COLEG-107 Medical Thinking: Expertise, Evidence, and Values in Health
Ethical questions surrounding health and medicine rarely have simple answers: the evidence can be uncertain, knowledge is historically situated, values can conflict, and decisions affect real lives. This first-year course explores how medical reasoning and decision-making depend on drawing from multiple forms of expertise, forms of evidence, and ways of knowing. We will explore human health through a multi-disciplinary lens, including the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and arts. Students will learn how different disciplines and expertise shape our understanding of health and how we navigate difficult choices made within its context. By examining different roles and perspectives (patients and families, physicians, researchers, policy makers, and innovators), and how these roles have been defined and transformed over time, students will practice communicating across differences and building well-rounded ethical arguments that integrate multiple kinds of knowledge. Through case studies, discussion, and writing, students will build a flexible toolkit for thoughtful leadership in health-related fields.
Other
Credits
1
Notes
This course is designed for participants in the Levitt Center Justice/Health Lab offered fall 2026. This course will serve as the major experiential learning component of the Justice Lab experience.