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Xavier University Catalog 2025-2026
Medical and Health Humanities, B.A.
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 Return to: Majors, Minors, Certificates, Curriculums and Special Programs
Medical and Health Humanities is an interdisciplinary program studying historical, philosophical, literary, linguistic, and religious issues in health and medicine through topics such as the history of medicine, medical racism, disability studies, bioethics, and narrative medicine. Students will 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.
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Requirements for the Medical and Health Humanities Major
Major Requirements
33 credit hours minimum (note: may be up to 38 credit hours depending on the science courses chosen for the Health/Medical Science requirement) Introductory Course
3 credit hours - Intro to Medical and Health Humanities
Health Care and Human Science
6-11 credit hours Required Courses
15 credit hours. Courses that apply to more than one category may not be double counted. Critical Health Studies
6 credit hours Choose from: - ASLN 291 Deafness Culture & Community
- ENGL 205 Lit & Moral Imag: Disability & Literature
- ENGL 205 Lit & Moral Imag: Health, Activism, Community
- ENGL 335 Doctors in Lit & Culture
- GDST 208 Introduction to Disability Studies
- GDST 258/THEO 258 Race, Religion and Healing
- GDST/HIST 350 Medical Racism
- HIST 199 Disability History
- HIST 199 History of Native American Health
- PHIL 200 Philosophical Perspectives: Humans, Animals, Machines
- SPAN 332 Spanish in Community Health Settings
- SPAN 3XX Latino Food, Identity & Health
- THEO 316 Disability and Theology OR THEO 372 Disability, Ethics, and Theology
- THEO 340 Health, Religions, Ethics
History of Medicine
3 credit hours Choose from: - ENGL 205 Lit & Moral Imag: Early American Medicine
- ENGL 335 Doctors in Lit & Culture
- ENGL 350 The Weird Nineteenth Century
- HIST 199 History of Native American Health
- HIST 199 Disability History
- HIST 199 Who Gets Health Care
- HIST 237 Epidemics in America
- HIST 305/GDST 350 Medical Racism
- HIST 319 Health and Medicine in Britain
- THEO 316 or THEO 372 Disability and Theology
Narrative and Artistic Expression
3 credit hours Choose from: - ENGL 135 Literature & Medicine
- ENGL 205 Lit & Moral Imag: Disability & Literature
- ENGL 205 Lit & Moral Imag: Early American Medicine
- ENGL 205 Lit & Moral Imag: Apocalypses and Revelations
- ENGL 312 Scientific & Technical Writing
- ENGL 316 Writing Illness & Health
- ENGL 335 Doctors in Lit & Culture
- ENGL 350 The Weird Nineteenth Century
Bioethics
3 credit hours Choose from: - GDST 350/HIST 305 Medical Racism
- PHIL 329 Bioethics
- THEO 312 Christian Health Care Ethics
- THEO 327 Religion and Bioethics
Senior Course
Students choose a 3 credit hour upper-level seminar or 300-400-level course that requires a substantive research project. Choose from: - ENGL 316 Writing Illness & Health
- ENGL 335 Doctors in Lit & Culture
- ENGL 350 The Weird Nineteenth Century
- HIST 319 Health and Medicine in Britain
- SPAN 332 Spanish in Community Health Settings
- SPAN 3XX Latino Food, Identity & Health
- THEO 316 Disability and Theology OR THEO 372 Disability, Ethics, and Theology
- THEO 340 Health, Religions, Ethics
- THEO 416 Theology and Trauma
- A Capstone Seminar in a Humanities Discipline that incorporates a Medical and Health Humanities-based research project may be substituted with program director approval.
Note:
Instructors of the listed upper-level courses have agreed to accept a Medical and Health Humanities focused thesis project within the parameters of the course research assignment. Medical and Health Humanities majors must then submit their completed or in-progress research for presentation (via either poster or oral presentation) to the spring Celebration of Student Research and Creative Activity hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences. See the director of the Medical and Health Humanities Program for more information and help submitting an abstract and printing a poster if a poster format is chosen. Upper Division Electives
6 credit hours. Courses must be taken at the 200-400 level. Choose from: - ASLN 291 Deafness Culture & Community
- BIOL 227 Parasitology
- BIOL 364 Virology
- BIOL 430 Medical Genetics
- ENGL 205 Lit & Moral Imagination: Early American Medicine
- ENGL 205 Lit & Moral: Disability & Literature*
- ENGL 205 Lit & Moral Imag: Health, Activism, Cmmunity
- ENGL 205 Lit & Moral: Apocalypses and Revelations
- ENGL 312 Technical & Scientific Writing
- ENGL 316 Writing Illness & Health
- ENGL 335 Doctors in Lit & Culture
- ENGL 350 The Weird Nineteenth Century
- GDST 208 Introduction to Disability Studies
- GDST 258/THEO 258 Race, Religion and Healing
- GDST 350/HIST 305 Medical Racism
- HIST 237 Epidemics in America
- HIST 319 Health and Medicine in Britain
- PHIL 200 Philosophical Perspectives: Humans, Animals, Machines
- PHIL 329 Bioethics
- PSYC 368 Health Psychology
- SPAN 332 Spanish in Community Health Settings
- SPAN 3XX Latino Food, Identity & Health
- THEO 312 Christian Health Care Ethics
- THEO 340 Health, Religions, Ethics
- THEO 327 Religion and Bioethics
- THEO 316 Disability and Theology OR THEO 372 Disability, Ethics, and Theology
- THEO 404 Religion, Ethics and Professional Practice
- THEO 416 Theology and Trauma
Notes:
- Courses may double-count for the major and core curriculum requirements as appropriate.
- ENGL 205 and PHIL 200 may only be taken once, regardless of focus.
- Generally, only one section of HIST 199 may be taken, but students may petition the program director to upgrade ONE additional section of HIST 199 to an elective for the major.
TOTAL Minimum Hours Required for Degree: 120 Semester Hours
B.A. in Medical and Health Humanities
This block serves as a guideline for progress toward a degree. See your academic advisor. First Semester
- THEO 111 Theo. Foundations
- ENGL 1XX Intro to Medical and Health Humanities
- ENGL 101 English Composition
- Second Language I
- MHH Science elective
- CORE 101 Goa I
Second Semester
- CORE 100 First Year Seminar
- Mathematical Perspectives
- SOCI 1XX Comparative Healthcare Systems
- Second Language II
- General Elective or Second MHH Science Elective
- CORE 102 Goa II
First Semester
- MHH Critical Hlth St. Elec
- Lit and Moral Imag
- PHIL 100 Intro to Ethics
- Scientific Persp. Elective
- General Elective
Second Semester
- MHH Critical Hlth St. Elec
- Quantitative Reasoning Flag
- Historical Perspectives
- Oral Comm Flag
- General Elective
First Semester
- MHH History of Medicine Elec
- MHH Narrative Expression Elec
- Theological Persp. Elec.
- Social Science Elective
- General Elective
Second Semester
- MHH Bioethics Elec/(E/RS) Elective
- Upper-Level MHH Elec
- PHIL 200 Phil Persp. Elec
- General Elective
- General Elective
First Semester
- Upper-Level MHH Elec
- Solidarity & Kinship Flag
- General Elective
- General Elective
- General Elective
Second Semester
- Upper-Level MHH Seminar
- Creative Persp. Elec.
- General Elective
- General Elective
- General Elective
Note
A minimum of 120 hours total and a minimum GPA of 2.0 overall and in the major required for the degree. |
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