Ethics Curricula in Epidemiology

Since the mid-1990s epidemiology has joined other sciences and health professions in making ethics education a component of the larger curriculum. However, the change is far from total. Many programs and schools continue to include ethics only episodically, if at all. This chapter argues that developments in epidemiology and ethics have attained such importance that they continue to merit (1) development of new course materials, (2) training of appropriate faculty members, and (3) integration of new courses into epidemiology, public health, and other curricula. Ongoing efforts to include ethics-andepidemiology sessions in professional conferences should also be expanded, and short courses, perhaps on special topics or problems, should be developed for students, practitioners, and university faculty.