About
What is Medical Humanities?
Medical Humanities is a dynamic, interdisciplinary field that re-centers health in its broader social, cultural, and historical contexts. Made up of diverse constituent disciplines (humanities, social sciences, and visual and performing arts), it is of growing interest on both liberal arts and health campuses. The Georgetown Medical Humanities Initiative, a cross-campus collaboration between Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences, and Georgetown University Medical Center, is directed by Dr. Lakshmi Krishnan, who is Faculty in Medicine at the Medical Center and Affiliate Faculty in English in Georgetown CAS.
Medical Humanities offers interdisciplinary courses open to undergraduates, nursing/health studies, and medical students as well as a minor in the College of Arts and Sciences. Students who pursue this minor engage with invested Georgetown faculty and the greater DC community to deepen their interests within health education, research, and scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. We sponsor a research mentorship and fellowship program for graduate, medical and undergraduate students. We also host numerous events across campus and in DC in collaboration with the Georgetown Howard Center for Medical Humanities and Health Justice.
Our work aligns with Georgetown University’s core educational mission and Jesuit values of cura personalis; health practitioners cannot treat “the whole patient” without recognizing and valuing their humanity in its many facets. Furthermore, a unique strength of our program is its collaborative breadth: it engages faculty, students, and clinical trainees across the medical center and arts and sciences campus, which opens up opportunities for creative, trans-disciplinary teaching, research, and collaboration.
Medical Humanities Minor
The Medical Humanities Initiative offers a minor in Medical Humanities, Culture, and Society. Students who pursue this minor engage with invested Georgetown faculty and the greater DC community to deepen their interests within health education, research, and scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.
To learn more, explore the Education page to see what opportunities that exist at Georgetown.
