Princeton Theological Seminary Offers Continuing Medical Education Credit for Physicians

Princeton, NJ, August 17, 2006–Princeton Theological Seminary’s Center of Continuing Education has partnered with Princeton HealthCare System to provide Category 1 Continuing Medical Education credit for physicians. This is the first time the center has offered credit courses for medical professionals.

The first course to be offered to medical professionals for approved credit is “Issues in Biomedical Ethics.” The course, which will run on Monday evenings from September 25 through December 18 in the Seminary’s Erdman Hall, will address some of the key issues in biomedical ethics today, including reproductive health, cloning, stem cell research, mental health, and end-of-life issues. Participants will have the opportunity to address these issues personally and theologically in an atmosphere fostering respectful and informed debate.

The course will be open to Princeton Seminary M.Div. students and to professionals in ministry, chaplaincy, healthcare, law, and research sciences, who have demonstrated professional interest in biomedical ethics. Registered nurses, chaplains, and attorneys will also be able to get continuing education credit from their respective accrediting bodies. “All of these people have to work together as a team in this field. They each have a unique contribution to make,” said Dean of Continuing Education Hui Chen.

The course leader is the Seminary’s Stephen Colwell Associate Professor of Christian Ethics Nancy J. Duff. Duff is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and has published numerous essays on topics in biomedical ethics. She has spoken before the National Bioethics Advisory Commission about human cloning and stem cell research, and was interviewed on MSNBC and WKTU radio in New York City about her views on the Terry Schiavo case. She is a consultant to the New Jersey Medical Society’s Medical Ethics Committee. 

“I see this as an exciting beginning,” Duff said of teaching the course to professionals in the healthcare field. She hopes the course will foster “greater trust among the groups involved in hospital care: administrators, lawyers, nurses, doctors, pastors, and chaplains. This is an arena for them to be heard, and for them to hear how we make moral decisions.”

Chen looks forward to working with Princeton HealthCare System in this new partnership. “I am particularly pleased with the partnership not only in terms of the cross-professional cooperation it enables, but also as a sign of Princeton Seminary’s commitment to the local community,” she said.

For more information or to register, contact the Center of Continuing Education at 609.497.7990, or go to www.ptsem.edu/ce.