Top Medical School Calling for “Well-Rounded Humanists”

A recent NPR story highlights efforts by Mt. Sinai School of Medicine to attract humanities majors.

Mt. Sinai’s HuMed program addresses the problem of an overly homogenous student body consisting of students from narrowly-defined science backgrounds. Lack of diversity in education and interests, known as “pre-med syndrome,” actually produces less effective doctors.

According to Mt. Sinai’s dean of medical education “Science is the foundation of an excellent medical education, but a well-rounded humanist is best suited to make the most of that education.” Since beginning the program in 1987, Mt. Sinai’s humanities graduates have been just as successful as other students in the medical coursework.

The link below connects to NPR’s written and audio versions of the story.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/05/27/407967899/a-top-medical-school-revamps-requirements-to-lure-english-majors