Hello! I’m Stephen Hanson, the Director of Graduate studies for the program, and I welcome you to learn more about us. We have recently created the Bioethics and Medical Humanities program, and our nationally and internationally recognized faculty are all champing at the bit, ready to go! We are enthusiastic to be able to work with fine students excited about the same topics that excite us. Our goal is to train highly competent scholars who will make significant contributions to society as researchers, educators, professionals, and human beings.
While COVID-19 has highlighted a wide set of ethical problems, the underlying issues of justice and fairness in the distribution of scarce resources like COVID vaccines, the conflict between individual rights and public health needs, and the challenge of acting justly in an environment of inequity have been with us and with modern medicine since its inception. In the face of these difficulties, we believe that a deeper understanding of Bioethics and Medical Humanities is exactly what the practice of medicine needs. The medical humanities teach us how to understand the effects of medical decisions that are not, and never could be, purely scientific in nature. Bioethics gives us the tools to realize justice alongside concern for patient welfare, human rights, and public health.
Our MS gives theoretical knowledge along with practical, real-world experience for:
- Dual-degree students in Tulane’s school of medicine
- Post¬baccalaureate students who seek admission to medical, dental, and other professional schools, as well as those who wish to learn more about the ethics and meaning of health care
- Mid-career professionals who wish to enhance their scholarly and clinical background, or even to change the direction of their current careers.
I would love to hear from you, to know about who you are and what your goals are, and to see how an MS in Bioethics and Medical Humanities might fit into them. Please look over our website to learn more about us and our program, and contact me with any questions. Dealing with students and potential students is the best part of my job, and I look forward to hearing from you with any questions or indeed just to talk. My door is open, and so is my emailbox at shanson4@tulane.edu.
Sincerely,
Stephen Hanson, PhD (he, him)
Director of Graduate Studies
Bioethics and Medical Humanities
Tulane University School of Medicine
131 S. Robertson St., Suite 1169
New Orleans, LA 70112
504-988-4239
