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Bioethics Minor

Bioethics is an interdisciplinary minor that bridges multiple disciplines ranging from philosophy and theology, to biology and health sciences. This program equips students with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate complex bioethical issues, to engage public controversies, and to seek further education and even eventual employment in bioethics. Students are invited to consider how science, medicine, philosophy, religion, law, and business intersect. The coursework educates and empowers students to draw from deep intellectual and spiritual traditions in philosophy and theology to approach newly emerging bioethical issues.听

Bioethics logo JCU

Bioethics, it has been remarked, is what angels鈥攄isembodied, immortal beings鈥攚ould not have. The reason is that bioethics concerns issues and problems that arise in virtue of our bodily nature as human beings: issues and problems around conception and birth, health and sickness, and aging and dying, among others. If you are a pre-health, pre-law, pre-med, public health student or simply interested in thinking through complex ethical questions then this minor is a perfect fit for you! The minor will allow you to explore the ethical implications of medical and scientific research and practices and develop the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate challenging bioethical issues.听

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Bioethics Speaker Series | Fall 2025 Events

The Ethics of Triage

  • Bernard Prusak, Professor, Raymond & Eleanor Smiley Chair in Business Ethics
  • Tuesday, September 16, 2025, 6:00-7:30 p.m., Donahue Auditorium, Dolan Science Center
  • During the Covid-19 pandemic, Catholic ethicists differed strongly about the permissibility of unilaterally withdrawing life-sustaining treatment from patients with poorer prognoses and reallocating it to patients with greater expected survivability. In this talk, Dr. Prusack will examine the main arguments that two distinct schools of thought leveled at one another. He will also propose that those arguments have not adequately engaged two critical questions about: first, to whom the physician is responsible and second, to whom patients belong when they present at a hospital under crisis standards of care.

Bioethics and Altruism: Organ Transplantation Practices

  • Jane Jankowski, Director of the Center for Bioethics at the Cleveland Clinic
  • Thursday, October 23, 2025 6:00-7:30 p.m., Donahue Auditorium, Dolan Science Center
  • Donating an organ is a singularly altruistic act of giving. This talk will explore the various moral standards for ethical procurement and stewardship of organs as a scarce resource. The talk will also discuss current controversies related to organ transplantation practices in the United States

Co-hosted by the Bioethics Minor and the College of Health, sponsored by the Shula Chair in the Philosophy Department

For further information, please contact Dr. Deniz Hric at dhric@jcu.edu

To find out which Bioethics courses are being offered in the current semester, go to the ,听then:

  1. Select a Term
  2. Click Advanced Search
  3. Enter Bioethics听in the Core/Interdisciplinary Search field
  4. Click Search
  • Identify and explain key ethical concepts and theories.
  • Identify and explain key bioethical concepts, theories, and topics.
  • Identify and analyze the ethical issues in a given clinical case and formulate possible resolutions.
  • Recognize and discuss the historical, social, and/or scientific context of health care.

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The complete list of elective course offerings can be found below and in the University Bulletin (upcoming - add link)

Program Director:

  • Dr. Deniz听Hric (Associate Professor of Philosophy)

Advisory Committee:

  • Dr. Tara Jenner-Donaldson (Director of Pre-Health Professions)
  • Dr. Bernard Prusak 听(Simley Chair in Business Ethics) 听

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Program Spotlight

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The minor requires the completion of 6 courses, 4 of which are chosen from Philosophy (PL) and  Theology & Religious Studies (TRS). Those 4 courses count for the core requirement. The minor requires 2 more courses to be chosen from a wide range of options. 

Choose one:

  • PL 2081 - Ethical Theory*
  • TRS 3530 - Catholic Moral Theology*
  • PJHR 3500 - Social Justice Research*

 

Choose one:

  • PL 2088 - Bioethics*
  • TRS 3583 - Healthcare Ethics*
  • PL 2098 - Special Topic: Philosophy of Medicine* **

 

Chose two:

  • The remaining PL 2081 - Ethical Theory
    OR 
    TRS 3530 - Catholic Moral Theology
  • The remaining PL 2088 - Bioethics
    OR
    TRS 3583 - Healthcare Ethics
    OR
    PJHR 3500: Social Justice Research
  • TRS 3563 - Bioethics
  • PL 2085 - Contemporary Ethical Problems
  • PL 2041 - Philosophy of Science
  • PL 2051 - Feminist Philosophies

 

*Course can only be used to fulfill one minor requirement--it cannot count in multiple categories.

**As a special topic course, the individual semester's section must be petitioned to satisfy minor requirements.

Chose two:

  • BL 2600 - Social Inequality and Disease

  • HS 1137 - History of Medicine in America 

  • HS 1138 - History of Science and the Body in America

  • HS 1239 - Health, Medicine, and Society

  • PO 2210 - Health Care Access in Latin America

  • PPH 2500 - Current Issues in Population and Public Health

  • SC 2730 - Public Health and U.S. Society

  • SC 3250 - Gender, Health, and Medicine

  • SC 3700 - Culture, Environment, and Global Health