Medical and Health Humanities
Bachelor of Arts
Our interdisciplinary program equips you with a strong liberal arts background focused on the human experience within healthcare contexts. Whether you're pursuing a career as a physician, nurse, medical researcher, social worker, or healthcare administrator, a major in Medical and Health Humanities will help you become a compassionate, ethical, and effective healthcare professional. This program pairs well with most other majors at Xavier, including humanities and science majors.
Medical and Health Humanities Major
Find detailed curriculum course offerings for the Medical and Health Humanities major on the Medical Health and Humanities Major Curriculum webpage.
Medical and Health Humanities Minor
Find detailed curriculum course offerings for the Medical and Health Humanities minor on the Medical Health and Humanities Minor Curriculum webpage.
High Medical School Acceptance Rate
Xavier students have a high acceptance rate to medical schools, with a 5-year average of 86% compared to the national average of 40%.
Career Preparation
Xavier's Career Development Office assists students in their search for employment by offering individual career counseling sessions, conducting workshop series on interviewing and resume writing techniques and maintaining an educational, vocational and employer information resource center.
Epidemics in America (HIST 237)
This course examines the causes and consequences of the spread of epidemic disease in the American past. Topics will include historical understandings of health, healing, and the human body; societal and/or governmental responses to disease; disease and social identities; and the long-term consequences of epidemics
Doctors in Literature & Culture (ENGL 335)
From the fictional Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. House to representations of historical doctors John Hunter and Josef Mengele, our post-enlightenment world has demonstrated its obsession with the fine line that divides (or fails to divide) medical mavericks of genius from the insane, the unscrupulous, and even the criminal. By considering representations of doctors in literature (novels, stories, poetry), visual arts (graphic novels, illustrations, television, film), music, and history, we will query the religious, philosophical, and socio-cultural rationale behind our long-standing fascination with—yet anxiety about—medicine, doctors, and the human bodies they treat. In doing so, we will consider how issues of racial, gendered, and national oppression; religious and philosophical attitudes toward death, technological advances around the human body; and the hubris of scientific knowledge have impacted our representations of the links between doctors and villains, between the medical genius and the medical madman.
Theology and Trauma (THEO 416)
This course explores the intersection of trauma and theology. In an increasingly traumatic world, this course will help students to think deeply about theological questions of the human person, God, evil, suffering, salvation, and the possibility of hope and healing. Specifically, this course begins with the exploration of the theoretical and clinical studies of trauma. Then the course moves through trauma’s illumination of the human condition. Third, this course investigates the nature of God as understood through the experience of trauma and post-trauma. This course finishes with focusing on the role of communities, salvation, and hope as aspects of post-trauma healing
Institute for Healthcare Improvement Chapter
This student-led organization is dedicated to improving healthcare quality and safety through workshops, seminars and discussions. Students from various healthcare disciplines (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, etc.) come together to foster collaboration and teamwork.
Pre-Med Student Association
The Pre-Med Student Association is a club for students interested in pursuing a career in the health professions. The club works to unite, educate and empower future health professionals by bringing in speakers and providing information about careers and insight from upperclassmen. There is also a Pre-Dental Society for students planning a career in dentistry.
Women in Healthcare
This club supports women in healthcare majors by creating opportunities for social, educational and personal growth.
Program Features
Grounded in our Jesuit values, our curriculum ensures you develop the critical thinking, communication, and empathy skills needed to excel in the healthcare industry.
Customize your curriculum with a wide range of electives, including bioethics, the history of medicine, disability studies, and narrative medicine.
Collaborate with faculty on original research projects, like exploring the impact of social determinants of health or analyzing historical medical practices.
Gain a competitive edge in medical school admissions and beyond with an interdisciplinary undergraduate education focused on care of the whole person.
With a wealth of top-tier hospitals and research institutions right here in Cincinnati, you'll find endless opportunities for shadowing, volunteering, and gaining crucial experience in the healthcare industry.
Connect with mentors who can provide insights into various career paths within healthcare, academia, and other fields that align with a Medical and Health Humanities degree.
FAQ
Pursue a rewarding career in the healthcare industry with Xavier’s BA in Medical and Health Humanities. Learn more.
Medical humanities is an interdisciplinary field that studies the intersection of medicine and the humanities. It explores the social, cultural, ethical and historical aspects of health and illness. This field combines subjects like literature, philosophy, history, art and theology to provide a deeper understanding of the human experience of health and disease.
By studying medical and health humanities, students develop critical thinking, empathy and communication skills, all of which are essential for healthcare professionals. Students learn not only how cultural and social contexts determine individual health and well-being but also how medicine and health care are practiced both within and outside dominant biomedical and public health paradigms. This work helps to view patients as whole individuals, not just as medical cases.
By combining a Medical and Health Humanities major with a second major, you can create a unique and valuable academic experience that prepares you for a wide range of careers in healthcare and beyond. For example, the Medical and Health Humanities major can be added to a Biomedical Sciences major to prepare you for medical school or a History major to prepare you for work at a medical history museum.
Yes. The University Scholars Honors Program offers students in the Medical Health and Humanities major a more challenging curriculum and close support from professors while completing their undergraduate degree. Acceptance into the program is highly selective and includes a $2000 travel grant.
Medical and Health Humanities Program at Xavier University
Immerse yourself in an interdisciplinary program that explores the historical, philosophical, literary, linguistic and religious dimensions of health and medicine. Through courses in medical history, medical racism, disability studies, bioethics, and narrative medicine, you'll gain a deep understanding of how cultural and social contexts shape individual health and well-being.
Xavier University’s College of Arts and Sciences challenges students to develop an integrated understanding of humanity, the world, and God by pursuing the questions raised in Xavier's core and departmental curricula. The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest and largest college at Xavier University. The college provides an excellent liberal arts education in the Jesuit tradition that prepares students for careers, professional or graduate school, and life in a global society.
Xavier University is a private university located in Cincinnati, Ohio, providing a liberal arts education in the Jesuit Catholic tradition. Founded in 1831, the University is the sixth-oldest Catholic university in the nation. It has been ranked among the top 10 master's-level universities in the Midwest by U.S. News & World Report for the past two decades. The Princeton Review names it one of the "Best 385 Colleges in America."