Summer Institute: Program Structure

Lectures & Seminars

In the mornings, all participants will attend a bioethics lecture by a Yale scholar followed by a question-and-answer session. 

From Monday through Thursday, afternoons are comprised of small-group seminars on special topics. 

Friday Mornings

Friday mornings focus on methods and arguments in bioethics as well as professional development. Lectures on methods will help students develop skills in critical analysis.  Lectures in professional development support students as they develop their summer portfolio (see below).

Friday mornings also include small-group meetings with faculty during which students will practice their skills and receive feedback on their portfolio.

Friday Afternoons

Some Friday afternoons offer optional small-group events, such as special guided tours of local Yale collections with bioethics themes (we may include the Beineke, the Medical Historical Library at the School of Medicine, The Cushing Brain Collection, and The Yale Art Gallery, for instance).  Participants are not required to attend these events, and may choose to take these afternoons off to travel or relax.                               

Two Friday afternoons will feature special required events: our trip to the esteemed Hastings Center and our visit to The Connecticut Hospice (the nation’s first hospice). 

Evening Hours: Networking with Faculty & Students

A few evenings per week will include optional events including bioethics movie nights when participants will have the opportunity to informally engage with faculty while watching popular films that touch upon bioethics issues.

Poster Session 

On the second-last day of the program, participants present their posters at the Yale School of Medicine.  This event is the highlight of our students’ work. Faculty from both the main Yale campus and the School of Medicine attend to discuss posters with their presenters. Click here for a gallery of recent posters.  

The Banquet

The last day of the program offers our annual Summer Institute banquet which celebrates our participants’ accomplishments and welcomes them to our Alumni Association.  Alumni from past years often attend this festive event to meet and welcome the new class.

Student Portfolio 

During the program, students research and write a short paper (6-10 pages, double-spaced) on a selected topic in bioethics, and summarize that paper in the formal poster format used at national biomedical, bioethics, and medical conferences.

Students are supported through the process and attend lectures including: “how to write an abstract;” “how to create a poster;” and “effective writing tips and strategies.”

Foreign Language Offerings

While we expect all of our attendees to be fluent in English we do offer a variety of special options for our Francophone and Spanish participants.

Spanish Offerings

  • One seminar (mini-course) in Medical Humanities will be taught in Spanish;
  • Friday small-groups will include one group spoken in Spanish, giving select program participants the opportunity to discuss bioethics topics with our Spanish-speaking faculty (2-5 meeting times of 1-hour each);
  • Some of our “bioethics movie nights” will also be in Spanish, and facilitated by our Spanish-speaking faculty (2-3 evenings during the program);
  • Spanish -speaking students have the option to write their final academic paper for the program in Spanish; our Spanish-speaking faculty will provide feedback.

French Offerings

  • Friday small-groups will include one group en francais, giving our French program participants the opportunity to discuss bioethics topics with our French-speaking faculty (5 meeting times of 1-hour each);
  • Some of our “bioethics movie nights” will also be in French, and facilitated by our French-speaking faculty (2-3 evenings during the program);
  • French-speaking students have the option to write their final academic paper for the program in French; our French-speaking faculty will provide feedback.