A new AMA fellowship is giving medical students, residents, fellows and young physicians a unique opportunity to explore a medical ethics topic and a platform to engage experts.
Participants in the AMA Ethics Fellowship will explore a topic of ethical importance to medicine as a trustworthy profession. 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. Applications for the fellowship are due July 20.
"Upholding the ethics of the profession is core to the AMA’s mission,” said Audiey Kao, MD, PhD, the AMA’s vice president of ethics, American Medical Association. The AMA Code of Medical Ethics, first established in1847, has long guided physicians in their relationships with patients and society. In an era in which the practice of medicine is changing so rapidly, the need for ethics education like through the podcasts created by fellows is ever more important.
Medical ethics for the next generation
This inaugural cohort of AMA Ethics Fellows is encouraged to examine topics and questions related to the responsible and ethical use of AI in healthcare, medicine’s social responsibility in civil society, and public health ethics. But Dr. Kao said applicants have latitude to propose topics in their submissions that go beyond these three general arenas.
What stands out about the AMA Ethics Fellowship, Dr. Kao said, is it gives those who are still in medical school, residency or early in their careers a chance to shape the discourse.
“Oftentimes, we think of ethics topics that are relevant to the next generation of physicians, but this fellowship is designed in a way that we're seeking ideas from them,” he said. “Issues that they confront, issues that they talk about with their peers."
Shaping the discussion
Selected fellows will meet in Chicago for a two-day working conference Aug. 31–Sept. 1. During that event, fellows 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 an opportunity to get feedback from their peers about their proposed podcast.
“The ideal fellowship applicant or candidate would be somebody who is open to refine and rethink their original idea, having that kind of intellectual humility will serve you well,” in the program, Dr. Kao said.
Throughout the program, fellows will work closely with AMA subject-matter experts and a faculty advisor of their choosing to strengthen the content of their podcast. Those conversations, Dr. Kao said, create a bi-directional learning environment.
“Teachers also learn a lot from their students,” Dr. Kao said. “They are seeing the practice of medicine evolve in some ways very differently than when their teachers were students themselves."
After topics have been refined, the fellows will record and produce their podcasts. They will be published on the AMA Ed Hub™.
The AMA Ethics Fellowship is open to medical students, resident physicians and fellows currently enrolled in U.S.-based accredited programs as well as early career physicians who have completed their graduate training within the past five years. Upon successful completion of the fellowship, each ethics fellow will receive an honorarium of $2,500.
For young physicians and medical students, the fellowship can be an entry point to be a thought leader in medical ethics throughout their careers.
"I'm heartened to see the response so far to the call for fellows and look forward to welcoming our first Fellowship class to Chicago later this year." Dr. Kao said.
