Global Health Ethics 2

Bioethics engagement spanning more than 25 countries

Our worldwide outreach includes work in clinical ethics, public health ethics, and science ethics.

We coordinate international research and training efforts, organize international work groups, and collaborate on dozens of globally focused scholarly projects.

Resources

We have assembled a wide range of Global Health Ethics resources, including codes and guidelines, teaching and IRB materials, training and funding opportunities, and more.

Education and Training

Berman Institute faculty have provided bioethics training to public health and medical professionals in countries around the world for more than two decades. Additionally, our annual one-month global bioethics training institute providing an intensive immersion in coursework and public policy issues related to global bioethics. Learn more about our range of global programs.

Group of MORES students sitting on stairs of their campus
Intensive Global Bioethics Training Program

A month-long training program offered each June, the Johns Hopkins Global Bioethics Training Program (GBTP) combines intensive coursework with applied, skill-oriented learning to enhance participants’ knowledge and skills in international research ethics.

The next session will take place June 3-28, 2024. Download the Program flyer here.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Program participants are enrolled in two different non-credit week-long intensive courses Basics of Bioethics and Introduction to Research Ethics (with options to substitute other courses). Courses are taught by Berman Institute faculty from the Johns Hopkins University’s world-renowned schools of Medicine, Public Health, Nursing, and Arts & Sciences.

In addition, participants will meet with key personnel from JHU Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and participate in special seminars, mock IRB sessions, expert-led case discussions, student-led presentations, manuscript and grant writing tutorials, and individual or small group meetings with JHU bioethics faculty to provide mentorship and guidance related to educational, career, and research goals.

GBTP activities also include structured meetings with bioethics personnel at the US National Institutes of Health(NIH), US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), and the US Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP).

THE PROGRAM INCLUDES

  • Orientation to Johns Hopkins University resources and local region
  • Two separate week-long JHU Berman Institute Bioethics Intensive courses
  • Organized schedule of activities
  • One month furnished apartment
  • One month health insurance
  • All local transportation to and from airport and Washington, DC, for meetings and seminars
  • Certificate of completion

TUITION AND FEES
$8,500 USD (airfare, visa fees and stipend not included)

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER
Program Contact
Elise Wilson

Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics
1809 Ashland Avenue
Baltimore, MD  21205 USA
Phone: +1-410-614-5372
Email: [email protected]

Registration
Applications from clinical/public health researchers, research ethics committee professionals, ethics scholars and others are welcomed. To allow sufficient time for visa processing and to secure housing, international applicants should apply no later than February 9.  Earlier application is strongly encouraged.

completed registration form (PDF) and a CV/resume should be sent via email to [email protected]. Registration will be confirmed via email and letter.

PROGRAM LEADERSHIP

Fogarty International Bioethics Training Program

The major objective of the Fogarty International Bioethics Training Program is to establish and support collaborative training partnerships with institutions to support the development of institutional capacity in research ethics and bioethics.

The institutional partnership provides a combination of individual-level training and mentorship in bioethics for professionals from partner institutions – with training occurring both at Johns Hopkins University and at partner institutions – and strategic planning to enhance the quality and efficiency of research ethics systems at partner institutions. Thus, the goal is to collaboratively facilitate the pursuit of institutional bioethics objectives to improve local capacity and sustain bioethics initiatives that are identified to be of critical importance.

Master of Health Research Ethics Program (University of Malaya)

In 2018, the Berman Institute initiated a new collaboration with the University of Malaya (UM) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to establish a Master of Health Research Ethics (MOHRE) program at UM (MOHRE).

Visit the Berman Institute’s MOHRE page.

Visit UM’s MOHRE page.

With support from a five-year FIC-NIH grant awarded to Dr. Sugarman (BI) and Dr. Kamarulzaman (UM), the initiative will seek to establish the first bioethics-related master’s program in Malaysia by leveraging the collective strengths of JHU and UM program faculty. The collaboration is designed to produce a phased transfer of knowledge, skills and expertise from JHU to UM, while providing Master’s degree training in research ethics to 40 individuals from Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Johns Hopkins University-Addis Ababa University Research Ethics Training Program

Over the past five years – with support from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center (Grant # R25TW001604) and the leadership of Dr. Adamu Addissie from Addis Ababa University (AAU) – the Johns Hopkins University-Addis Ababa University Research Ethics Training Program (JHU-AAU RETP) has focused its efforts on curriculum development and approvals; strengthening capacity of AAU faculty to teach new courses in bioethics through training and mentorship; raising awareness for bioethics and research ethics through outreach, public seminars and creation of a MPH-wide Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) course; engaging government leaders in Ethiopia to support ongoing efforts to advance research ethics networks and policies; and piloting of a new Research Ethics Specialty Track within the AAU Master of Public Health (MPH) program.

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Bioethics Academy

The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics (JHU) in conjunction with the Bioethics Chair at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) have launched a new initiative called the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Bioethics Academy (SNFBA). The SNFBA is funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and was created with the intent to support and enhance knowledge and awareness for bioethics in Greece.

The three main components of the SNFBA are:

  1. An intensive bioethics summer courseoffered every June, beginning in 2019, in Athens, Greece;
  2. Annual in-depth workshopsalternating between Zurich, Switzerland (hosted at ETH) and Baltimore, USA (hosted by JHU), beginning winter 2021;
  3. An alumni networkthat provides ongoing connections with other Greek bioethics professionals, resources and information through a dedicated website, and virtual discussions via webinar.

Visit the SNFBA website to learn more and apply.

Meet a Post-Doctoral Fellow

The Berman Institute’s Fogarty African Bioethics Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program provides 18-months of advanced bioethics training for scholars from sub-Saharan Africa who hold a bioethics-related PhD. Daniel Semakula is a Fogarty African Bioethics Consortium Postdoctoral fellow based at Makerere University in Uganda. He received his medical degree from Makerere University, Uganda, a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester, UK and a PhD in Medicine and Health Sciences from the University of Oslo, Norway. His research topic will explore ethical issues around the use of big data to inform practice and policy in the context of epidemics. Learn more about Dr. Semakula.

News & Events

Berman Institute Faculty Receive NIH Grant to Help Establish Bioethics Training Program
Fogarty Program provides advanced bioethics training for scholars from sub-Saharan Africa who hold a bioethics-related PhD
Hot Topics in Research Ethics: A New Framework for Animal Research Ethics by David DeGrazia, PhD, MSt, BA
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Prof. DeGrazia will present and briefly defend the 6-principles framework that he developed with Tom Beauchamp in “Principles of Animal Research Ethics”

JHU Collaborates with Addis Ababa University to Launch Research Ethics Master’s Program
Berman Institute's Joseph Ali helps create the first bioethics-related Master’s training program in Ethiopia

Faculty

Berman Institute faculty members are active in both scholarly and academic roles but also in many other areas such as institutional review boards and operations, as well as many policy making initiatives. We invite you to learn more about our faculty and their contributions.

View Faculty in Global Health Ethics

Research/Scholarship

Our faculty have published scholarship with colleagues from at least 20 other countries on topics ranging from global stem cell ethics to informed consent in low resource settings to ethics and global health systems strengthening to ethics and prevention of HIV and TB globally.

Service/Policy

Berman faculty have been involved in multiple initiatives of the World Health Organization, creating ethics guidance on topics of global health importance and have organized or been participants in multiple international policy development activities on topics including global food, pandemic influenza, sexual violence, human rights, HIV prevention, and patient safety. Berman faculty are regularly called upon to participate on the global stage to help develop ethics guidance and policy recommendations.