Mission-Driven, Student-Focused
The University of Pennsylvania Master of Bioethics (MBE) is an interdisciplinary degree offered by the renowned Department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine. The MBE degree program gives students broad exposure to the full range of topics and issues in contemporary bioethics, drawing on the expertise of our distinguished faculty.
Many types of students would benefit from the Penn MBE. Some students have recently graduated from undergraduate study and are going to pursue an MD, JD, or PhD. Some students are already in medical school or law school at Penn. Some students are working in their chosen field of nursing, medicine, pharma, research, veterinary medicine, dentistry, or regulatory affairs and want to supplement their professional training with a Master of Bioethics degree. Some students want to pursue the Penn MBE to work in regulatory affairs, research, pharmaceutical policy, IRB, medical school communications, or project/program management. We tailor the MBE curriculum to meet each individual student's career and professional goals. We welcome academically accomplished students from every background and at every stage of their career from recent undergraduates to senior professionals.
What makes the Penn Master of Bioethics program unique is a threefold approach to bioethics training that combines excellent academic instruction, a worldwide network of alumni, and hands-on research opportunities that build on the classroom experience.
The MBE is designed for the following audiences:
- Post-baccalaureate students with a special interest in the field who either plan further graduate study in law, medicine, humanities, or social sciences or would like to pursue a career in a bioethics-related field.
- Mid-career and senior health care professionals, including lawyers, physicians, nurses, health care administrators, pharmaceutical employees, social workers, those working in public policy or regulatory affairs, dentists, veterinarians, research associates, other allied health professionals, and other practitioners and teachers who wish to expand their area of competency to include bioethics;
- Students already enrolled or admitted to a Penn graduate or professional degree program, such as medicine, law, nursing, or a PhD program, who want to combine bioethics with their primary training; and, students already enrolled in a graduate or professional degree program in another institution;
- Current undergraduate students at Penn, Haverford, or Bryn Mawr who would like to submatriculate into the MBE while still finishing their BA/BS degrees. (Students must have a 3.5 GPA to be eligible for this program, which requires an additional year of study after graduating from their undergraduate program.)
The Master of Bioethics program is led by Dr. Autumn Fiester, Faculty Program Director, Dr. Matthew McCoy, Associate Faculty Director, and Dr. Molly Sinderbrand, Associate Staff Director.