Stephen G. Post
Center and Program Director

Andrew Flescher
Program Co-Director

The medical humanities, compassionate care, and bioethics track of the Master of Arts in Biological Sciences 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. Students will 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 will 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. 

The track and be completed with 30 credit hours 15 of which are required and 15 of which are open to electives.  Two of these electives may be from approved courses offered across campus.  The program can be completed in 1-3 years.