Undergraduate Minor in Bioethics and Medical Humanities | Bioethics | School of Medicine

The Bioethics and Medical Humanities Minor

15 credit hours total

Faculty Contact and Advisor: Prof. Erin Lamb Erin.Lamb@case.edu

Bioethics and Medical Humanities together comprise a vibrant area of scholarship concerning the most important and cutting-edge ethical and contextual issues surrounding biomedical research, health, and healthcare delivery. The study of such issues touches upon our most central human values and related behaviors. Exploring these questions is of crucial importance for all students, whether they plan to enter a career in the healthcare professions, biomedical research, law, nonprofit administration, or some other career path. The topics covered in Bioethics and Medical Humanities will help prepare students to become responsible world citizens in an increasingly complex biomedical environment.

The CWRU Minor in Bioethics and Medical Humanities formally recognizes a student’s coordinated course of study comprised of courses currently offered by the Department of Bioethics and other departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. The Bioethics and Medical Humanities Minor is designed to give students ethical and social training centered around multi-level analyses of health, the delivery of healthcare and biomedical research, and to do so in a highly interdisciplinary manner.

I. REQUIRED COURSES (9 credit hours total)

These required courses are offered every year. Additional sections of these courses will be provided by the Bioethics faculty if necessary, based on student demand for the Minor. Students may choose three of the four courses listed below.

BETH 210 – Perspectives on Health: Introduction to Medical Humanities and Social Medicine (3 credits)

This survey course is designed to give students a broad overview of medical humanities and medical social sciences. Students will engage materials from a wide range of disciplines and learn how to analyze which perspectives afford and obscure which types of knowledge relevant to health, illness and clinical practice. Students will learn how to identify epistemology, methodology, theory and data from various disciplinary perspectives. This course is relevant for students engaged in pre-clinical education as well as those interested in medical humanities and medical social sciences.

BETH 222 – Health Humanities (3 credits)

Health and illness are not simply matters of medical science. In this class, we will practice using the critical skills of the humanities to think expansively about human health. By examining medical history, reading personal narratives of illness, and interpreting works of art relating to health (including literature, visual art, and film), we will think through the ways that social and political context, individual experience, and creative practice shape our understanding of human health. We will also study the political nature of health by learning about health-related activism, such as the disability rights movement, HIV and AIDS advocacy, and fights for environmental justice. Finally, we will evaluate different arguments for including the study of the humanities in health professions education. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course.

BETH 271 – Bioethics: Dilemmas (3 credits)

Bioethics is the study of value-laden issues and moral dilemmas related to health, medicine, and the life sciences. This course will introduce students to the field of bioethics, including key theories and debates that span clinical ethics, research ethics, public health ethics, and other approaches. Students will learn about ethical issues across the life course, including bioethics at the beginning and end of life, as well as ethics surrounding contemporary medical science and technologies and broader equity and justice concerns in healthcare. Through interactive lectures and discussions, students will explore multiple stakeholder perspectives on these debates and cultivate their own understanding about how to resolve challenging value conflicts. Offered as BETH 271 and PHIL 271. Counts as a Moral & Ethical Reasoning course.

BETH 371 – Advanced Bioethics (3 credits)

This course offers upper-level instruction on many key bioethical issues introduced in BETH/PHIL 271. The class follows a discussion-intensive seminar format. Students begin with an in-depth analysis of ethical issues surrounding the conduct of clinical trials, both within the U.S. and through U.S.-sponsored research abroad. Next students examine the philosophical and practical challenges involved in medical decision making for adults and pediatric patients. This course concludes by addressing the broader ethical problem of what duties we owe to future generations in terms of our reproductive choices and the allocation of health-related public expenditures. Each of these general topic areas - clinical trials, medical decision making, and future generations - is of crucial importance for all students whether one plans to enter a career in biomedical research, the healthcare professions, or some other career path. Everyone is a potential patient or the family member of a potential patient. The topics covered in Advanced Bioethics will help prepare students to become responsible participants in an increasingly complex biomedical world. Offered as BETH 371 and PHIL 371. Prereq: BETH 271 or PHIL 271.

II. ELECTIVE COURSES (6 credit hours total)

Additional courses may be added to this electives list upon request by individual students. Any courses not on this this must first be approved by Department of Bioethics faculty director of the Minor (Dr. Erin Lamb) and must have substantial bioethics or medical humanities content (greater than 75%). Students receiving approval from the faulty director for any new elective course must also fill out a form at the Office of Undergraduate Studies.

Please review the Bioethics Undergrad Course Offerings for a comprehensive list of BETH courses for students.

