Medical Humanities

The minor in Medical Humanities (15 semester hours) is designed for the health care pre-professional who wants to have a richer and broader program of study than just the required major or courses. By pursuing this minor, students will explore questions in the humanities and social sciences that have a direct bearing on health care today. Most students pursuing health care careers focus on the sciences and certain social sciences, such as psychology and sociology.

This minor broadens students' thinking to include examinations of the:

ethics
economics
communication
anthropology
history of health care
in addition to studying the literature and arts associated with those areas. (Recent efforts to raise the public's awareness of diseases like breast cancer through dance and other creative arts as a recent example).

While this minor and most of these courses are not required for medical school or any other health care graduate program, students will find that the minor should strengthen their application for those programs. Taking courses from the listed selections will expose the student to problems and approaches to health care issues that would not be addressed in the normal course of study followed for these professions. It will also elevate the student's awareness of, and appreciation for, the myriad issues surrounding health care practice and delivery. This will prepare the student to think and talk about the health-related issues of today in a far more sophisticated and well-rounded way, hopefully contributing to the student's success and impact in the field.

For course information, visit the Undergraduate Bulletin.
For additional resources, visit the Health Professions Advising Office.

Medical Humanities Advisory Committee

Oversight of the minor is directed by the Medical Humanities Advisory Committee composed of the following faculty and staff:

Ms. Celeste Crowe (Director, Health Professions Advising Office)
Dr. Jennifer Gray (Department of Communication)
Dr. Marc Kissel (Department of Anthropology)
Dr. Matt Ruble (Department of Philosophy and Religion)
Dr. Ted Zerucha (Department of Biology)

Faculty Contact

Please contact the College of Arts and Sciences for more information about this minor.