BL Medical Humanities
Who decides what constitutes "health" and "illness"?
Do our duties of care to patients differ across cultures or is there an universal ethical system that can be applied?
Does modern medicine have the interests of the patient at heart?
What is the role of faith in healthcare?
If any of these questions sound interesting to you, BL Medical Humanities would be right up your alley!
"Medicine is no longer a holistic affair; subjugated by the quanitification of modernity to an amalgam of mechanistic sciences, our medical school curriculum lacks coherent overarching purposes that it once sought to instill within its graduates, with virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance underlying our conception of the good."
This society explores the rich tapestry of patient experience, using books, journals, museum trips & workshops, to grapple with illness and the human condition, revivifying a multidisciplinary and holistically informed medical praxis.
This year we'll be holding seminars, workshops with experts in their field, exhibition trips and much more - make sure to follow us on instagram to keep up to date!
The society has two main parts; the first will be fortnightly meetings to discuss books in our Humanities Book Club Curriculum. The second will be quarterly seminars to discuss hot topics in medical ethics.
Humanities Book Club Curriculum - Tea, Coffee & Snacks provided!
The plan for the topics covered by this society is tripartite, split between the terms, and outlined below:
Term 1 - Metaphysics, Epistemology & Grand Narrative ideas
Term 2 - Philosophy of Science & Exploring Ethical paradigms
- Investigating the limits of the scientific paradigm and the nature of scientific revolutions with reference to Kuhn & Popper.
- Examining the truth claims of "decolonial" and post-colonial ethical models
- Contrasting historical ethics with contemporary models, through Aristotle, the ethics of Abrahamic faiths, and the works of John Gray.
Term 3 - Applying the two previous terms to current conversations in Medical Humanities
- Life and Death in Bosnia : Medical Stories from the tragedy of the Bosnian Genocide.
- Cost of Living Crises and Privatisation: Is there a correlation?
- The McDonaldisation of Healthcare: The Rise of Neoliberal Healthcare Models
Planned Quarterly Seminars
- War Medics - Healing, but at what cost?
- Trauma & Society - intergenerational trauma, and tackling trauma in clinical practice
- Private vs Public Healthcare systems and motivational conflicts
- AI & The Black Box problem - exploring uses, dangers and limitations of AI in the clinical setting.
Your Committee
President
Zuhair Ahmad
Treasurer
Mustafa Al-Asady
Vice President
Mohammad-Ameen Kidiya
Marketing Leads
Mustafa Rehman & Isra Baig
Secretary
Kashaf Zaidi
Upcoming Events
Further events will be released soon. Stay up to date by following us on Instagram.
If you have any requests please email us at medicalhumanities@bartslondon.com, we would geniunely love to hear from you!