Bioethics

Identifying and exploring moral problems in medicine, health care, and the life sciences.

The practice of medicine, the development of public health policies, and advances in the biomedical sciences raise fundamental moral and philosophical issues. The bioethics program is designed to provide you with an understanding of these issues, and the background and the conceptual tools to think about them clearly.

learn more about the program

CLASSES YOU MIGHT TAKE

Introduction to Bioethics

You’ll gain an introduction to a wide range of moral issues arising in the biomedical fields, including physician-assisted suicide, human cloning, abortion, surrogacy, and human subjects research.

The Ethics of Body Modification

Examine the ethical, historical and political issues surrounding body modifications. Through this course, you’ll explore the ways in which medical technologies have intersected with cultural constructions of gender, age, sexuality and race to produce ways of altering the human corporeal form.

The Ethics of Human Experimentation

Through historical case studies, you’ll explore the major ethical issues arising in experimentation and research on human subjects.

Faculty Spotlight

PROF. Jeffrey Kahn

Director and Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics

Donors Can Track How Science Uses Their Tissue but Stay Anonymous

Tissue donors for the first time will be able to track how their samples are used by scientists while safeguarding their privacy, through a pilot program launched by Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics faculty and breast cancer researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Precision Medicine.

Prof. Travis Rieder

Associate Research Professor, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics

Image: Andrea Ucini

A Father's Wish, A Bioethicist's Dilemma

A Hopkins faculty member recounts the agonizing decision he had to make for a parent unable to communicate with the world.

Join the Club

Hopkins students are eager to pursue their interests outside the classroom. With 450+ student-led organizations, here are just a few you could join: