CCME-affiliated faculty teach formal lectures to medical students during their pre-clinical and clinical years and to residents across training programs. We offer month-long clinical ethics electives to interested trainees. We mentor student research projects, advise on community engagement initiatives, and partner with trainees to host outside speakers and special events. We convene ethics journal clubs and book clubs related to philosophy and medicine. We also host visiting student scholars in ethics.

Starting in 2021, we have convened a student-centered ethics council, modeled after the Milstein Hospital ethics committee. Students, together with faculty facilitators, meet every first Friday of the month with student-led case presentations. The purpose is robust, meaningful discussion and the further integration of ethics into student education.

The work of health care thrusts us into intense settings and relationships that shape us for better or worse. And the healthcare industry further constrains the kinds of pressures and practices that impact who we are and how we relate to others, including patients, peers, and co-professionals, alike. How can we recognize the effects those situations, relationships, and constraints have on us and account for them as we seek to grow as doctors and nurses? To answer this question, among others, the Columbia Character Cooperatives (CCC) gathers small communities of students and CCME faculty to examine thoughtfully our healthcare environments with an aim to consider the necessary practices for making us as good as possible for our tasks. Our CCC Fellows therefore work through curated readings and participate in various learning experiences while nurturing a friendly community where thoughtful conversations and meaningful encounters impact their professional formation and ongoing practices.