The courses described in this brochure are available to students to satisfy the fourth-year Humanities requirement. The purpose of the requirement is to revisit themes and concerns of the medical humanities, which were introduced in a general way in the basic science years, from the vantage point of students' growing clinical experience. The courses are designed to permit you to delve more deeply into various topics than was possible in the introductory courses, and to bring your clinical knowledge and experience into direct engagement with humanistic perspectives.

To satisfy the Humanities requirement, each student must enroll in one of the courses described here. You will note that all of our courses carry 2.5 credits and require one-half of a full-time commitment for the four weeks of the course. This means that when you enroll in one of our 2.5 credit courses, there should be time in your schedule either to enroll in another elective that requires a half-time commitment (so that you will earn a total of 5 credits for that block), or to devote yourself to other activities (finalizing the MSR project, preparing for residency interviews, etc.).

The Department used to offer a limited number of individual studies alternatives to our Humanities seminars. That is no longer the case.

A schedule of meeting times and places for our electives will be posted in the Office of Student Affairs and on the Humanities Bulletin Board.

We look forward to working with each of you.


When offered, The Bioethics in the Mass Media course requires full-time commitment for the four weeks of the course. This Bioethics course is a 5-credit course.