Since its founding in 1980, the goals and the activities of the ASE have been predicated on advancing educationally and scientifically sound responses to the many complex questions, issues, and concerns that are distinctive to surgical education.
The Ethics of Surgery Fellowship (EthoS) program is a one-year academic fellowship designed to equip individuals with the skills and the knowledge base prerequisite for providing leadership as surgical ethicists, ethics educators, members on hospital ethics committees, and surgical ethics researchers. The EthoS Fellowship creates the opportunity for motivated individuals to become highly valued by their respective institutions as a resource pivotal to the growth and development of the surgical ethics discipline. In addition, through working with their EthoS Fellowship faculty and meeting regularly with other fellowship participants, EthoS fellows join a life-long collaborative network of colleagues who share their interest in the ethical dimensions of surgery.
The fellowship runs from August to June and is conducted in a virtual format, with one in-person meeting that takes place during the ASE Surgical Education Week each spring. Tuition for the EthoS Fellowship for ASE members is $3,000, and $3,500 for non-members. Travel and accommodations are not included in the cost of tuition.
Applications are now open and the deadline to submit is April 30th, 2026. Fellows will be informed of their acceptance status by May 31st.
For more information on becoming a member of the Association for Surgical Education, visit here.
What are the EthoS Program Objectives?
The program gives the fellows a clinically applicable lens through which to review surgery-related literature, present/discuss cases on rounds, respond in M&M case reviews, participate in ethics consults, make formal presentations, and publish articles. Fellows develop a distinctive way to frame the ethical dimension of surgical care and to link core surgical ethics responsibilities to clinical/OR decision-making, to inform patients, to balance the professional commitments of medicine with the principles of public health, and to keep sense in end-of-life care.
Who Should Apply?
Surgeons, surgical residents or fellows, surgery-adjacent specialists such as anesthesia providers, or team-members who work closely with surgeons such as nurses and social workers.
What are the Fellowship Requirements?
I. Attend 80% of the two hour every other week virtual EthoS seminars. Each seminar will be a combination of faculty presentations, guest lectures, reviews of ethically challenging surgical cases, and research project brainstorming/updates.
II. Complete 80% of the brief written homework assigned prior to
each seminar.
III. Demonstrate basic competence of ethical concepts and their applications in a case discussion or topic presentation at the in-person meeting during Surgical Education Week in 2027.
Who are the EthoS Faculty?
EthoS is proud to enjoy a large network of ethics experts who will join seminars as guest faculty. The core faculty will consist of:
Program Director
Assistant Professor of Surgery
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Associate Program Director
Cardiac Surgeon
Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute, Charlotte, NC
Core Faculty
Surgical Ethics Specialist
Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Kathryn J Rowland, MD, MPHS
Core Faculty
Associate Professor of Surgery, Division of Pediatric Surgery
Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO
Director of Center for Humanism and Ethics in Surgical Specialties (CHESS) at Washington University in Saint Louis, MO
The adjunct faculty will consist of:
