Cardiothoracic Ethics Forum Scholarship

Overview

The Cardiothoracic Ethics Forum (the Forum) is a joint project of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Society of Thoracic Surgeons that is responsible for ethics education in cardiothoracic surgery. It was created in 2000 and has evolved to comprise the memberships of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Standards and Ethics Committee and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery Ethics Committee, and at-large members.

The Forum has sponsored 50 ethics sessions at CT surgery meetings and its members have published over 340 papers on ethics topics since 2000. The Forum has engaged in a number of other activities as well, such as creating ethics-related questions for the American Board of Thoracic Surgery qualifying examination and the TSDA In-Training Examination.

The future leadership of the Forum and ethics education will fall to early and mid career CT surgeons, many of whom harbor great interest in ethics, but lack experience in the field as few surgeons have background and training in bioethics. To provide opportunities for intellectual development and preparation for leadership roles in CT ethics, the Forum (supported by the STS and the AATS) offers scholarships in amounts up to $10,000 for interested CT surgeons to obtain formal education and training in biomedical ethics through any of several programs offered by leading ethics centers in North America (for example, Georgetown University, Columbia University, University of Washington, and Harvard University, among others).

Scholarship Application Guidelines

Awards are made to CT surgeons who are interested in biomedical ethics and show promise of providing leadership for the continuing development and flourishing of ethics education for CT surgery. For a successful application, candidates must:

• be a member of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons or the American Association for Thoracic Surgery;
• identify a specific educational program that will advance their ethics knowledge and skills in preparation for participation and leadership in CT ethics programs;
• provide a curriculum vitae or résumé that displays evidence of scholarly activity and leadership roles; and
• submit a proposed plan of study (no longer than 500 words) that clearly states the educational insights and benefits that the scholarship will provide for their professional careers and for CT surgery as a specialty.

The deadline for applications for the 2017-2018 academic year (August 2017-August 2018) is July 1, 2017. Click here to complete the application.

Questions regarding Ethics Forum Scholarships should be directed to Robert M. Sade, MD at sader@musc.edu.