Starting this spring semester, the University is no longer accepting declarations for the Biomedical Ethics concentration.
In the 1970s, Brown was the first higher learning institution to offer a separate concentration in this interdisciplinary field that draws on biology, philosophy and religious studies. Though Biomedical Ethics has since become an established concentration at other colleges, Brown is suspending the program due to a lack of funding and available faculty.
The concentration will continue to be listed in University concentration materials, but will not accept new concentrators for at least three years, at which point the College Curriculum Council will discuss the question again, said Dean of the College Paul Armstrong.
There is continued student interest in the program. For many of the prospective and current concentrators, it was the main reason for choosing to attend Brown. "I just can't believe that it's about the faculty and not the students," said Emily Katz '05, who has been at the forefront of the student initiative to keep the concentration in existence.
As with many small interdisciplinary concentrations, biomedical ethics is not its own department and has no official physical "home," but is pulled together by interested faculty members.
Professor of Religious Studies Rosaline Ladd has sustained the concentration since its founder, Dan Brock, left to teach at Harvard. She has taught in the program for more than 20 years and served as a concentration adviser for the past several years. She describes the biomedical ethics program as providing "a strong interdisciplinary background and skills in critical analysis for students who are preparing for careers in medicine, law, public policy, etc."
"As I understand it, the official policy is not to support concentrations that rely on adjunct faculty appointments," Ladd wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
"A concentration needs to be taught by regular, tenured faculty that can be depended on," Armstrong said in support of the decision to cancel the concentration. Armstrong also pointed out that the concentration wouldn't be "officially" closed, as the CCC will reexamine the program in three years.
The University conducted a faculty search for a new professor to teach courses in biomedical ethics last year, according to Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Edwin Forman, who has been teaching a biomedical ethics seminar for over 30 years. Many qualified candidates applied, but the administration stopped the search for undisclosed reasons without hiring anyone, Forman said. Whether the problem was that none of the candidates were qualified enough or that a decision was made to allocate funds elsewhere is unclear, he said.
According to Armstrong, the problem is that the Department of Philosophy is not obligated to hire an ethics professor with an interest in biomedical issues if they have a better candidate that lacks such orientation.
Some prospective concentrators, including Angela Sherwin '07, say they are considering alternative options like forming an independent concentration following the same requirements.
"There isn't a particular problem that students can't explore outside of the concentration," Armstrong said. But without the funding for the official concentration, two yearly BE 150: "Topics in Biomedical Ethics" seminars will also be cancelled.
Concentrators like Katz strongly disagree that students can receive the same education without the two seminars, which change yearly and focus on the intersection of scientific and philosophical issues.
The funding for these seminars is an insignificant amount compared to the important contribution these unique classes make, Forman said. He said as far as he knows, the other professors only receive a small stipend. "I would guess it doesn't cost more than $10,000 to $15,000 a year to keep it going," he said. Others, such as Forman and Lisa Raiola '84, currently a clinical teaching instructor at the Brown Medical School, receive no compensation for teaching biomedical ethics seminars.
Forman believes the program has been extremely successful in attracting highly qualified candidates to the University and educating future doctors in critical thinking and analysis.
Many alumni of the concentration have pursued successful careers, Forman said.
Ladd agreed, pointing out that graduates of the program win prestigious summer internships and gain acceptance to top professional schools.
Raiola, who concentrated in biomedical ethics at Brown before becoming a clinical teaching instructor, said she "discovered that there was a broader world available to me through the biomedical ethics concentration than focusing on the clinical and scientific aspects of medicine."
Katz, who is graduating this spring, said she feels like the work of her class is being discredited. She will graduate with a degree that will no longer exist. "The University is sending us the message that it is not important any more," she said.
Biomedical ethics is a growing field, said Diana Moke '07. More and more issues will arise with the advancement of technology, she said. By equipping doctors with philosophical critical reasoning and knowledge of people's beliefs, the concentration is preparing the new generation of physicians and researchers to practice "medicine that respects the people," she said.
Combining the disciplines of philosophy, religion and medicine enriches the learning environment, Forman said. "I decided to teach the seminar so I can learn myself," he said. He believes that all three disciplines have a lot to gain through this exchange.
"While a physician is asking which procedure to perform, an undergraduate is asking more hypothetical questions like whether to perform it," Forman said, as an illustration of the ways even experienced professionals can gain from the discussion.
Raiola said she believes so strongly in the need for instruction in biomedical ethics that last year she still taught her ethics and public health class, despite the fact that she was undergoing treatment for a serious illness. She said she was also impressed with the devotion of the students, both concentrators and others, demonstrated by their perfect attendance records.
Forman said he believes that the administration will inevitably have to reinstate the biomedical ethics concentration.
