Medicine in Contemporary Society (MCS) Core Curriculum
Areas of Focus
Medical Humanities
It is through the humanities that health professionals are sensitized to the patient
                     as a person coping with illness against the background of a healthcare system that
                     can often be de-humanizing. It is through the writing of novels, short stories and
                     poems that professionals and those coping with illness can express their insights
                     and experiences. MCS gives students an opportunity to expand their knowledge of ethical,
                     social, cultural, and humanistic issues in medicine in a manner reflective of their
                     own career choices and particular interests. MCS focuses on mastery of knowledge and
                     attitudes related especially to the following core competencies: professionalism and
                     ethics, communication, self-awareness, social context of medical care, and health
                     care systems.
Compassionate Care
The art of healing requires compassion and emotional intelligence on the part of clinicians,
                     yet many patients and their families do not experience care in this basic sense. As
                     the connection between healing and emotions becomes better understood scientifically,
                     we need to renew a commitment to compassionate care that is grounded in leading edge
                     research, scholarship, and educational efforts.
Bioethics
Bioethics is the systematic study of the moral dimensions – including moral vision,
                     decisions, conduct, and policies – of the life sciences and health care, employing
                     a variety of ethical methodologies in an interdisciplinary setting. From the beginning
                     to the end of life, biotechnologies and healthcare raise every conceivable question
                     about human dignity and the very future of human nature itself.
Core Units Offered
| Date | Topic | Faculty | Divisions | 
|---|---|---|---|
| 8/26 | Medicine as a Profession | Dr. Michael Vetrano & Dr. Maria Basile | The Illness Experience | 
| 9/2 | What is the Illness experience? | Dr. Michael Vetrano & Dr. Basile | The Illness Experience | 
| 9/9 | Professional Identify Formation and the Beneficiaries of Compassionate Care | Dr. Stephen Post | The Illness Experience | 
| 9/16 | Structure/Limits/Violations in Patient Autonomy | Dr. Vetrano | The Illness Experience | 
| 10/7 | Health Disparity and the Social Determinants of Health | Dr. Phyllis Migdal | Compassionate Care | 
| 10/21 | Pain/Ethics/Substance Abuse | Dr. Kevin Zacharoff | Compassionate Care | 
| 10/28 | Facing Mortality | Dr. Vetrano | Compassionate Care | 
| 11/4 | The Ethics of Gender and Identity- caring for LGBTQ+ persons | Dr. Allison Eliscu | Compassionate Care | 
| 11/11 | Directives and Decisions | Dr. Vetrano | Bioethics: Ethical Standards in the Clinical Setting | 
| 12/2 | Navigating Law, Ethics, and Personal Conscience | Caitlyn Tabor, JD | Bioethics: Ethical Standards in the Clinical Setting | 
| 12/16 | Narrative Medicine | Dr. Basile | Bioethics: Ethical Standards in the Clinical Setting | 
| 1/13 | Professional Duties | Dr. Basile & Caitlyn Tabor, JD | Bioethics: Ethical Standards in the Clinical Setting | 
| 1/20 | Structural Racism and Health Care | Dr. Cordia Beverley | Social Contexts of Care | 
| 2/10 | Dementia and Society | Dr. Post | Social Contexts of Care | 
| 2/24 | Medical Finance | Dr. Wertheim | Social Contexts of Care | 
| 3/17 | Interface of AI and Medical Practice | Dr. Rachel Wong | Social Contexts of Care | 