ANTH 215 – Health, Culture, and Disease: An Introduction to Medical Anthropology (3 credits)

This course is an introduction to the field of Medical Anthropology. Medical Anthropology is concerned with the cross-cultural study of culture, health, and illness. During the course of the semester, our survey will include (1) theoretical orientations and key concepts; (2) the cross-cultural diversity of health beliefs and practices (abroad and at home); and (3) contemporary issues and special populations (e.g., AIDS, homelessness, refugees, women's health, and children at risk). Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course. Counts as a Understanding Global Perspectives course.

ANTH 335 – Illegal Drugs and Society (3 credits)

This course provides perspectives on illegal drug use informed by the social, political and economic dimensions of the issues. Framed by the history, epidemiology, and medical consequences of drug use, students will confront the complex challenges posed by addiction. Anthropological research conducted in the U.S. and cross-culturally will demonstrate, elaborate and juxtapose various clinical, public health, and law enforcement policies and perspectives. Topics examined will include: why exclusively using a bio-medical model of addiction is inadequate; how effective is the war on drugs; what prevention, intervention and treatment efforts work; and various ideological/moral perspectives on illegal drug use. Offered as ANTH 335 and ANTH 435.

ANTH 354 – Health and Healing in East Asia (3 credits)

This course examines the illness experiences and the healing practices in East Asia. After introducing the anthropological approaches to the study of health and illness, this course will explore the practices of traditional medical knowledge, medical ethics, pandemics, HIV/AIDS, mental health, environmental health, and cosmetic surgery. By delving into the illness experiences and the healing practices in East Asia, the course will discuss issues related to medical pluralism, bioethics, political economy of health, and technologies and health. Offered as ANTH 354 and ANTH 454. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course. Counts as a Understanding Global Perspectives course.

BETH 302 – Independent Studies in Bioethics (1-3 credits)

This course is for students with Bioethics-related special interests not adequately addressed in regular courses, and who wish to work independently in consultation with faculty.

BETH 309 – Aging, Ageism, and Embodiment (3 credits)

What is the experience of "growing old" in America, and how does it differ based on one's sex, gender, sexuality, race or ethnicity, and socioeconomic or disability status? What lies behind America's anti-aging culture and the growth of anti-aging medicine? How does ageism manifest, and how does it affect our aging and our health? In this course, we will consider the social, cultural, scientific, medical, and personal meanings of aging, and how these meanings, as well as the embodied experience of aging in America, are influenced by multiple forms of ageism. We will interrogate the assumptions and stereotypes about age that circulate through mainstream American culture and medicine and how these shape interpersonal and institutional practices. How might we begin to recognize, respond to, and change ageism, and thus our own inevitable experiences of aging? The course requires participation and attendance, papers, and for graduate students an additional presentation. No prerequisites are required. Offered as BETH 309 and BETH 409. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.

BETH 315D – Bioethics Short-Term Study Abroad Course (3 credits) French Connections, A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Medical Ethics

This 3-credit course is collaboration between Case Western Reserve University and the University of Paris. The course includes a ten-day trip to Paris, France over Spring Break. This course offers a cross-cultural comparison of the French and American medical systems. Students will have the unique opportunity to learn first-hand how the French medical education system is structured and how the social, cultural and political contexts in France shape medical and ethical issues. The trip includes guided field experiences in French clinical settings as well as opportunities to engage with French faculty members and physicians about contemporary issues in bioethics. Ethical issues that may be considered may include reproductive rights, decision-making involving severely impaired newborns, withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatment and issues in organ donation and transplant. The course also will also emphasize the role of French culture and history while in Paris with museum and site visits designed to complement seminar content and offer real-life illustrations of course content. Prior to the trip, students attend six hours of lectures, either at Case Western Reserve University or via a web-based tutorial. They are expected to become familiar with the representative articles assigned for the course, and be prepared to integrate those readings into pre-trip class participation and active participation while in France. Following the trip, students meet with the instructor for an additional four hours to discuss and synthesize their experiences. Offered as BETH 315D and BETH 415D. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.

BETH 315F – Bioethics Short-Term Study Abroad Course (3 credits) Comparison in Bioethics, Spanish and American Perspectives on Health, Medicine, and Culture

his 3-credit intensive course will include three half days of class at CWRU and roughly eight half days of class and guided activities in the city of Granada, Spain. Taught by CWRU faculty with guest lecturers from UGR (Universidad de Granada), this course offers students a cross-cultural perspective on bioethics in the United States and Spain. It employs film, complemented by readings in bioethics, and medical research, to introduce a number of compelling bioethics issues, including end-of-life, reproductive ethics, human enhancement, biomedical research and organ transplantation. Offered as BETH 315F and BETH 415F. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course. Counts as a Local & Global Engagement course.

