Preparing for Responsible Leadership in Health Care

Public policy and ethical issues in health care pose some of modern society’s most complex questions and present daunting challenges to leaders. An innovative program between the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and the pre-health education department of the College of Arts and Sciences is designed to prepare doctors and health care professionals for ethical leadership in the health care field.

Funded by the Claude Moore Charitable Fund, the multi-layered initiative includes interdisciplinary courses, internships, lectures and the creation of a minor in medical humanities.

• A new course focused on holistic healing and medical humanities was added to the curriculum. Syllabus. Another new course, “Leadership and Ethical Decision Making in Health Care,”  was first taught in spring 2007.
• The new medical humanities minor includes these two new courses and three others. 
• Claude Moore Internship grants were awarded to nine students who worked in health care-related organizations during summer 2007.
• The Claude Moore Lecture was given during the 2006-07 academic year to extend the consideration of ethical leadership in medicine across the campus and community. The lecturer was Walter Graham, executive director of the Richmond-based United Network for Organ Sharing.
• Another public bioethics program including student internship reports and a lecture by Dr. Edmund Pellegrino was held during the fall semester, 2007.  Pellegrino is Georgetown University's John Carroll Professor of Medicine and Medical Ethics, emeritus, and is considered to be the founding father of modern medical bioethics.

In addition, at a June 2007 workshop co-sponsored by the Jepson School, the university encouraged other colleges and universities to add courses on leadership in health care to their offerings by promoting it along with other new courses created as part of the Initiative on Leadership and the Liberal Arts.

The Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, a philanthropic organization, enhances educational opportunities for young people in the Commonwealth of Virginia and elsewhere. Dr. Moore was a Northern Virginia physician and an extensive landholder.

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