Center for Clinical Bioethics

About Us

Section: About Us

Mission Statement

The Center for Clinical Bioethics is a University-based ethics resource for those who shape and give health care. Committed to the dynamic interplay between theory and practice, experience and reflection, Center scholars bring expertise in clinical practice, philosophy, theology, law and basic science to the ethical challenges that arise in the care of particular patients. An academic community dedicated to creating and communicating knowledge, we seek to promote serious ethical reflection and discourse in pursuit of health care that continues the Gospel Mission of healing and growth.

History

The Center for Clinical Bioethics (CCB) was established in 1991 as a center of excellence at Georgetown University Medical Center, complementing the activities in ethics of the other divisions of the University. Thus, the CCB functions in concert with the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the Department of Philosophy on the main campus, as well as with faculty at the Law Center.

The Center has broadened its areas of scholarship to include what is typically called organizational ethics. Center scholars participate in internal review boards, the Georgetown University Hospital Ethics Committee, and interdisciplinary and post-care rounds. Faculty also collaborate with MedStar's ethics program based at the Washington Hospital Center.

The faculty of the CCB have primary appointments in Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Philosophy, Nursing, and Oncology. They conduct research, teach, and participate in patient care. The CCB administers a unique MD/PhD combined degree program. The CCB also coordinates the Medical Center's Ethics Consult Service on behalf of Georgetown University Hospital's Ethics Committee.

The four-year Bioethics Curriculum for Health Care Professionals is directed by the CCB, and combines graduate nursing students with second year medical students in a single, innovative course. The Center also organizes a formal ethics curriculum for the Internal Medicine house staff. The CCB sponsors colloquia and conferences, providing continuing ethics education for faculty, staff, students, and the wider community, both local and national. The CCB faculty are actively engaged in a variety of research projects in clinical bioethics, both theoretical and empirical.

The Center's Washington location and its relationships with and proximity to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Academy of the Sciences (NAS), Institutes of Medicine (IOM), World Health Organization (WHO) and Congress make it an ideal place to pursue academic and policy issues pertaining to health care ethics.