HON 209 - Narrative Medicine

Semester Hours: 4

This honors seminar represents the burgeoning field of the medical humanities, which advocates a mingling of the arts and humanities with medical education and practice and explores how science and the humanities benefit one another. Biology lectures will present the molecular underpinnings of cancer biology, HIV infection and resistance, and rare diseases. In laboratory sessions, students will explore techniques related to diagnosing disease, as well as interpreting and assessing the overwhelming online content available regarding human disease. The English portion of the course will focus on human experience of the illnesses covered in biology lectures. Students will analyze literary texts spanning the seventeenth century through the present, research the cultural contexts of illness, and study the depiction of patients, families, and caregivers. Together, we will explore how a combination of scientific and literary knowledge deepens our understanding of illness and its treatment.

Intellectual Perspective: SD
Lab Included: Yes