Course Requirements

Ph.D. students are required to take the four core courses plus thirty-nine hours of MEHU elective courses, pass written and oral qualifying examinations, and write and defend a doctoral dissertation.

M.A. students are required to take the four core courses plus fifteen hours of MEHU elective courses and write a master's thesis.

All students in the Medical Humanities Graduate Program are required to take and demonstrate proficiency in the following four core courses:

• MEHU 6101- Ethics of Scientific Research (1 credit hour)
• MEHU 6375-Humanism and the Humanities
• MEHU 6378-Humanism and the Medical Humanities
• MEHU 6382-Clinical Ethics Practicum

All students in the Medical Humanities Graduate Program are required to take and demonstrate proficiency in fifteen to thirty-nine hours of the following elective courses:

• *MEHU 6001-Bioethics in Film (variable credit hours)
• *MEHU 6084-Physician Writers (variable credit hours)
• MEHU-6283-Art Practicum (2 credit hours)
• MEHU 6304-Bioethics and the Law
• MEHU 6306-Foundations of Bioethics
• MEHU 6308-Topics in the Medical Humanities
• MEHU 6310-Ethics and Regulation of Clinical Research
• MEHU 6315-Clinical Ethics
• MEHU 6317-Advanced Practicum in Health-Care Ethics
• MEHU 6331-Introduction to the History of Medicine (same as MEHX 6000-081)
• MEHU 6332-History of Medical Research Ethics (same as MEHX 6000-086)
• MEHU 6363-Narratives of Illness
• MEHU 6364-Religion, Medicine, and Culture
• MEHU 6367-Introduction to Literature and Medicine
• MEHU 6370-Philosophical Ethics
• MEHU 6377-Ethics of Health Policy
• *MEHU 6383-Narrative Ethics
• MEHU 6385-Religious Perspectives in Medical Ethics (same as MEHX 6000-085)
• MEHU 6386-Psychoanalysis, Consciousness, and Neuroethics
• MEHX 6000-Special Topics (see listing on 2007-2009 Curriculum web page)

* Pending approval by the GSBS Curriculum Committee

---

Students will be assigned an advisor when they enter the program and are encouraged to choose new advisor(s) as their interests or needs evolve. Each student and his or her advisor in consultation with the graduate program director will determine the sequence of courses.

Ordinarily, four years of full-time study are required for the Ph.D. degree. The M.A. degree usually requires two years of full-time study. Students pursuing both an M.D. and a Ph.D. in the medical humanities may apply to the M.D./Ph.D. Combined Degree Program. Completing the M.D./Ph.D. Combined Degree Program takes seven to eight years of full-time study.

Every student is required to submit an annual progress report due on January 15. This report must be signed by both the student and his or her advisor. If the report has not been submitted by January 31, the student will receive a reminder notice. If the report has not been submitted by February 15, the graduate program director will request that the dean place the student on academic probation. The goal of the report is to encourage the student to assess his or her development over the course of the year and to allow the advisor to give feedback, suggestions, encouragement, and constructive criticisms. The report will be used in the faculty's annual review of students and placed in each student's file.

Student Yearly Progress Reports:

• Form for Ph.D. Students Who Have Not Yet Taken Qualifying Exams
• Form for Ph.D. Students Who Have Taken Qualifying Exams
• Form for M.A. Students Who Have Not Completed Course Work
• Form for M.A. Students Who Have Completed Course Work

After the first year, Ph.D. students will ordinarily begin focusing their course work on areas of specialization to prepare for the qualifying examinations and dissertation proposal. Subjects not treated in regular courses may be pursued under Topics in the Medical Humanities or Special Topics courses. Students will elect major and minor areas of specialization, which are administered by area coordinators in collaboration with the faculty advisors.

Areas and coordinators include:

• Health Care Ethics (Michele A. Carter, PhD)
• Health Policy (Laura Hermer, JD, LLM)
• History of Medicine (Jason E. Glenn, PhD)
• Literature and Narrative Studies in Health Care (Anne Hudson Jones, PhD)

Major areas of specialization require fifteen hours (usually five courses); minor areas require nine hours (usually three courses). Because many elective courses qualify for more than one area of specialization, the actual course content of areas of specialization may vary from student to student. Each student's particular array of courses will be determined in collaboration with the area coordinator, advisor, and graduate program director.

2-Year Curriculum

View the 2-year curriculum in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format.

2-Year Curriculum

Return