Stephanie Purisch, a student at Weill Cornell Medical College, is one of 50 students chosen by the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE) to participate in a two-week program this summer in New York, Berlin and Poland for law, medical, journalism and seminary school students. Twelve to 14 students were chosen from each field. The FASPE programs instruct students on the contemporary ethical issues facing their professions — using the Holocaust and the conduct of their professions in Nazi Germany as a framework for study.
Stephanie, who plans on applying for a residency in obstetrics and gynecology, is a coordinator and frequent volunteer at Weill Cornell's Community Clinic. Stephanie says, "Though I have visited Holocaust museums in both the United States and Israel, FASPE will be my first opportunity to visit the concentration camps. I look forward to learning about the Holocaust from a new perspective and deepening my understanding of medical ethics within the context of a subject that is personally meaningful."
FASPE's goal is to provide tomorrow's professional leaders with opportunities to increase their awareness and preparedness for the ethical issues they will confront as professionals. By educating students about the causes of the Holocaust and promoting their awareness of contemporary-related issues, FASPE seeks to prevent future collaboration by professional and religious leaders in genocide, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.