The challenge of meeting the increasingly complex health needs of growing and aging populations is moving to the forefront of national and international concerns in the 21st century. The Health, Medicine, and Society Program focuses on the social scientific and humanistic dimensions of health and medical care to develop an understanding of the impact of health, illness, and medical care on individuals, families, and societies. This program is intended to serve students who wish to be involved in some aspect of the health care industry or health policy and also students who are interested in communications, the pharmaceutical industry, law, business, agency work, and other careers where understanding health care is essential.
Program Learning Objectives
Students who major or minor in HMS upon graduation will be able to:
A. Identify factors, processes, and structures of power that affect:
- a person’s health status and experience of health,
- the health care system.
B. Distinguish among different scholarly approaches to understanding health, including:
- social science approaches,
- humanist approaches,
- natural science approaches.
C. Explain how health-related research is conducted and provides insights into understanding health and healthcare.
D. Analyze the relationship between social justice and health.