BETH 315G – Bioethics Short-Term Study Abroad Course (3 credits) Death, Dying & Euthanasia: Netherlands & the USA

Is it ever permissible for physicians to kill their patients? In the Netherlands, the answer is yes. In the United States, it is no. Are the Dutch sliding down a moral slippery slope? Are the Americans compromising the rights and dignity of dying patients? This 3-credit course is a unique opportunity to examine a range of Dutch and American end-of-life policies and practices with special focus on the unique ethical, cultural, religious, and legal contexts in which they developed. This course will compare how two liberal democracies, the United States and the Netherlands, have handled difficult end-of-life issues, including: The Dutch regulation of euthanasia; Regulation of physician-assisted suicide in the state of Oregon; Terminal sedation; End-of-life decisions in newborns; Withholding and withdrawing of artificially-provided fluids and nutrition; The legal basis for end-of-life decision making in the USA; Palliative care and hospice; Public trust in medicine and physicians. In the United States, teaching methods will include lectures, case discussion, and exposure to how some of the course's themes are reflected in popular culture such as movies. Offered as BETH 315G and BETH 415G. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.

BETH 315J – Bioethics Short-Term Study Abroad Course (3 credits) Dutch Perspectives: Drugs, Decriminalization and Detention

This course will offer students the opportunity to compare and contrast the ways in which the Netherlands and the United States approach drug use. In particular, students will be asked to carefully examine the ethical dimensions of harm reduction programs, policies regarding the availability and the decriminalization of drugs, and the critical role of detention and correctional medical care in addressing drug use. The course will include an introduction to the Dutch and U.S. health care and health insurance systems and will consider how the construction of the patient-physician relationship impacts the prevalence and treatment of drug use in each country. In addition, students will explore the ethics of public health initiatives and social programs aimed at drug users in both settings, including those designed for particular populations such as immigrants and older users. The course will pay special attention to the unique challenges and ethics of the opioid crisis in the U.S. Offered as BETH 315J and BETH 415J. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.

BETH 315Y – Bioethics Short-Term Study Abroad Course (3 credits) Conservation, Compassion and Awe in Yellowstone National Park: Environmental Ethics and Human Health

This class brings together the study of conservation, ethics and human well-being in a hands-on investigation at Yellowstone National Park. The course returns to the original meaning of the term bioethics as including the biome. It covers conservation ethics and human relationships with the environment and other species as they impact human health across multiple levels. The course draws on theories, models, and methods from psychological anthropology and political ecology to frame the complex dynamics of interaction. The evolution and psychology of compassion and awe are engaged in processual models of human interaction with the natural world and other species. Both have important implications for human health in everyday behavioral practice and in clinical settings. The course involves pre-departure study and then will integrate the materials in the field in Yellowstone National Park looking at contemporary and historical issues in partnership with Yellowstone Forever Institute instructors. In particular, the case of the conservation of the American bison will be used to understand multi-level issues over time in culture, politics, environment, human behavior, and health. The course requires papers, participation, attendance and a field journal. Offered as BETH 315Y and BETH 415Y.

BETH 316 – Death, Dying, and Modern Medicine (3 credits)

Despite death's inevitability, we consciously and unconsciously disguise or resist its reality in dreams, fairy tales, allegories, and even jokes. In his book, How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter, Sherwin Nuland describes how we have turned increasingly to modern medicine as one more means of denying the reality of death. As a surgeon with more than forty years of experience in a major metropolitan hospital, Nuland admits to actively participating in this denial. Modern medicine, he argues, influences how we as individuals and as a culture not only view but also experience death. "Modern dying," he contends, "takes place in the modern hospital, where it can be hidden, cleansed of its organic blight, and finally packaged for modern burial." This course uses literature, history, and personal and critical accounts related to death as points of reference for examining the role modern medicine has come to play in how we die. The course requires out-of-class service learning, reading quizzes, papers, participation, and attendance. For graduate students, there are additional paper and presentation requirements. No prerequisites required. Offered as BETH 316 and BETH 416.

BETH 319 – Medical Science and Technology in Society (3 credits)

Science, Technology, and Society (STS) is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines how social, cultural, historical, ethical, and political forces impact scientific research and technological development: and, in turn, how our beliefs, values, and perspectives change in response to scientific and technological innovation. This course will take an STS approach to the study of human health and medicine. We will explore how advances in contemporary biomedicine have affected society and culture, and in turn, how society and culture influence medical science, technology, and clinical practice. Topics we will explore include reproductive technologies, genetics, disability, cyborgs and human enhancement, pharmaceuticals, medical practice, and end-of-life care. The course will prepare students to think critically about scientific and medical knowledge, to thoughtfully examine the relationships between science, technology and culture at large, and to consider the ways that new medical technologies shape and re-shape our understandings of illness, health, and the human body. Weekly course meetings will implement a blend of lectures, discussions, and in-class exercises. Offered as BETH 319 and BETH 419.

