Humanities & Social Sciences

MS2 - Humanities and Social Science Seminars

The Humanities and Social Science Seminars (HSS) provide 2nd year students an in-depth study of one topic area that was introduced in the 1st year Medicine and Society course.  Fourteen different seminars are offered and each student signs up for one.  Each seminar meets for 12 two hour classes in either the fall or spring of the 2nd year.  Each seminar is led by a single faculty member, expert in the topic, and usually a veteran of teaching in Medicine and Society so as to enable her/him to directly link the seminar to what the student studied in 1st year.  Though the topics vary widely, each seminar has similar expectations for student engagement: there is emphasis on student leadership for specific sessions, substantial reading and producing at least one paper.   Each seminar is designed to not only inform the students about the topic, but also to introduce them to the perspectives and methods used by the social sciences and humanities to study the topic area.  This promotes the combined goal of both courses across 1st and 2nd year: to equip and encourage our students for a life-long habit of critical reflection on their work and on the social and human dimensions of the care they provide.

Jon Oberlander is the Course Director for Fall 2011
Barry Saunders is the Course Director for Spring 2012

Humanities and Social Science Seminars for 2011-2012:

Doctor-Patient Communication, Mara Buchbinder, PhD, Fall, 2011
Racial & Ethnic Disparaties in Health: Progress & Community Impact, Giselle Corbie-Smith, Fall & Spring, 2011-12
Exploring the 'Other Side': Experiences of Deviance, Disability, and Chronic Illness, Sue Estroff, PhD, Spring, 2012
The Stories We Live: The Parallel Chart Project, Terrance Holt, MD, PhD, Spring, 2012
Anticipating Personalized Genomic Medicine: Ethical Implications for Clinical Practice and Society,
Eric Juengst, PhD, Spring, 2012
Current Issues in Law and Medicine, Joan Krause, JD & Richard Saver, JD, Spring, 2012
The Revenge of the Sick: A Global History of Illness, Raul Necochea, PhD, Fall, 2011
Health Care Politics & Policy, Jon Oberlander, PhD, Fall, 2011
Global Health and Medical Ethics, Stuart Rennie, PhD, Spring, 2012
Biopowers and Biopolitics, Barry Saunders, MD, PhD, Fall, 2011
History of Medicine in the United States:  Through the Prism of Medical Education, George Sheldon, MD, Spring 2012
Health & Human Rights:  Selected Topics, Jeffrey Sonis, MD, MPH, Fall, 2011
Bioethics Methods, Concepts & Cases, Rebecca Walker, PhD, Fall, 2011