Masters of Arts in Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics
This 30-credit Master of Arts program can be completed in as little as one year, depending on start time
Why Stony Brook?
Bioethics masters degree programs have proliferated over the past two decades. Why add one more? Too often these programs focus exclusively on ethical dilemmas in healthcare and the life sciences, without adequately attending to the patient’s illness experience itself. In contrast, our program devotes equal attention to the mutually enhancing themes of bioethics, medical humanities, and the dynamic of compassionate care in a time when both patients and healthcare professionals find the healthcare system dehumanizing.
We will provide students with a comprehensive overview of the paradigm cases and approaches to topics in bioethics. Students will also examine the philosophical and religious traditions that inform contemporary debates. Moreover, they will learn about the human capacity for compassion that underlies the moral life and effective clinical care. Finally, through engagement in the medical humanities, our students will enhance their capacity to understand and respond to the patient as person.
Ranked #7 in the 2025 Best Bioethics/Medical Ethics Master's Degree Programs in the US (by College Factual)
Program Faculty
Recognizing the need for an interdisciplinary approach to education, our faculty includes experts in Disability Studies, Ethics, History, Law, Literature, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and the Social Sciences. Several of our faculty integrate perspectives from the humanities with their experience as healthcare providers.
Courses
Our commitment to an integrative approach is embodied by the courses we offer.
- Compassionate Care, Medical Humanities, and the Illness Experience
- Landmark Cases in Bioethics
- Traditions and Values in Bioethical Conflicts
- Special Topic in Biotechnology
- Capstone Course
- Literature, Compassion, and Medical Care
- Bioethics, Disability & Community
- Altruism and Bioethics
- Disease and Society
- Global Bioethics
- Health Policy, History & Ethics
- The Problem of Evil: Philosophical, Biological, and Social Dimensions
- Empirical Bioethics: Moral Decision Making
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