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Harold Hong and Jonathan Ida were in an orientation meeting for
first-year medical students when they learned about a new program
that would allow them to obtain a master's degree in bioethics
while earning a medical degree. The Class of 2004 members became
the program's first participants.
"The big draw of the program was the prospect of being able to
do some solid work on bioethical problems that bear upon the practice
of all physicians," said Hong, who majored in philosophy as an
undergraduate at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
"To be able to work on these problems . . . prior to entering
the clinical world struck me as being a unique opportunity to
really grow as a physician." Ida said, "I was interested from
the start in some kind of joint program. This one was in the humanities
. . . and it also didn't tack any extra time on to medical school."
Studies in the humanities appeal to Ida, he said, because "I
feel like my science does better when I have humanities to balance
it." Students like Hong and Ida will do well in the joint degree
program, said Stuart Youngner, Susan E. Watson Professor and director
of the Department of Bioethics, and a 1970 alumnus of the School
of Medicine.
"Students must be very, very strong in sciences and yet also
have an affinity for the humanities," Youngner said.
Ida, as an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona,
majored in biochemistry and Judaic studies.
"I've always been interested in religion," the Akron, Ohio, area
native said. "Religion is a very core, basic way of learning about
human nature. This [program] is similar in a secular way."
The master's degree portion of the program requires completion
of 27 credit hours, some of which also are counted toward the
medical degree. During the first year of medical school, students
are required to take the 12-hour, two-semester Foundations in
Bioethics course that involves readings, discussions and paper-writing.
The program offers the added benefit of exposing medical students
to others taking courses through the Department of Bioethics-undergraduates
and graduate students as well as practicing lawyers, social workers,
businesspeople and health care professionals.
"The program is extremely demanding because the students are
doing this in the four years of medical school without additional
time," Youngner said.
Hong said the program is challenging for another reason: "The
nature of bioethical inquiry is very different from more traditional
academic ethical inquiries because bioethical problems . . . demand
to know within a matter of days what actions in the real world
should be recommended."
Hong, a Cleveland native who decided to enter the field of medicine
to "make a difference both in individual lives and society at
large," said he will choose a specialty that "will allow me to
spend time with my patients and [allow] continuity of care. .
. . I also hope that my specialty will allow me the time to do
research and writing in both science and bioethics."
Hong already has pursued additional studies related to bioethics,
participating in the inaugural Health Student Summer Mission Project
in the summer of 2001.
The Medical Strategic Network program teaches participants "how
to share faith with patients in a nonintrusive way," according
to the April/May issue of Physician, a magazine published
by Focus on the Family. Hong graced the cover of that issue.
Hong said he believes his work toward the bioethics degree "makes
me more aware of how torn and confusing the clinical world can
be" and will provide more opportunities in training and specialty
programs.
Ida, who organized a group of medical students to study issues
in bioethics, echoed his thoughts.
"I learned that there are more sides to every issue than I had
thought," he said, also agreeing with Hong's sentiments about
career opportunities. "I think it opens up more doors as far as
career options."
Ida is investigating various areas of the specialty of pediatrics,
but added, "If I decide to take a break from practicing, I can
work in an organization in an administrative sense."
Most importantly, Ida said, the program "makes you a better citizen
of the world and [able to] understand issues people really deal
with."
CWRU, with its Department of Bioethics, formerly named the Center
for Biomedical Ehtics, is one of only two universities in the
country to offer a pure bioethics doctorate program in addition
to the master's and joint degree programs it offers in conjunction
with several schools at CWRU.
For more information about the M.D., M.A. program and other bioethics
programs, see http://www.cwru.edu/med/bioethics/bioethics.html.
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