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Medicine and Society Program
Readings in Medicine and Society
HON 3301H, 13637
The Honors College at the University of Houston
Instructor of record: Dr Helen K Valier
Honors College, Room 204B, ext 3-9021
Course description
In this course we consider the social and cultural meanings of medicine, health, wellness, disease, and disability from a variety of perspectives including historical, sociological, anthropological, and clinical. We focus primarily on medicine as it is practiced and consumed in the USA , but do so with an eye to the international and cross-cultural context of American medicine. In addition to such “macro” level analysis we also seek to explore the local phenomenon of Houston as a “hospital city,” home as it is to the largest medical center in the world.
Organization of the course
The “ Readings ” class is maintained by a single Instructor of Record (Dr. Valier), but many of the lectures given on the course are delivered by expert speakers invited from across the UH system and beyond. In this way students obtain an unprecedented opportunity to meet with professionals from a wide range of health care and health studies backgrounds. Class debate is the very life and soul of this course; so, if you have a mind chock-full of questions about the role of medicine in our society and would like to share your ideas and hear those of others, then this is the course for you!
