This issue marks our first guest contribution to the Ethics in Public Health column. Under the auspices of the Public Health Leadership Society, Dr James Thomas headed a distinguished group of experts charged to develop a core set of competencies and skills for public health ethics. This work builds on the APHA Code of Ethics, a collaborative effort in which the society had already played a pivotal role, as well as the list of core competencies developed by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice. His article introduces readers to the fruits of these labors, the document "Skills for the Ethical Practice of Public Health." While the document is intended to assist academic faculty and agency administrators in developing and implementing ethics education in curricula and training programs, it is an equally important resource for public health care practitioners interested in the ethical dimensions of their practice.

My first column (January-February 2004) observed that the APHA's seminal code of ethics (adopted 2002) offered an ordered series of principles, rules, and ideals, in short an ethical framework, to guide public health practice. This orientation, together with its distinctly institutional focus, means that the code is not, and was not intended as, a detailed or specific action guide for shaping policy and engaging in ethical decision making. The Skills project, discussed below, represents an important effort to bridge the gap between principle and practice; to add to the ethics toolbox the instruments of practical application for public health education, training, and practice.