University of Virginia Health System

The Programs for Humanities at the University of Virginia attests to the indivisibility of art and science in medicine, the importance of critical and reflective thought in clinical practice, and the centrality of interpersonal relationships in healing. The Program brings together faculty of the School of Medicine and the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and occasional visiting scholars to help students explore the many dimensions of the human experience. Humanities in Medicine seeks to enrich the education of tomorrow's physicians so as to make patient care every bit as human as it is scientifically and technically expert. 

The Programs for Humanities offers four- and two-week elective courses in the fourth year of the medical curriculum. Courses presently include history, literature, religion and culture, anthropology and gender studies, spirituality and medicine, medical Spanish, public health, and several interdisciplinary inquiries (alternative/complementary therapies, death and dying, violence, film and visual arts). Students report that humanities coursework expands their knowledge base, fosters critical thinking and creativity, broadens perspectives, encourages reflection on personal and professional values, and promotes interpersonal and cross-cultural understanding. Student writings are published in Veritas, an annual publication, and distributed to all medical students and faculty.

The Programs for Humanities also contributes to certain introductory and required courses in the medical school (especially the Medical Academic Advancement Program for entering students, the Practice of Medicine in the first year, and the Clinical Connections Days in the third year) and, occasionally, to graduate courses in the life sciences and to continuing education offerings for practicing health professionals.

The Programs for Humanities oversees development and implementation of the medical school's ongoing curriculum project in Spirituality and Medicine. Begun in 1998 with a four-year Templeton Curriculum Development Grant from the National Institute for Healthcare Research, the project is bringing instruction about the spiritual dimensions of health, health care, and the life of the health professional into all four years of the medical curriculum. In 2000, the School of Medicine received a two-year grant from the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation underwriting Clinical Conversations, mentored discussions of spirituality and ethics for third-year medical students on clinical clerkships. Humanities in Medicine is responsible for Clinical Conversations, which are part of the Clinical Connections Days scheduled regularly throughout the third year of medical school.

The Programs for Humanities maintains strong informal ties with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) and participates in VFH's annual community-based Virginia Festival of the Book. 

The Medical Center Hour, the medical school's weekly multidisciplinary forum on contemporary health-related issues and controversies, is also under the aegis of the Programs for Humanities.