Medical Humanities Concentration

for MD and MD-PhD Students

Credit: Yale University Art Gallery

The Medical Humanities Concentration has two tracks for students to choose from: Writing for the Public and Critical Health Humanities.

Writing for the Public track: Students will fine-tune their skills as budding medical authors and journalists by critiquing published works, workshopping pieces, and learning the nuts-and-bolts of storytelling.
Critical Health Humanities (CHH) track: Students will develop programming using the visual arts to promote critical dialogue/self-reflection on issues of health equity as they relate to the health care system and the role of the health professional within it.

General Requirements

Credit: Yale University Art Gallery

To receive course credit for completion of the Medical Humanities Concentration, students must complete the following elements prior to graduation:

Academic Component – Each track has a required series of seminars, which students must complete before continuing with the concentration. Once complete, students will be matched with a mentor to determine the practicum and project that suit their goals.

Medical Humanities Practicum – 20 hours or more of practicum experience. Students may choose to focus their practicum hours on activities specifically related to their track, but they are also encouraged to take part in other medical or health humanities related activities. All students will also be expected to attend events around campus and New Haven that connect to the medical/health humanities and to write short reflections on at least six events.

Medical Humanities Scholarly Project – A scholarly/creative project.

Writing for the Public

Academic component

In 2025-2026, seminars will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Oct 9
Nov 20
Dec 11
Jan 29, 2026

Practicum

20 hours of hands-on writing/editing experience with publication/podcast opportunities at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and/or within the greater New Haven community. Options are approved on an individual basis. They may include but are not limited to:

Serving as a reflective writing workshop leader
Serving as an editor of Murmurs, the creative journal of Yale health profession students
Completing YSM electives in medical humanities, such as Poetry and Medicine, and Narrative Medicine
Editing, blogging, interviewing, and/or writing for a Yale publication
Any of the options under the Critical Health Humanities Practicum list

Scholarly Project

Students will work with a project mentor to complete a writing project that can be a series of articles, poems, or one larger work of fiction or non-fiction. The student’s mentor will provide guidance to shape the project, provide feedback on drafts, and assist with editing.

Critical Health Humanities

Academic component

In 2025-2026, seminars will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Oct 30
Nov 13
Jan 15, 2026
Mar 26, 2026
April 16, 2026

Practicum

20 hours of curriculum development/programming experience in museum-based education focused on issues in health justice and professional identity formation at YSM and the Yale University Art Gallery and/or within the greater New Haven community. Skill building is enhanced through mentorship, critical dialogue/self-reflection, and exposure to pedagogical approaches to museum-based teaching. Options are approved on an individual basis. They may include but are not limited to:

Training as a Making the Invisible Visible facilitator
Researching, designing, and writing content for museum education
Arts/humanities-based community engagement
Any of the practicum options under the Writing for the Public track

Scholarly Project

Students will work with a project mentor to complete a capstone project of their own design that uses written and/or visual art to interrogate issues as they relate to the health care system. The student’s mentor will provide guidance to maximize the project’s community impact, insight into museum-based pedagogy, and support for the student’s own professional identity formation.