2021-2022 Caspersen School of Graduate Studies
Medical and Health Humanities
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About the Program
Humanizing medicine and care is the mission of the Medical and Health Humanities Program at Drew University. The curriculum melds academic inquiry with real-world experience to prepare students for careers throughout the healthcare industry and beyond.
There is ever-growing demand for professionals who understand and synthesize the ethical, political, historical, cultural, and practical aspects of health care to influence the debate on good medicine and care. This particularly concerns the implementation, regulation, and dissemination of health care in everyday consulting rooms, hospital wards, residential care contexts, and at home. Modern health care flourishes on scientific knowledge and evidence-based medicine. However, these late-modern features are also cause for concern. Presently, advances in science and technology often outpace our ability to understand and cope with new concepts and situations. Health care professionals, patients, and their immediate/extended families experience discomfort during their encounters with institutions and systems. Practitioners report diminishing morale and professional fulfillment, resulting in particularly acute need for medicine, health, and care humanitarians. This program addresses these marked needs and offers new openings for humanization and care.
The field of Medical and Health Humanities at its best brings the creative arts, ethical theory, and critical socio-political analysis to everyday practices of medicine and care. Transcending the normative disciplinary boundaries of academia, the Medical and Health Humanities Program at Drew engages numerous areas of study—from the arts, history, ethics, and philosophy to anthropology, literature, and religion—in dialogue that studies the meaning of health, wellbeing, and healing in relation to the individual and society.
The Medical and Health Humanities Program can be followed on a full- or part-time basis, allowing flexibility to accommodate your schedule. From the Fall of 2020 and on, some courses will be offered as hybrid courses, where face-to-face and online learning is combined. Designed with working professionals in mind, all courses are offered in the late afternoon and early evening.
The Medical and Health Humanities Program is conducted jointly with the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at Drew University, the Overlook Medical Center, RWJ Barnabas Health, and Morristown Medical Center at Atlantic Health Systems. The program is a partner of the Religion and Global Health Forum, and the Program Director co-coordinates with the International Care Ethics Research Consortium.
Director
Dr. Merel Visse, mvisse@drew.edu
Advanced Research
Medical and Health Humanities students demonstrate competence in advanced research, interpretation, and exposition of a pertinent area of study that offers an original and meaningful contribution to human thought and relations. Master of Arts candidates complete a thesis, and Doctor of Medical Humanities candidates complete a dissertation.
Curricular Components
Courses emphasizing Biomedical and Care Ethics explore health care issues encountered in practice and policy, including:
- ethical and religious debates concerning abortion, death and dying, and human experimentation;
- the language of ethics in everyday situations of care;
- philosophical concepts such as dependency, vulnerability, and precariousness;
- and the interpretation of ethical issues highlighted in the media and policy.
Courses emphasizing Narratives in medicine and care explore how to “tell,” “read,” and interpret the stories and discourse of illness and well-being. Medical Narrative employs multiple approaches to facilitate patient-practitioner-caregiver communication and understanding, including anecdote, medical history, and case presentation.
Clinical Practica involve the incorporation of Medical Humanities theory into health care practices. The practicum is individualized according to each student’s needs and interests, and can include clinical rounds, clinical observation, and Bioethics Committee meetings. Therefore, the program works in close alliance with health care organizations like the Atlantic Health System and RWJ Barnabas Health.
Programs
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