Medical Humanities Requirements
To complete the certificate, students must take two required courses and three electives.
What do I do when I'm done?
To get a certificate, simply take the required courses. When you have completed them, fill out the Certificate Clearance form and send to program director Sophie Horowitz for her signature.
Required Courses
- Philosophy 164: Medical Ethics (4 credits, AT)
(online Summer 2025; in-person Fall 2025) - History 264: History of Health Care and Medicine in the United States (4 credits, HS)
(online Summer 2025; online & in-person Fall 2025)
Elective Courses
- Art History 304: Biology and Art
- Classics 250: Classical Origins of Western Medicine and Medical Terminology (HS)
- English 317: (Dis)Ability and Literature (3 credits)
- English 391NM: Narrative Medicine: How Writing Can Heal (3 credits)
- French Studies 333: Medicine in France: Intrigues, Ethics, and Universal Healthcare (conducted in French)
- Italian 333: Representing Women's Bodies: Poetry, Politics, and Power (4 credts, AL)
- Japanese 353: Japan through its Afflictions (3 credits)
- Judaic 251: Jews, Medicine, and Healing in the Premodern World (DG, HS)
- LLC 451 Working with Trained Interpreters (2 credits)
- LLC 552: Medical Interpreting (3 credits, language proficiency and department acceptance required)
- Philosophy 180: Death and the Meaning of Life (DG, SB)
(online Summer 2025; in-person Fall 2025) - Psychology 327: Disability Advocacy and its History
(online Fall 2025) - Psychology 356: Disabilities and Development
- Psychology 387: Autism Spectrum Disorder
(online Summer 2025; in-person Fall 2025) - Sociology 353: Sociology of Medicine
(in-person Fall 2025) - Spanish 456: Spanish Translation for Community Health Services
- Spanish 356: Spanish for the Medical Professions
(online Summer 2025) - WGSS 205: Feminist Health Politics (3 credits)
(in-person Fall 2025) - WGSS 230: The Politics of Reproduction
(in-person Fall 2025) - WGSS 285: Introduction to the Biology of Difference (4 credits, SI, DU)
- WGSS 286: History of Sexuality and Race in the United States (DU, HS)
(online Summer 2025; in-person Fall 2025)
Discretionary Elective Option
A student may petition to have a maximum of one course not on this list counted as an elective, at the discretion of the Certificate’s academic advisor. Courses must cover a significant amount of material related to health and medicine, and related concepts such as disease, disability, etc., from a humanistic perspective. Neither of the required courses, Phil 164 or Hist 264, may be replaced by the discretionary elective.