Clinical Ethics Fellowship 

Advance Your Clinical Ethics Skills

Prepare for a career as a clinical ethicist within healthcare systems. In this role, you will gain expertise in providing consultation, education and policy development on ethical issues in patient care. You will also develop essential skills for clinical ethics consultation, such as complex ethical analysis using the four box method, effective communication and conflict resolution.

While working in the esteemed California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) in San Francisco, you’ll gain hands-on experience dealing with challenging patient care situations in a diverse, multicultural healthcare setting. Here, you can engage in various activities, including clinical rotations, weekly clinical ethics rounds, supporting the hospital ethics committee, case consultations, proactive ethics interventions, ethics education for healthcare professionals and bioethics research. We’ll support you as you grow academically and professionally through involvement in conferences, publications and practical clinical ethics training.

Mentorship for Ethical Expertise

Work closely with experienced clinical ethicists from diverse professional backgrounds as you learn theoretical and practical elements of clinical ethics, including applying laws and regulations in healthcare. Guided by the Fellowship Advisory Committee, fellows can also pursue a research project.

Education Focused on Human Values in Healthcare

Contribute to the discussion and experience of integrating ethical principles in medicine and how they impact more significant organizational issues. Didactics and educational meetings within this program focus on applying human values to health care delivery, the education of healthcare professionals and scholarship.

Training Experiences

Participate in clinical ethics consultations — helping patients, families and healthcare providers navigate difficult treatment decisions and ethical dilemmas. Your professional skill development will focus on ethical decision-making, conflict resolution and understanding the application of patient values in medical contexts. Additionally, you will observe ethics committees at other Sutter hospitals and participate in our program’s monthly ethics committee.

Teaching Opportunities to Fellow Students

In addition to gaining expertise in clinical ethics, our fellows actively participate in educational roles, teaching physicians in training across various GME programs. These teaching opportunities include quarterly GME sessions for residents and fellows, a two-week-per-month Housestaff Ethics Elective and monthly ethics rotation teaching. This hands-on experience equips fellows with clinical and educational skills essential for their future careers.

The American Society for Bioethics and Humanities

This educational organization promotes the exchange of ideas among people engaged in clinical and academic bioethics and health-related humanities. Our trainees receive the opportunity to join the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, where they foster multidisciplinary scholarship, research, teaching, policy development, professional development and collegiality.