There He Is. .. Master of Bioethics

My Past

After some reflection, I can think of no single reason why I chose to pursue graduate education in bioethics. Rather, an amalgam of interests and goals somehow coalesced and compelled me to pursue what was, for me, the perfect graduate program, at the perfect time, in the perfect place.

The master's program at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics offered me the opportunity to synthesize what had seemed like an array of impractical and impracticable personal interests and goals. My undergraduate and graduate training in biology and philosophy at Villanova University provided the foundation for these growing interests and goals. This foundation was bolstered by my simultaneous research interests in behavioral ecology (once called sociobiology) and bioethics, which exposed me to a select group of philosopher-scientists whose work was generously sprinkled throughout both bodies of literature (e.g., Arthur Caplan, Michael Ruse, Richard Lewontin). I realized that a real and practicable synthesis of the humanities and biosciences was not only possible but had been done many times over; I made it my mission to begin to do the same.

Complementing my academic background were my various and sundry scientific and business experiences in the pharmaceutical industry. During those four years of industry work, I was in a practical domain where I was able to explore bioethical issues in biomedical research and pharmaceutical regulatory affairs.

Above and beyond these rather concrete realities remained my vision of the Good Life, which is to understand the human condition more fully in an age of biotechnology and help those affected by and teach those interested in these same issues. This vision is grounded in philosophical inquiry and the humanities and is energized by my bioethics education. The education I received in the Master of Bioethics program gave me the opportunity to work toward my own authentic goals and interests, providing me with every opportunity to make these interests a central part of my daily work and life.

When I began at Penn, the Master's of Bioethics program was very young, in only its second year of operation. The program's director, David Magnus, stated in no uncertain terms that the degree "is not designed to be sufficient training for job placement" (University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics 2002).

Nevertheless, with the support and guidance of a few excellent mentors (Magnus being one), I worked to segue a clinical ethics internship into a more-or-less full time clinical bioethics role in a Philadelphia health system. With initial around-the-clock mentoring by Professors McCartney and Caplan and with quick and easy access to other Center fellows, I learned (and continue to learn) bioethics by doing bioethics.

In this role I have experienced the complexities of medical and ethical decision making and appreciate how even the seemingly simplest cases will always be confounded by many subtle variables. I have had to relearn academic bioethics in a way that enables me to communicate within the weaving lines of clinical ethics trenches—ethics committees, consultation teams, policy development meetings, and rounds and in-services, to name a few.

Your Present

Clearly, a master's degree in bioethics will not always turn into a bioethics job, nor should it. In my case, the master's degree positioned me to continue to learn bioethics in a clinical and academic setting. But postbaccalaureate students and young scholars should heed Magnus's warning and not enter a bioethics program with the dream of coming out a card-carrying "bioethicist." Approaching the bioethics degree as a supplement to another terminal degree or career path seems wise.

But with the public tizzy around hot topics that once seemed more like science fiction than reality, more and more young scholars are interested in being involved in bioethics. In fact, through our own High School Bioethics pilot program here at Penn, I have personally talked with ninth- and tenth-graders who are already...