Cardiothoracic Ethics Forum Scholarship

Overview

Susan Moffat-Bruce, MD, PhD, MBA, previous scholarship award recipient.

The Cardiothoracic Ethics Forum (the Forum) is the joint entity of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) that is responsible for ethics education in cardiothoracic (CT) surgery. Created in 2000,  its membership now comprises the members of the STS Standards and Ethics Committee, the AATS Ethics Committee, and a few at-large members.

The Forum has sponsored over 50 ethics sessions at CT surgery meetings and its members have published over 400 papers on ethics topics since 2000. The Forum has also engaged in a number of other activities, such as creating ethics-related questions for the American Board of Thoracic Surgery qualifying examination, SESATS, and the TSDA In-Training Examination, as well as developing CT surgery policies for adoption by the AATS and the STS.

Kathleen Fenton, MD, previous scholarship award recipient.

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 or CT surgery trainees to obtain formal education and training in biomedical ethics through any of several programs offered by leading ethics centers in North America.

Scholarship holders are expected to participate in ethics-related activities of CT surgery organizations.

Scholarship Application Guidelines

Jennifer Ellis, MD, MBA, previous scholarship award recipient.

Awards are made to CT surgeons or trainees who are interested in biomedical ethics and show promise of providing leadership for the continuing development and flourishing of ethics education for CT surgery. Candidates must be members of the STS or the AATS, or be trainees in a CT training program or committed to CT surgery while in another surgery program. An application must include:

• a curriculum vitae or résumé that displays evidence of scholarly activity and leadership roles
• identification of a specific educational program that will advance the applicant’s ethics knowledge and skills in preparation for participation and leadership in CT ethics programs
• a budget that will cover the expenses associated with the identified program
• a proposed plan of study (no longer than 500 words) that clearly states the educational insights and benefits that the scholarship will provide for the applicant's professional career and for CT surgery as a specialty.

John W. Entwistle, MD

Past recipients are expected to recruit similarly qualified applicants from among their colleagues. At the end of the scholarship period, recipients must submit a report on the outcome of their educational opportunities.

The deadline for applications for the 2020-2021 academic year (September 2020-September 2021) is November 15, 2020.  

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

Partial Listing of Short-Duration Ethics Educational Programs:

Baylor College of Medicine
Center for Bioethics of Harvard University
Cleveland Clinic Clinical Ethics Immersion Program
Columbia University
Georgetown University
Harvard Clinical Bioethics Course
Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics
University of Chicago
University of Washington
Yale University

Previous Scholarship Award Recipients