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April 2024

Dear Members of the Clinical Ethics Community,

I am thrilled to announce that we have begun developing an accreditation process for clinical ethicist training programs! 

We are in the process of forming a new accrediting body, the Council On Program Accreditation for Clinical Ethicist Training (COPACET). Sponsored by the Association of Bioethics Program Directors (ABPD) and the Catholic Health Association (CHA), COPACET will operate as a Committee on Accreditation under the guidelines of the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP).

As Chair of the Steering Committee that was formed to determine the membership and governance procedures for COPACET, I invite you to become involved and spread the word about this important new initiative. During this critical formative phase, broad input and participation from the clinical ethics community will be vital to the initiative’s success. 

• Call for Nominations: We are seeking nominations for the founding members of the COPACET Board of Directors. If you are interested, please submit your self-nomination via this online form by May 13, 2024. Board terms will commence on January 1, 2025. You can preview the details through a read-only version of the nomination form here.  

• Learn About Our Work: To help you understand more about this initiative, we've prepared an FAQ document available here. It includes details about accreditation, CAAHEP, and COPACET.

• Join Our Live Informational Session: Join us for a virtual meeting by Zoom on April 24th at 2:00 PM EST. This is a great opportunity to learn directly from the Steering Committee and engage with us. Join the session here.

We welcome comments and suggestions from all related communities of interest in clinical ethics, including practitioners, educators, students, health care providers, institutional administrators, and the public. Your feedback is invaluable as we shape the governance and future direction of COPACET.

Thank you for your engagement and support in shaping the future of clinical ethics accreditation.

Ellen Fox, MD, HEC-C
Chair, Steering Committee
Council On Program Accreditation for Clinical Ethicist Training (COPACET)

www.foxethics.com