BETH 320 – Disability Bioethics (3 credits)

What values and assumptions underlie our conceptualizations of disability? What can we learn from the lived experiences of disability? How should these insights inform fundamental concepts, priorities, and analyses in bioethics? Even though developments in medicine, clinical research, and public health often disproportionately impact people with disabilities, disabled people have been systemically marginalized within these fields and within bioethical discourse. This course introduces students to the distinctive approach known as disability bioethics. Disability bioethics is characterized by 1) rejection of biomedical interpretations of disability, 2) methodological primacy of the perspectives of disabled people, and 3) anti-ableism. We will explore this theoretical lens and its application to a range of issues, such as biomedical technology, guardianship for healthcare decisions, futility judgments, and public health emergencies. Offered as BETH 320 and BETH 420. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course. Counts as a Moral & Ethical Reasoning course.

BETH 325 – Philosophy of Medicine (3 credits)

In this course, participants will learn the basic concepts, methods, and controversies in the contemporary philosophy of medicine. Topics include philosophical discussions of "health" and "illness," the body as a machine versus an "ecosystem," good reasoning in medicine, why bad reasoning happens and how doctors are trying to stop them, and ongoing structural challenges raised by medical terminology such as "futility" and "screening." Using these discussions as a foundation, the final four weeks of class will tackle specific controversies, including suffering, psychiatric illness, chronic illness, and death. Offered as BETH 325 and BETH 425. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course.

BETH 329 – Mental Health Ethics and Society (3 credits)

Mental health ethics is the study of value-laden issues around psychological health, illness, disability, and medical treatment. Ethics are crucial to effective clinical mental health practice and to mental health research, while also shaping how people with lived experience of mental health conditions navigate daily life. In this course, students will learn about important themes, concepts, and debates in the field, while also exploring how mental health ethics is shaped by changing beliefs, values, and practices across history and culture. This course will utilize a combination of interactive lectures, guest presentations, and discussions to explore a variety of ethical issues within and beyond clinical settings. Students will learn about mental health ethics through the lenses of clinical ethics, research ethics, disability bioethics, health humanities, social science, and other neighboring disciplines, as well as a variety of theories from these disciplines that inform the analysis of complex ethical issues related to mental health, illness, and disability. By the end of this course, students will have a robust and interdisciplinary understanding of a range of ethical issues in mental health practice, research, and advocacy. Offered as BETH 329 and BETH 429. Counts as a Moral & Ethical Reasoning course.

BETH 335 – Literature and Health Humanities (3 credits)

Health and medicine are perennial themes in literature and popular culture: consider the popularity of memoirs about illness or disability, horror films about contagion, poems about mortality, and television shows that portray doctors as all-seeing disease-sleuths. By reading and analyzing texts across genres, students in this course will formulate answers to questions including: How does literature shape our experience of being ill, or our attitudes toward people who are? How do they overturn or reinforce stereotypes about illness, disability, or health? How might literature shape the practice of healthcare, or help us articulate its strengths and failures? While topics and texts covered will vary by semester, they may include topics like illness memoirs, pandemic fiction, and science fiction. Offered as BETH 335, BETH 435, ENGL 335, and ENGL 435. Counts as a Moral & Ethical Reasoning course.

BETH 339 – Disability in Society (3 credits)

Disability is both an important form of diversity that shapes people's daily lives and personal values, and a shared experience that cuts across society and culture, experienced globally by people of all ages, racial and ethnic identities, genders, sexualities, and religions. "Disability" refers to health conditions that fundamentally alter how someone engages in the world around them, including physical, psychological, and developmental illnesses. Everyone will experience disability in their lives, whether temporary or chronic, making it especially important to consider how disability shapes, and is shaped by, society at large. In this course, students will learn about the multifaceted relationships between disability and society, including the impact of ethical, cultural, political, and technological factors on the wellbeing of people with disabilities. We will critically examine representations of people with disabilities in literature, the arts, and popular media in order to interrogate the assumptions and stereotypes about disability that circulate through mainstream culture and how they shape interpersonal and institutional practices. Throughout these topics, students will reflect on the intersections of numerous identities with disability through a multi-disciplinary lens, drawing on bioethics, anthropology, sociology, literary studies, and the arts. The course sessions will blend lecture and discussion, and assessments will include written responses and exams. Offered as BETH 339 and BETH 439. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course. Counts as a Moral & Ethical Reasoning course.

BETH 350 – Bioethics in Environmental and Occupational Health (1.5 credits)

Environmental health threats affect every person and every living thing on this planet. The ethical issues and decisions confronting not only governments, but also public health departments, healthcare providers, and every one of us are countless. Occupational health is a subset of environmental health. Occupational health professionals care for workers with work-related injuries and illnesses and consult on safety and health issues with employers. In occupational health practice, ethical issues arise daily. The types of questions this course will address are: How should states that depend on the Colorado River for water apportion rapidly falling water supplies? How do public health departments plan for extreme weather and natural disasters? How do healthcare providers decide to triage patients in overflowing emergency departments and intensive care units during pandemics? How do community health care providers advise their patients when the community experiences an environmental disaster, such as the East Palestine train derailment? How do health care providers who work for a company manage their loyalty to their company and to their patients, the company's workforce? Do these providers have the same obligations to their patients that other health care providers have? What rules and regulations do and should apply to onsite work clinics? What ethical obligations do companies have to environmental health, to those who live in proximity to their plants, and to the health of their workers? Offered as BETH 350 and BETH 450. Prereq: BETH 271.

