Our world needs more ethics (podcasts).
The AMA Ethics Fellowship is a new opportunity for the next generation of physicians to explore a topic of ethical importance to medicine’s future as a trustworthy profession in service to patients and society. Each ethics fellow will work with AMA staff to develop a podcast that fosters greater understanding of these topics and how to address them ethically as trusted professionals. Fellows will gain experience in ethics topic development and podcast production while working with subject matter experts and learning from their peers.
For this coming year, there is particular interest in exploring specific topics and questions in the following general areas:
- Responsible and ethical use of AI in healthcare
- Medicine’s social responsibility in civil society
- Public health ethics
Eligibility
Medical students, resident physicians and fellows (MDs or DOs) who are currently enrolled in U.S.-based accredited programs as well as early career physicians (within 5 years of completing graduate training) can apply to be ethics fellows.
Upon successful completion of the fellowship, each ethics fellow will receive an honorarium of $2,500.
Application proposal
To apply, please provide the following:
- A description of your ethics topic and why you think it is interesting, important, and impacts public trust in medicine (300 words maximum).
- Three to five questions about this proposed topic that could be explored in a 30 minute or so (audio only or video) podcast. Questions should include at least one or two that address the profession-wide ramifications of your topic, while the rest should focus on the ethical challenges it poses to individual physicians.
- Name of a faculty advisor who has agreed to serve as a mentor during your fellowship.
- Names of three to five experts on your proposed topic who could be interviewed for the podcast.
- Description of any additional features to complement the expert interviews (e.g., infographics, animation). Applicants who propose to include additional features are responsible for having the tools and skills needed for their production.
Application submission
Submit your application to the AMA Ethics Fellowship by July 20, 2026. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Central. Late applications will not be reviewed, so please plan accordingly.
Post selection
All selected fellows will meet in Chicago for a two-day working conference on Monday, Aug. 31–Tuesday, Sept. 1, where they will work together with AMA staff to refine and develop their topic outline and questions, as well as better understand their responsibilities in creating the podcast for publication. This meeting will also provide each fellow with opportunity to get feedback from their peers about their proposed podcast. Additionally, fellows will have the opportunity to record some initial audio for their episodes.
All podcasts will be developed with CME eligibility and published on the AMA EdHub™.
For questions about the fellowship, please contact Erik Schiller, [email protected].
