Mar 28, 2024  
2013-2014 
    
2013-2014 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Medical Humanities Concentration


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The Medical Humanities concentration promotes an interdisciplinary understanding of health and health care. It enables students to appreciate the strengths and limits of the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities as they seek to explain and to achieve a measure of control over disease, illness, and suffering. The concentration helps students to grasp how legal, economic, and political institutions influence the production, distribution, and delivery of health care services.  It also provides students with the analytical and ethical skills necessary to apply the principles of scientific intergrity in biomedical research.

Medical Humanities courses emphasize the role ethical values play in defining problems as “medical,” worthy of scientific study, calling for mobilization of social, as well as individual resources. The courses help students to develop the analytical skills that permit clear thinking and writing about the complex trade-offs involved in developing, using, and paying for health care.

The Davidson/CMC Connection


In 1990, Davidson College and the Carolinas Medical Center joined in a formal agreement “to cooperate and share resources toward the common betterment of health care, the education and training of physicians, and improved understanding of the relationship between medicine and society.” Under the auspices of this agreement, Davidson students enjoy access to an expanded range of educational opportunities that only a large teaching hospital can provide in biomedical research.

Application Procedure


Interested students should complete the application and submit it to the Assistant in Preyer 105.  Applications are accepted year round among students interested in pursuing the Medical Humanities concentration.  The application will be reviewed by the Medical Humanities faculty, followed by a meeting with the Director or Associate Director.  This meeting will give students a chance to meet the Medical Humanities faculty, identify relevant coursework tailored to their major, and ask questions about the concentration.

Additional Information


Students are invited to suggest courses for their concentration that are consistent with the purpose of the concentration and their major.  Permission must be obtained by the Director or Associate Director of Medical Humanities

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