BETH 351 – Bioethics in Correctional and Custodial Health (1.5 credits)

Healthcare access in correctional facilities is a federal mandate. Yet, what is required by that mandate, and the U.S. Constitution and case law on which it is based, is vague. While the Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and case law prohibits deliberate indifference, what these require of correctional institutions and healthcare team members is unclear. Correctional facilities themselves are a microcosm of need, risk, limited trust, conflicts, social bias, and limited resources. Ethical issues and decisions are faced daily by patients, front line clinical staff, hospital systems, families, local, state, and federal governments. Correctional health is a uniquely diverse field of medicine. The staff can be independent contractors, employed by for profit agencies, hospital system staff, or directly employed by the correctional facility. Clinical teams typically include nursing, social work, behavioral health and independent medical providers. Team members may be employed by different organizations and reporting structures may be complex and obscure. Limitations in facilities, treatment options, transportation, and staffing further complicate the provision of care. The types of questions this course will address are: How is access to care for those in confinement determined? What health issues should be addressed by correctional organizations? Who provides the care and how is it paid for? Do correctional health care providers have the same obligations to their patients that other health care providers have? What rules and regulations do and should apply to care for incarcerated or detained individuals? What ethical obligations do agencies, health systems, and governments have to persons in custody and their families? What is the health impact on the surrounding community? Offered as BETH 351 and BETH 451. Counts as a Moral & Ethical Reasoning course. Prereq: BETH 271 or PHIL 271.

BETH 357 – Christian Bioethics (3 credits)

Bioethics is concerned with both clinical and population level healthcare issues. Christian Bioethics aims to integrate the discipline of theology with the field of bioethics to critically evaluate the goals of healthcare and the practices associated with these goals. This course examines the theological sources used to evaluate contemporary clinical and population level healthcare issues. We will examine issues including abortion, end-of-life care, genetic enhancement, the concept of disability, health inequalities and justice, and personal and social responsibility for health, especially as these relate to political and social justice. We will also become familiar with religious moral reasoning and the relationship between religious ethics and nonreligious moral and political philosophy. In doing so, students will learn about the foundations for religion, medicine, and ethics as they intersect with care for individuals and communities. Offered as BETH 357, BETH 457, PHIL 357, PHIL 457, RLGN 357 and RLGN 457.

BETH 360 – Science and Society (3 credits)

This course examines the complex ethical and other value relationships that exist between science and society. Students will be encouraged to question the simplistic view that science proceeds independently of societal values and contentious ethical commitments. A range of other social factors, such as ethical belief systems, political forces, and large-scale financial interests all influence new scientific and technological developments. In order to illuminate each of these larger themes, this course focuses on three exciting areas of scientific inquiry: stem cell research; synthetic biology; and nanotechnology. Each of these contentious scientific fields provides an excellent view into the challenging ethical, cultural, social, political, and economic issues that will face students, both as scholars and as citizens. No prior technical knowledge is necessary for any of these scientific areas. All relevant scientific information will be provided during the course by the professor. Offered as BETH 360, BETH 460 and PHIL 360.

BETH 371c – Advanced Bioethics Clinical Observation (1 credit)

This course is a one credit class intended to supplement BETH 371: Advanced Bioethics. In this course students will become familiar with the clinical, psychological, social, professional, and institutional context in which bioethical problems arise. Students are exposed to clinical cases as they arise, to hospital ethics committees and ethics consultation programs, to institutional review boards (IRB), and to hospital policies covering "do not resuscitate" orders (DNR), advance directives, withdrawal of artificial feeding, and medical futility. The clinical rotation will consist of 20 hours of supervised observation where students attend structured clinical activities such as ICU rounds, case conferences as well as shadow clinicians that work with the Department of Bioethics and are used to having students at various levels of observers. The purpose of the clinical rotation will be to give students first hand observational experience in the health care system and how the key bioethical issues discussed in BETH 371 manifest in the clinical setting. The primary locations for this course are MetroHealth Medical Center and Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. Prereq: BETH 271 or PHIL 271. Coreq: BETH 371 or PHIL 371.

