Visiting Scholars and Internships| MedStar Washington Hospital Center | MedStar Health

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The John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics at MedStar Washington Hospital Center offers visiting scholar and internship opportunities.

Program for Neuroethics & Clinical Consciousness

Program for Neuroethics and Clinical Consciousness
The John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics at MedStar Washington Hospital Center introduces a research program devoted to the intersections of philosophy, neuroscience, empirical psychology, and clinical neurology. The Program for Neuroethics and Clinical Consciousness (PNCC) serves as a special research unit of the Lynch Center, contributing to relevant policy and practice, such as institutional criteria for brain death, improved evaluations of decision-making capacity in disorders of consciousness, and specialized analyses of clinical cases involving neurointensive care. In addition, the PNCC invites scholars of relevant disciplinary backgrounds and at various degrees of study, to collaborate in investigating the ontological and normative clinical implications of ongoing advances within these fields. Papers resulting from this work will be fast-tracked for publication in a special PNCC section of the Journal of Hospital Ethics.

Fall 2021 PNCC Visiting Scholar

Jada Wiggleton-Little
PhD Student Department of Philosophy
University of California, San Diego

Fall 2019 PNCC Visiting Scholar

Alexander Villafranca, BESS., MSc, PhD(c)
Research Associate
Department of Anesthesiology
Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Max Rady School of Medicine
University of Manitoba

To apply for a position as Visiting Scholar, please provide the following documents and submit directly to: Christian Carrozzo, Program Director for Neuroethics and Clinical Consciousness, christian.carrozzo@medstar.net

  • Name and Institutional Affiliation
  • Letter of Research Intent (500 words or less, describing your thesis, area of intended scholarship focus, and the time frame for which you are applying)
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Letter of Recommendation (Optional)

Visiting Scholar applicants are expected to hold a midlevel post-graduate degree, e.g. MA, MS, MPH, or be enrolled in a terminal degree graduate program, e.g. advanced PhD or medical student. Applicants will be considered regardless of institutional affiliation or geographic location. 

Clinical Bioethics Internships

MedStar Washington Hospital Center, is a 900+ bed, Level I trauma center that provides a rich clinical ethics experience for interns at every level of training. Because the Center provides a 24/7, 365 day a year clinical ethics consultation service, running approximately 400 consultations yearly, interns are assured a broad and in-depth clinical bioethics experience.*

Summer Undergraduate Internship Program (SUIP)

Each year, the John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics at MedStar Washington Hospital Center invites applications to our 6-week Summer Undergraduate Internship Program (SUIP) beginning in June for students interested in clinical bioethics. A small cohort of undergraduate students are chosen each summer. The yearly deadline for applications for the SUIP is the last day of April, each spring.

Graduate Student Internship Program (GSIP)

In addition to the SUIP, the Lynch Center offers advanced, specialized internships for graduate students interested in clinical bioethics, including medical students, master’s and doctoral students, as well as students enrolled in law school. The Graduate Student Internship Program (GSIP) are structured in relation to the discipline and research area of the applicant, and are designed to offer clinical exposure (when possible) while also engaging the intern with the bioethics scholarship and literature most relevant to their specific areas for a more specialized and academically robust experience. Applications for the GSIP are accepted on an ongoing basis, and time frames are decided in accordance.

SUIP and GSIP Activities

Both SUIP and GSIP interns join the Lynch Center staff on clinical rounds in MedStar Washington’s nine intensive care units, attend meetings of the hospital’s ethics committee, including the Center’s subcommittees on education, consultation, policy, and organizational ethics, as well as shadow our consultants on bioethics case consultation requests. In addition, our interns can join staff on regularly scheduled interdisciplinary meetings and internal education activities, such as complex case discussions with medical residents, psychiatric ethics conferences, and a broad range of education programming for clinicians.*

Interns will be required to collaborate on ongoing projects with Lynch Center staff. For GSIP interns, this could possibly include the development of a scholarly research project with the aim of publication.

To apply for a SUIP or GSIP Lynch Center internship, please submit the following:

  • Letter of intent, outlining your interest in the field of clinical bioethics (GSIP applicants should also include a short proposal on a relevant area of research related to your field of study).
  • Letter of recommendation from a current or former professor.
  • Unofficial academic transcript.
  • Resume (SUIP applicants) or Curriculum Vitae (GSIP applicants).

Completed applications and further inquiries should be sent to Christian Carrozzo at christian.carrozzo@medstar.net.

*Until further notice, SUIP or GSIP internships are being held virtually as our campus does not yet allow the presence of student-visitors under conditions of pandemic. Although interns will gain some experience via virtual forms of clinical exposure, they will not have the opportunity to visit the hospital.