Discover the Biomedical Ethics Curriculum
Biomedical ethics is an interdisciplinary program designed to introduce students to ethical issues that arise in health care and health care research. Students will take courses in biology, ethnic studies, philosophy, psychological sciences and sociology within the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as courses from the business and nursing schools.
Minor
Our biomedical ethics minors are required to have a basic background of biology coursework, and will pursue a curriculum that includes 18 credit hours, beginning with a course on basic ideas and concepts in biomedical ethics, followed by a choice of other relevant humanities courses.
Program Requirements
Each student declares their major(s) and minor(s) under a single catalog of record that is identified on the student's degree audit (available on Degree Works).
The program requirements below are based on the current course catalog and may not be applicable if a student is declared in an earlier catalog.
Find all previous course catalogs under on our Archived Catalogs of Record page.
18-19 units
Minor
- Minor
- Learning Outcomes
The Biomedical Ethics Minor
18 Units - Including 6 upper division units with GPA 2.0 or higher and grade of C- or better, 4 upper division units must be taken at USD. Courses taken in the minor may not be counted toward the major but may be used to satisfy preparation for the major and CORE Curriculum requirements.
Needs: | ||
PHIL 331 | Biomedical Ethics | 3 |
Ethics Course (select one from the following): | 3 | |
PHIL 335 | Death and Dying | |
PHIL 346 | Public Health Ethics | |
THRS 330 | Reproductive Justice and Catholic Theological Ethics | |
THRS 331 | Sexual Ethics in the Catholic Tradition | |
THRS 332 | HIV/AIDS and Christian Ethics | |
Biological Course (select one from the following): | 3-4 | |
ANTH 101 | Becoming Human: Introduction to Biological Anthropology | |
ANTH 111 | Becoming Human: Introduction to Biological Anthropology with Social Justice | |
BIOL 118 | Peoples, Plagues and Microbes | |
BIOL 120 | Life-Changing Biology | |
BIOL 240 | Bioenergetics and Systems | |
BIOL 242 | Genomes and Evolution | |
Elective Courses (select 9 upper-division units from the following): | 9 | |
ANTH 301 | The Human Dead: Contemporary Perspectives on Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology | |
ANTH 324 | Environmental Anthropology | |
ANTH 413 | Planet of the Great Apes 2: Ethics of Humanity's Relationships to Other Apes | |
BIOL 377 | Physiology of Sports | |
BIOL 444 | Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease | |
BIOL 481 | Cancer: Biology and Sociological Perspectives | |
BIOL 483 | Emerging Issues in Genetics | |
COMM 340 | Health Communication | |
COMM 440 | End of Life Communication Issues | |
EOSC 380 | Global Environmental Health | |
ETHN 332 | American Indian Health and Spirituality | |
HCIN 541 | Introduction to Health Care Delivery Systems | |
MKTG 435 | Business of Healthcare | |
NCB 347 | Behavior Genetics | |
NCB 357 | Behavioral Medicine | |
NCB 359 | Behavioral Medicine of Women and Marginalized Communities | |
NCB 372 | Clinical Neuroscience | |
PHIL 335 | Death and Dying | |
PHIL 346 | Public Health Ethics | |
PSYC 354 | Behavior Disorders of Childhood | |
PSYC 355 | Abnormal Psychology | |
SOCI 315 | Health and Society | |
THRS 330 | Reproductive Justice and Catholic Theological Ethics | |
THRS 331 | Sexual Ethics in the Catholic Tradition | |
THRS 332 | HIV/AIDS and Christian Ethics | |
Total Units | 18-19 | |
Additional courses may be used to satisfy the elective requirement in the Biomedical Ethics minor, if the focus is biomedical in nature. Consult the Program Director for information about these courses.