BETH 399 – Diagnosis: History, Culture, and Ethics (3 credits)

Diagnosis is an act with tremendous power, with implications for personal identity, social life, medical care, and insurance coverage. But diagnoses are not stable entities: they shift through time and space, and their nature and boundaries are often highly contested or controversial. This class will rely on academic work from history, sociology, philosophy, bioethics, and medicine, in addition to personal stories and news reporting, to explore the complexity of diagnosis. We will ask and answer questions like, what is a diagnosis? Who decides what "counts" as a medical condition? How do diagnoses change over time? How do they gain or lose stigma? We will not attempt to solve diagnostic mysteries, but rather to explore what they reveal about the practice of medicine and its relationship to our social world. Offered as BETH 399 and BETH 499.

CLSC 337 – Ancient Medicine (3 credits)

This course offers a general survey of the history of medicine from its origins in pre-historical times to Galen (2nd c. CE) with a view to gaining a better understanding of the path that eventually lead to modern medical practice. The various medical systems considered, including the ancient Babylonian, Egyptian, Jewish, Chinese, Ayurvedic, Greek and Roman traditions, will be examined through the study of primary and secondary sources, while key conceptual developments and practices are identified within their cultural and social context. Special issues, such as epidemics, women's medicine, and surgery, are also explored and discussed. Offered as ANEE 337, CLSC 337, CLSC 437, HSTY 337, and HSTY 437. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.

COSI 101 – Introduction to Health Communication (3 credits)

An introductory examination of the influences associated with the functions of human life, communication processes, and research related to health and the health care industry from interpersonal, cultural, and organizational communication perspectives. The course will include a review of the history and development of health communication and the understanding and application of communication theories.

ENGL 217B – Writing for the Health Professions

This course offers practice and training in the professional and technical writing skills common to health professions (e.g., medicine, nursing, dentistry)..

ENGL 341 – Rhetoric of Science and Medicine

This course explores the roles language and rhetoric play in constructing, communicating, and understanding science and medicine. It surveys current and historical debates, theories, research, and textual conventions of scientific and medical discourse.

ENGL 386 – Studies in Literature and Culture: Literature and Medicine

Boundary-crossing study of the relations between literary and other aspects of a particular culture or society, including theoretical and critical issues raised by such study. The version of this course that would count toward the Minor in Bioethics and Medical Humanities will be focused on literature and medicine.

HSTY 221 – Epidemics in History (3 credits)

The history of epidemics and pandemics, focusing on select cases. Topics will include social origins of epidemics, the evolution of scientific responses, stigma and blame, the comparative study of political and state responses, social and cultural effects of epidemics, and the representation of infectious disease in fiction.

HSTY 239 – Freud and the Psychoanalytic Movement (3 credits)

This is a course in the social history of ideas, which will examine the roots and development of psychoanalysis, and consider several major post-Freudian innovators. It will conclude with interpretations of the social context and social effects of psychoanalysis. Offered as HSTY 239 and HSTY 439.

HSTY 241 – Inventing Public Health

The core principle of this course is that public health is a concept that was formed in different ways at different times in different places. Course participants will learn about the close relationship between public health agencies and agendas and various kinds of social authority: political power, moral influence, colonial power, and others. Ultimately, the aim of the course is to show participants that even though public health seems a supremely common sense practice, it had a highly contested birth and early life that was anything but natural or pre-ordained. That complicated birth continues to shape public health to this day.

HSTY 274 – Race and Medicine (3 credits)

Race, racism, and medicine have long been intertwined. Medicine has had a major role in the formation of the concept of race, and racism has had important roles in the development of modern medicine, and in the production of health inequalities. This course looks at these relationships from a historical point of view. Designed to be a part of the minor in African and African-American studies, it emphasizes African and African American history, though there will be opportunities for students who wish to explore other aspects of race, ethnicity, medicine. Topics will include the medical construction of race, African medical systems, medicine and slavery, human experimentation, health and segregation, anti-racist medicine, and continuing problems of health inequality. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.

HSTY 337 – Ancient Medicine (3 credits)

HSTY 346 – Guns, Germs, and Steel (3 credits)

Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel won the Pulitzer for non-fiction in 1998. Diamond, a physiologist, explains that Western Europe came to occupy and dominate large areas of the globe because of natural resources present in certain regions of the Old World since the end of the last Ice Age. Where a historian might look for answers in the written evidence left by historical individuals, Diamond examines ancient patterns of plant diffusion or the place of mountain ranges and deserts in the development of technologies. This seminar is about applying the history of a specific time and place namely North America from European contact to 1850 - to Diamond's general environmental explanations and models. Placing Diamond's broad explanations within specific historical contexts is revealing.

HSTY 373 – Women and Medicine (3 credits)

Students in this seminar will investigate the experiences of American women as practitioners and as patients. We will meet weekly in the Dittrick Medical Museum for discussion of texts and use artifacts from the museum's collection. After a unit exploring how the female body was viewed by medical theorists from the Galenic period to the nineteenth century, we will look at midwives, college-trained female doctors and nurses, and health advocacy among poor populations. We will then look at women's experiences in terms of menstruation, childbearing, and menopause, before exploring the cultural relationship between women and psychological disorders.

