MA Compassionate Care, Medical Humanities & Bioethics

While bioethics MA degree programs have proliferated over the past two decades, too often these programs focus exclusively on ethical dilemmas in healthcare and the life sciences, without adequately attending to the patient’s illness experience itself.  In contrast, our program devotes equal attention to the mutually enhancing themes of bioethics, medical humanities, and the dynamic of compassionate care in a time when both patients and healthcare professionals find the healthcare system dehumanizing.

We provide students with a comprehensive overview of the paradigm cases and approaches to topics in bioethics.  Our students also examine the philosophical and religious traditions that inform contemporary debates.  Moreover, they will learn about the human capacity for compassion that underlies the moral life and effective clinical care.  Finally, through engagement in the medical humanities, our students enhance their capacity to understand and respond to the patient as person.

Recognizing the need for an interdisciplinary approach to education, our faculty includes experts in Disability Studies, Ethics, History, Law, Literature, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and the Social Sciences.  Several of our faculty integrate perspectives from the humanities with their experience as healthcare providers.

Click here to learn more about MA Program and how to apply.