Courses for Health Humanities and Ethics: Fall 2026
Fall 2026 Health Humanities and Ethics (HHE) Courses
The Center for Health Humanities and Ethics offers courses for medical students, residents, and faculty in many different formats and venues. Read about the current available courses below or browse the course catalog.
The Topics in Public Health Ethics are designed for fourth-year undergraduate students who have declared a minor, or an interdisciplinary major, in bioethics. These topics will focus on ethical issues in Healthcare Policy and Administration.
This seminar uses works of media to gain perspective on recent epidemics in North America and the cultures of art, activism, and citizen science that formed in their wake. Students will practice health humanities tools, including reflective writing/art making, close reading, and archival research, culminating in either a creative final project (creative writing, art, etc) or a research paper. Class will be co-led by Ethan Evans (MFA and Fellow at the Center for Health Humanities & Ethics).
Caring well for an aging population is among the greatest challenges facing both the United States and the world. Significant gaps persist between the health and social systems that older adults need, and those to which they have access. This course uses a multidisciplinary approach–encompassing history, public health, ethics, the social sciences, and literature–to explore these gaps, their impact, and their meaning.
This seminar uses Hepatitis C to explore the promises and pitfalls of the U.S. healthcare system. Once the deadliest infectious disease in America, Hepatitis C now has a highly effective cure—yet millions remain untreated. Why? Through science, policy, and ethics, we’ll examine barriers such as drug pricing, insurance, stigma, and social determinants of health, and develop creative, interdisciplinary solutions. No science background required.
Provides students with experience in discerning & analyzing ethical issues pertaining to institutional policies & operations as they arise in healthcare settings. Each student spends several hours a week in an administrative sector of the UVA Health System (same setting throughout the semester) under the mentorship of an administrator engaged in that setting. Focuses on the students’ observations and analyses of ethical issues that arise.
Students spend time in medical settings as “participant-observers,” in order to gain first-hand experience of subject matter that is the focus of the theory, teaching, & practice of bioethics. Direct exposure to patients, health care settings, & health professionals should allow students to see, what sorts of ethical issues are characteristic of the culture. Shows what role a bioethicist might play in clinical setting. Instructor permission.
This course examines ethical, social justice and legal issues related to sexual health and reproduction, including topics such as personhood; consequences of overturning Roe; obstetrical violence & coerced medical interventions; genetic selection and enhancement; infertility & assisted reproduction; research with pregnant persons; fertility preservation in transgender youth; gender norms; power & health inequalities; AI, Big Data & reproduction.
This course is an introduction to clinical ethics, which concerns the identification, analysis, and resolution of ethical problems arising in patient care. The course deals with two tiers of ethical problems occurring frequently in the clinical setting: those that are present in every clinical encounter and special problems that arise with particular patients.
Independent research for undergraduate students enrolled in the BA/BS/MPH 5 year program or other programs that may be related to Public Health or Ethics.
The Topics in Public Health Ethics are designed for graduate students in any discipline. These topics will focus on ethical issues in Healthcare Policy and Administration.
Prerequisite: Instructor Permission
The course will examine ethical & legal issues related to reproduction. While some historical coverage will take place, primary emphasis will be on current topics, such as abortion regulation, coerced medical interventions, conscientous provider accommodations, state ultrasound legislation, prenatal genetic testing, the pregnant woman in research, & regulation of the fertility industry.
This seminar brings together law students, medical students, graduate nursing students, and other graduate students to examine controversial topics in law, medicine, and society relating to organ transplantation, human research, determinations of death, and more. Students will complete several writing assignments and participate in group discussions.
Student will work on a supervised independent research project related to the their area of study or expertise with a member of the PHS faculty.