Unity Health’s Centre for Clinical Ethics (CCE) marked a major achievement this year when its Fellowship Program, whose Fellows are appointed through the University of Toronto’s Department of Family Medicine, was recognized for advancing ethics training and leadership in Canada.  

 “This recognition is very significant to us because it distinguishes the CCE as a national leader in clinical ethics training,” says Dave Langlois, PhD Clinical Ethicist and Director, Fellowship Program. “To our knowledge, we have become the first program in the country whose trainees are University-appointed postgraduate Fellows and now our Fellows have academic affiliation with the University.”

Over the past two decades, the CCE’s program has graduated over a dozen fellows who have gone on to do work in clinical ethics across the country and around the world. “For years, the program has been attracting candidates from across the US and Canada,” says CCE Senior Director and Clinical Ethicist, Dr. Michael Szego. “They come to us to get experience working in a variety of healthcare settings and with a vast array of stakeholders including clinicians, families, patients, caregivers.”

Jeremy Butler, former Unity Health CCE PhD Fellow of 2019-21, is now a Clinical Ethicist at Providence Care, Kingston. He says the affiliation strengthens the great work the CCE already does. “When you’re working with Unity Health’s CCE team as a Fellow, you’re not just working in one place with one ethicist. You get chance to work with different team members with different backgrounds, in different settings, so you learn different perspectives.”

As part of the fellowship program, ethics trainees will teach ethics to family medicine residents.  The program currently has two Fellows. “It has been wonderful, as part of my fellowship, to collaborate with the University of Toronto family medicine program and support the ethics education of family medicine residents at Sunnybrook,” says Alexandra Campbell, JD. “The train-the-trainer model of teaching has allowed me excellent exposure to curriculum development, and I hope that I have been able to help the instructors feel confident in their mastery of the course content.” The University’s Department of Family and Community Medicine will continue to have ethicists and ethics fellows teach clinical ethics in their program.

This recognition underscores the great work that has been done for years while setting the stage for the future. The University affiliation will help the CCE to continue to develop a rigorous, world-class program that will attract and graduate exceptional ethicists.  

By: Arlene Howells