work on or submit your applications during this. You know the timing of MD schools, you know the cycles are a little different and so.
But it's absolutely possible to be doing our program and working towards submitting applications.
Ah, so someone asked for international students. Is there a minimum toefl score?
Actually Sam, I'm going to let you answer that because you are much more well versed in the international requirements for our students.
Yeah, of course I know that there is an Internet or there is a minimum required toefl score off the top my head that I can't remember it 'cause I also remember my former institution score and I don't want to mix the two up so I will look that up and send you a follow up email separate but I definitely would say for all international students the main thing other than your toefl score anything like that is in those would be only for students who have attended to University.
Of outside of the US? If so, if you're an international student, have come to the US and taking courses in the US, we actually won't require you to submit a toefl score or any other sort of English proficiency score just because you clearly have demonstrated that you can speak English. read English, write English, do all those things in order to pass and go through your undergrad work or any other Masters works that you might have done in the US. So we definitely want to be cognizant of that and don't want to make you take extra work, but some of the other things I do recommend I mentioned earlier with that.
Separate financial aid application for honor show students. I highly recommend filling that out once you get through that part of the process. But yeah, definitely. When it comes to Toefl scores, there always is a minimum. But like I said, I don't want to mix it up with the other school that used to work for, so I will.
The The one the one thing I would add is that I believe the Toefl score minimum is set by Case Western Reserve University. It's not set by individual our individual Department so that would be available. Like Sam said she can email you the information, but it's usually available through like grad studies or international student resources.
Yeah, so another student also asked so.
They are only required if I'm granted. If you study the English language and you're in an English speaking country, then it won't be required. But if you have not studied English language and English speaking country, or if your do not come from English speaking country did not study in a English speaking country, then it won't count and you'll have to have that either to full eyelets or the Pearson tests are the three tests that we will take and the graduate studies.
Actual Department, the graduate education office. They're the ones that do set those scores for our graduate students, and so they would be able to give you all this. Like I said, I'll email you guys for those who have asked, but that's where you can find that information. If you are shy and don't want to ask those questions. The other thing to mention too is if you do have any transcripts that are from non US or Canadian schools, you're going to want to also get a West transcript evaluation and make sure it's a course by course transcript evaluation 'cause that will be.
Very important for us to be able to wholistically reviewer application in comparison to other students.
Believe that's everything off the top. My head for international students. This is usually the two biggest things. Is the transcripts and the Oh yeah, I can totally wear my Pete myself so you're going to want to make sure that you submit a toefl, islets, or Pearson test if you are not from an English speaking country or you did not attend an undergraduate undergraduate or graduate program within an English speaking country and then for any transcripts that are not from the US or Canada.
You're going to want to send in a West which is Wes Transcript Evaluation, 'cause they'll be the ones to be able to do a course by course. Transcript evaluation which is asked for by the graduate education office. They're the ones that require it for Case Western University, and so thus make us require it as well.
So we'll do a Last Call for any final questions. And if you if you think of any questions after the webinar or in the next week or so you know, please feel free to email us. Bioethics at Case.edu, Oh, I see one more.
Significant work in basic science, but my clinical experience extracurricular readings of may be interested in philosophical and ethical side of patient care, wonderful.
Yes, so we have. I would say probably half of our students come in with a basic science background and they may have taken a bioethics class here or there, or have become interested in it in the same way you have. So that's very common in our program, and they've fared very well. I you know, I think you know when I say that we're reading and writing intensive program, you know it's not meant to scare you, but it's just meant to.
You know there's a lot of reading that is done right as opposed to being in a lab and watch in. You know, watching reactions or you know setting you know reactions and running tests. You know in a laboratory.
You're spending your time reading and thinking and writing.
So yeah, it's not meant to be intimidating in any way, it's just different, but they do fare very well in our program.
Oh perfect, you appreciate the writing side more than the experimental anyways. Same with me.
So well, thank you to everyone who has attended who has submitted questions. It was great to be able to interact with you and answer your questions. Like I said, if you have anything else you can follow up with us. Bioethics at case.edu. That is honestly the best way to get ahold of us, because right now we are mostly working from home, and so while you can call and leave us a voicemail, it actually may take us more time to get back to you.
And so email is quicker at this point.
Absolutely. And both of us have access to email account, so we'll both be able to answer any sort of questions. And if something that Lee's like for doctor Jeanette is like, Oh Sam, should email that, or if I'm like, Oh Doctor Shannon, so that we can found sit back and forth to give you the best answers that you guys need.
Alright, thank you so much everybody and have a good rest of your day.