Education Overview

Certification Program
Two-Day Seminars
Chaplain Program
Speakers' Bureau

The NCBC serves clergy, religious, and laity—especially those working in the biosciences and health care—as they face complex ethical challenges in research and patient care.

Education has been an integral part of the NCBC’s mission since its inception in 1972. Our education programs focus on the following areas:

  1. National Catholic Certification Program in Health Care Ethics – The NCBC’s 30-week, online Certification Program offers an in-depth, comprehensive course of study that addresses contemporary health care and bioethics challenges across the lifespan. Students who complete the Certification Program can earn up to 10 (ten) master’s level credits through our academic partners.

  2. Two Day Seminars – Open to the general public, these seminars introduce participants to the most pressing contemporary challenges facing Catholic health care and serve as an introduction to the NCBC Certification Program. Two-Day Seminars are offered multiple times throughout the year at various locations across the United States. [Note: Attendance at a Two-Day Seminar is required for Certification Program students]

  3. Chaplain Program – This fully online, self-directed course introduces students to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. The 12-module program is geared to chaplains and those providing spiritual care at Catholic health care facilities.

  4. “Introduction to Catholic Health Care Ethics” course for high school, homeschooling, and college/university students. Participants who complete this semester-long (16 week), fully online course can earn 3 (three) undergraduate credits though the NCBC’s partnership with Catholic International University, a fully accredited institute of higher education.

Ethicists from the NCBC are also available to speak on a variety of medical and ethical issues. For more information or to request a speaker for your organization, please click here. Ethicists also are available to provide commentary to media outlets on breaking news stories.

About our Director of Education

Featured
Joe Zalot, PhD
Joe Zalot, PhD

Joe joined The National Catholic Bioethics Center in 2017 and became Director of Education in 2023. In this role he oversees the NCBC Certification Program, Chaplaincy Program, and dual college/high school “Introduction to Catholic Health Care Ethics” course. He also produces and hosts the Center’s Bioethics on Air podcast and has authored multiple statements, guides, and book chapters for NCBC publications.

Prior to the NCBC, he served from 2015 to 2017 as the regional director of ethics and spiritual care for Mercy Health–Cincinnati and also as a lecturer at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary/Athenaeum of Ohio. From 2004 to 2009 he was an assistant professor, and from 2009 to 2015 an assistant professor (with tenure), at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, where he taught courses in health care ethics, business ethics, sexual and reproductive ethics, introduction to Catholic theology, and marriage.

Joe earned his PhD from Marquette University in 2002, an MEd from Boston College in 1997, an MEd from Springfield College in 1991, and a BA from St. Anselm College in 1989. He has written two books and various articles and reviews, and he presents at academic conferences both domestically and internationally.