HSTY 395 – History of Medicine (3 credits)

This course treats selected topics in the history of medicine, with an emphasis on social and cultural history. Focusing on the modern period, we examine illnesses, patients, and healers, with attention to the ways sickness and medicine touch larger questions of politics, social relations and identity.

MUHI 317 – Music, Mind, and Medicine (3 credits)

This course examines historical and present-day intersections between music and neuroscience. Bringing together histories of medicine, sound studies, critical neuroscience, music psychology, and cognitive science, it invites students to contemplate how music shaped our conception of the brain and nervous system, as well as how auditory cultures were shaped by emerging neuroscientific theory. From the eighteenth century onward, theories of cerebral function borrowed musical instruments as metaphorical proxies: the brain was likened to a harp, a keyboard, a violin, a phonograph, and an orchestra. Sound itself was conceived as an electric medium capable of stimulating or soothing the nerves, inducing trance states, or provoking what Alan Richardson calls the neural sublime.The study of neurological disorders including aphasia helped concretize late-nineteenth-century cortical maps, laying the groundwork for the first scientific work on music cognition. Today, we use music and sound to stimulate long-term memory in individuals with Alzheimers, teach the blind to see via echolocation, and facilitate communication in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. As we trace these developments across the semester, we contemplate the aesthetic and social aspects of neuroscience and the crucial ways in which auditory and neurological discourses have interfaced. Counts as a SAGES Departmental Seminar course.

PHIL 101 – Introduction to Philosophy (3 credits)

Basic problems of philosophy and methods of philosophical thinking. Problems raised by science, morality, religion, politics, and art.

PHIL 203 – Revolutions in Science (3 credits)

Historical and philosophical interpretation of some epochal events in the development of science.

PHIL 204 – Philosophy of Science (3 credits)

Conceptual, methodological, and epistemological issues about science: concept formation, explanation, prediction, confirmation, theory construction and status of unobservables.

PHIL 305 – Ethics (3 credits)

Analysis of ethical theories and concepts of goodness, right, and obligation.

PHIL 308 – Bioethics and Armed Conflict (3 credits)

Armed conflict raises numerous ethical issues for medical practitioners, medical researchers, and the recipients of medical care. This course will introduce students to some of the central ethical questions arising from the intersection between armed conflict and bioethics, including: What are the duties of military medical personnel in an armed conflict? How should military medical personnel balance duty to the military and duties to patients? May military medical personnel prioritize the medical needs of friendly combatants or civilians above those of enemy combatants or civilians? May medical research be used to assist the achievement of military objectives, such as the enhancement of military personnel? What rights do military personnel have with respect to new medical interventions, such as vaccines? And what are states' duties regarding the provision of healthcare after conflict? This course will introduce students to a diverse range of disciplinary and global perspectives on these and related issues. Offered as PHIL 308 and PHIL 408. Counts as a Communication Intensive course. Counts as a Moral & Ethical Reasoning course. Prereq: Passing letter grade in an Academic Inquiry Seminar (AIQS) course or a SAGES First Seminar.

PHIL 326 – Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights (3 credits)

Global Health is an interdisciplinary field concerned with improving health and achieving equity in health for all people, worldwide, focusing on transnational health issues, identifying determinants, and proposing solutions. This course examines issues in global health and human rights and considers the contributions religious ethics may make in analyzing and evaluating such issues. In the first half of the course, we will familiarize ourselves with theoretical issues including what a human right is, whether there's a human right to health, what socially determines health, and how religion relates to global health. In the second half the course, we will turn to practical issues in global health: women, maternal, and reproductive health; neonatal and pediatric health; access to medication and the right to health; emergency relief and humanitarian aid; and access to freshwater. We will conclude by considering the future of global health. Over the course of the semester, we will also become familiar with religious ethics and the relationship among religious ethics, global health, and human rights. In doing so, students will learn about the foundations for religion, global health, and human rights as they intersect with care for individuals and communities in our interconnected and globalized world. Offered as RLGN 326, RLGN 426, PHIL 326 and PHIL 426. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.

POSC 383 – Health Policy and Politics in the United States (3 credits)

Overview of the principal institutions, processes, social forces, and ideas shaping the U.S. health system. Historical, political, economic, and sociological perspectives on the health system are explored as well as the intellectual context of recent policy changes, challenges, and developments. Students will acquire a sense of how health services are financed and delivered in the U.S. They will also learn how to assess its performance compared to that of other similar countries. Offered as POSC 383 and POSC 483.

