Program Overview

History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health Program

The History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health program is an interdisciplinary major that explores how different forms of knowledge and technology have been created in various times, places, and cultures, and how they have shaped the modern world. The major delves into a wide range of questions, including the universality of science, the relationship between medical expertise and social inequality, and the nature of technology and its relationship to political, economic, and military power.

Program Description

The program focuses on the interactions of medicine, public health, technology, science, and society from a global and historical perspective. Course topics include the history of American and Western medicine and public health, medicine and race, health and healing in Africa, scientific knowledge production in the global South, institutions of confinement, health activism, biotechnology, the history of the earth sciences, climate change, and the scientific revolution.

Requirements of the Major

The major in History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health requires twelve term courses (and twelve credits), including the two-term senior requirement. Students select a concentration of seven courses that guide them through an area of specialization. The seven concentration courses must include:

• Two courses in History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health
• One seminar in History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health or in History
• One full-credit science course
• Three electives chosen from relevant courses in any department At least one HSHM (or HIST) seminar must be taken before the senior year.

Concentrations

The seven standard concentrations in the major are:

• Colonialism, Knowledge, and Power
• Environment and Society
• Gender, Reproduction, and the Body
• Media, Information, and the Public
• Medicine and Public Health
• Minds and Brains
• Science, Technology, and Society Students may also design customized concentrations in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies (DUS). No later than the beginning of the junior year, students in the major must select a standard concentration or indicate that they wish to design their own.

Senior Requirement

Students must complete a two-term senior project in HSHM 4900 and 4910. The Senior Project Workshop, HSHM 4200, may be taken as an elective (for half-credit) in addition to HSHM 4900 and 4910. The final product of the senior requirement may be a written essay or an alternative project such as a film, exhibition, catalog, atlas, or historical data reconstruction.

Faculty

The program is associated with the following faculty members:

• Professors: Deborah Coen, Naomi Rogers, John Warner
• Associate Professors: Paola Bertucci, Joanna Radin, William Rankin
• Assistant Professors: Nana Quarshie, Marco Ramos, Carolyn Roberts
• Lecturers: Sakena Abedin, Ivano Dal Prete, Ziv Eisenberg, Chitra Ramalingam
• Affiliated Faculty: Rene Almeling, Toby Appel, Melissa Grafe, Dimitri Gutas, Jessica Helfand, Marcia Inhorn, Kathryn James, Amy Kapczynski, Gundula Kreuzer, Amy Meyers, Alan Mikhail, Ayesha Ramachandran, Paul Sabin, Jason Schwartz, Gordon Shepherd, Frank Snowden, Rebecca Tannenbaum, R. John Williams

Summary of Major Requirements

• Prerequisites: None
• Number of courses: 12 courses for 12 credits (including senior requirement)
• Distribution of courses: 7 courses in concentration (including 2 HSHM courses, 1 seminar in HSHM or HIST, 1 full-credit science course, and 3 related electives); 3 additional HSHM electives, to include 1 seminar and 1 course outside the major concentration
• Senior requirement: Two-term project HSHM 4900 and 4910

The History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health program offers excellent preparation for a wide range of careers, including law, business, journalism, museum work, public policy, and government. Premedical students and others interested in health-related fields can combine preprofessional training with a broad humanistic education. The major provides a solid foundation for any career at the intersection of the sciences, technology, and public life.