Medical Humanities

About

Minor

The medical humanities minor is an interdisciplinary program drawing from over 20 academic subjects.

Medical Humanities Workgroup

The Medical Humanities Workgroup at Western Michigan University coordinates individuals from the campus and broader Kalamazoo community with interests in the humanistic dimensions of medicine and health. We understand the medical humanities quite broadly, including: medical ethics, the history of medicine, medical anthropology, religious approaches to health, health narratives, health education, and conceptions of wellness.

Function

The function of the Medical Humanities Workgroup was, initially, simply to connect people with shared interests and celebrate the strengths that WMU and the surrounding community has in this area.

Goals

Our goals are to:

Provide a platform for external funding.
Support faculty research, travel and other professional activity.
Offer curricular support to the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine and to our medical humanities minor.
Develop event programming, including conferences, reading groups, lectures series and film series.
Establish WMU as a national leader in the medical humanities.
With the continued interest and support of the campus and local community, the workgroup will flourish into a dynamic, powerful resource with myriad research and educational goals.