Research in MEDHUM

Catalog description

Program Director: Margaret Humphreys, MD, PhD and Gopal Sreenivasan, PhD. Overview The Medical Humanities Study Program offers a multidisciplinary opportunity for students to explore topics in medical history, ethics, theology, and other fields within the medical humanities. Students design their own research projects under the guidance of medical humanities mentors, and tailor their third-year experience around the completion of this project. While some students may participate in their mentor's ongoing research, others can pursue projects independent of (but related to) their mentor's primary areas of interest. The Master of Arts in Bioethics and Science Policy dual degree is housed within this track. Curriculum Research: The principal component of the Medical Humanities Study Program is an in-depth research experience within the medical humanities. The location of this research will vary with the mentor and project chosen. Some projects may be appropriately pursued in libraries and archives. Others may include interviews with or experimentation upon human subjects in the clinical or other academic setting. Like their peers in the more traditional science track, medical humanities students will explore a research question, find data to support or refute it, and write a thesis that communicates their results. Proposal: All students are expected to prepare a 1-2-page proposal by the end of spring of the second year outlining the aims of the proposed research in consultation with their chosen mentor. This proposal will state the problem to be studied, the rationale and relevance of the problem, and include a bibliography of relevant literature and sources. Courses: Students are expected to take two courses in the medical humanities during their third year. Working with their mentor, students will identify courses within the university relevant to their research…