PSCL 317 – Health Psychology (3 credits)

Examines psychological processes that affect physical health. Covers the physiological factors affecting the immune system, chronic physical disorders, pain, compliance with prescribed medical treatments, the effects of stress and coping, the effects of the patient-physician interaction, and the psychological aspects of the hospital and the health care systems. Recommended preparation : PSCL 101.

RLGN 203 – Religious Studies for Future Healthcare Professional (3 credits)

This class will provide future healthcare professionals with the basic knowledge of religious studies and of topics pertaining to death and dying, sickness, suffering, and so on. Students will also gain a basic knowledge of related bioethical issues as they are found in the world's religions. The primary aim of the course is to offer future healthcare professionals an awareness of the diverse religious backgrounds of patients and issues that they might encounter and to provide a basic understanding of religious studies in the process. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.

SOCI 264 – Body, Culture and Disability (3 credits)

This course examines the ways that the body is constructed through culture, media, and policy and how that, in turn, defines disability. Students will explore the socio-historical shifts in views and treatment of the body and the role of powerful others/institutions in defining "normal" and "abnormal" bodies. We examine how labels are used to classify, marginalize, and contain social difference. We explore the intersections of the body, disability, and other social identities such as gender expression. Finally, we consider the moral and ethical issues in professional paradigms designed to contain or terminate flawed bodies, such as addiction treatment, assisted suicide, and prenatal testing. Counts as a Communication Intensive course. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course.

SOCI 275 – Lives in Medicine: Becoming and Being a Physician (3 credits)

This course applies a sociological approach to medical profession. Medical sociology emerged as a distinct field of study in the 1950s in part due to prominent studies of medical education such as The Student Physician by Robert K. Merton and Howard Becker's Boys in White. Since then, sociologists and other social scientists have written extensively about how issues of race, gender, aging and ethnicity are tied to issues of medical education, medical training, medical socialization and physician decision-making. Using a life course perspective, this course will examine how lives in medicine change over time; in particular, we'll study changing workforce patterns, physician satisfaction, and burnout. Other topics to be covered include contemporary ethical issues and alternative professional health careers. The course provides an overview of how medicine and medical practice have a profound influence on--and are influenced by--social, cultural, political and economic forces. In short, you'll become familiar with how scholars outside of medicine cast a sociological gaze on the profession. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course.

SOCI 311 – Health, Illness, and Social Behavior (3 credits)

This course considers the role of social factors (e.g., poverty, occupational and family structure) on health and illness. Discussion will concentrate on the role of health promotion (e.g., anti-smoking campaigns), social behavior and lifestyle in health and health care use. Considerable attention is given to understanding health careers and professions and their role in the health of societies and individuals. Offered as SOCI 311 and SOCI 411. Prereq: SOCI 101 and Sophomore standing.

SOCI 345 – Sociology of Mental Illness (3 credits)

Focus is on social construction of mental health and illness and sociology of emotions. Social determinants of psychological distress will be discussed along with social stigma associated with mental illness. Institutional and community options for care of the mentally ill will be considered along with the impact of recent social movements of deinstitutionalization and independent living. Offered as SOCI 345 and SOCI 445. Prereq: SOCI 101 and junior/senior standing.

SOCI 365 – Health Care Delivery (3 credits)

Health care in the U.S. may be approaching a critical cross-road. Limiting care to older persons and the chronically ill has been proposed as a means to combat rising costs and limited access to health care. What are the alternatives to health care rationing? Socialized medicine? National health insurance? This course deals with issues of cost, quality, and access to health care in the United States and other societies. It considers how solutions by other societies can provide directions for the organization of health care in the U.S. Offered as SOCI 365 and SOCI 465. Prereq: SOCI 101 and Sophomore standing.

WGST 360 – Global Politics of Reproduction (3 credits)

This course offers an anthropological examination of reproductive politics around the world. It explores historical, cultural, socioeconomic, political, and technological factors contributing to reproductive activities. After introducing the anthropological approaches to the study of reproduction, the course will delve into the practice of fertility regulation and sex education in historical and contemporary times, fertility choices, state and institutional control over reproduction, assisted reproductive technologies, and reproductive ethics. Offered as ANTH 360, ANTH 460, and WGST 360. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course. Counts as a Moral & Ethical Reasoning course. Counts as a Understanding Global Perspectives course.

WGST 373 – Women and Medicine in the United States (3 credits)

Students in this seminar will investigate the experiences of American women as practitioners and as patients. We will meet weekly in the Dittrick Medical Museum for discussion of texts and use artifacts from the museum's collection. After a unit exploring how the female body was viewed by medical theorists from the Galenic period to the nineteenth-century, we will look at midwives, college-trained female doctors and nurses, and health advocacy among poor populations. We will then look at women's experiences in terms of menstruation, childbearing, and menopause, before exploring the cultural relationship between women and psychological disorders. Offered as HSTY 373, HSTY 473, and WGST 373. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.