Education and Training

For Students and Residents

CCME-affiliated faculty teach formal lectures to medical students during their pre-clinical and clinical years and to chaplain residents and medical residents across training programs. We offer month-long clinical ethics electives to interested trainees. We mentor student research projects, advise on community engagement initiatives, and partner with trainees to host outside speakers and special events. We convene ethics journal clubs and book clubs related to philosophy and medicine. We also host visiting student scholars in ethics.

Ethics Council

Starting in 2021, we have convened a student-centered ethics council, modeled after the Milstein Hospital ethics committee. Students, together with faculty facilitators, meet every first Friday of the month with student-led case presentations. The purpose is robust, meaningful discussion and the further integration of ethics into student education.

Columbia Character Cooperatives

The work of health care thrusts us into intense settings and relationships that shape us for better or worse. And the healthcare industry further constrains the kinds of pressures and practices that impact who we are and how we relate to others, including patients, peers, and co-professionals, alike. How can we recognize the effects those situations, relationships, and constraints have on us and account for them as we seek to grow as doctors and nurses? To answer this question, among others, the Columbia Character Cooperatives (CCC) gathers small communities of students and CCME faculty to examine thoughtfully our healthcare environments with an aim to consider the necessary practices for making us as good as possible for our tasks. Our CCC Fellows therefore work through curated readings and participate in various learning experiences while nurturing a friendly community where thoughtful conversations and meaningful encounters impact their professional formation and ongoing practices.

Character and Clinical Ethics

The Character and Clinical Ethics (CCE) Pathway is an integrated program exclusively designed for internal medicine residents interested in clinical medical ethics and character formation. While the term “character formation” is not widely used in the context of graduate medical education, its meaning is not foreign to physicians-in-training. By it we are referring to the process through which a physician develops the moral and intellectual qualities such as practical wisdom, trustworthiness, thoughtfulness, justice, and equanimity, among others, that enable the physician to excel as a leader in our profession.

Residents are invited to apply at the beginning of their second year of residency. Two to three residents per year are selected to join the pathway and are afforded the opportunity to engage in in-depth exploration of ethical theory, to engage in clinical ethics consultations, and to undertake research projects, all while receiving close mentorship from distinguished faculty at the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. 

If you would like to hear more about CCE, please contact Beatriz Desanti, MD at bo2242@cumc.columbia.edu.


The Center for Clinical Medical Ethics (CCME) is proud to partner with the Kern National Network (KNN) in a shared commitment to advancing character, caring, and practical wisdom in the formation of physicians. Through this partnership, the CCME will align the Character and Clinical Ethics (CCE) Pathway of Professional Distinction with the KNN’s Framework for Flourishing in Medicine, emphasizing the integration of moral and professional development into the everyday practices and understanding of clinical training. At the heart of this alignment is a commitment to the ethics of care and to the flourishing of internal medicine residents. By foregrounding the cultivation of humility, integrity, and practical wisdom, for example, the CCE Pathway seeks to shape not only competent physicians but also persons of character capable of navigating the complexities of modern medicine with moral clarity and compassionate presence.

Contact Us

Columbia Center for Clinical Medical Ethics 622 W 168th St, PH 8E-105 New York, NY 10032

Find us on X