Courses

Medicine, Science, and the Humanities Major > Undergraduate > Courses

The courses listed below are provided by the JHU Public Course Search. This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses and may not be complete. Course registration information can be found on the Student Information Services (SIS) website.

Courses beginning with AS.145 are specifically for the MSH major.

Study Abroad

Courses taken abroad count toward the major only if approved by the director of undergraduate studies in consultation with your adviser. This should be arranged prior to travel.

Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate

Credits earned from AP/IB achievement may not be counted toward the major. These credits may be used to achieve advanced standing with approval by the director of undergraduate studies.

Course # (Section)	Title	Day/Times	Instructor	Location	Term	Course Details
AS.001.181 (01)	FYS: Introduction to Lives in Medicine - Exploring the Experience of Patients and Practitioners	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Mostwin, Jacek Lech	Jenkins 102	Fall 2025	This First-Year Seminar is designed to introduce you to the human side of medicine by exploring ways in which patients and medical practitioners describe their personal experience. It has been structured to allow you to engage that material by reading it, viewing it in film, discussing it, writing about it and meeting with a practicing physician. Its a course not only about content, but also about process, the process of thoughtfully and openly engaging work about the lives of others. It is a seminar style course that emphasizes a friendly, protected setting in which to explore these issues. The course is facilitated by an experienced member of the Hopkins Medical Faculty, and has been designed to open a window through which you can begin to study the human concerns of patients and practitioners. The course is most likely to appeal to premedical and pre-health related students who are interested in exploring the human side of medicine, but also to students interested in biography, memoir and life-writing. At the end of this course, you will have gained an appreciation for some of the ways in which people express themselves about the illness experience or about working with the sick. You will have had a chance to develop longer, more personal relationship to such accounts than you are likely to have in clinical encounters in medical schools, training programs or even in clinical rotations. It takes time to listen. The course draws a small sample from a very wide range of such accounts that number in the thousands, so there is no attempt to generalize; rather, every effort is made to immerse ourselves into one account at a time and to understand one person’s experience at a time. Through this kind of immersion, you will develop a sense of how illness can affect a life, and the way in which practitioners become involved to find themselves in their own work.
AS.001.264 (01)	FYS: Luv Machines: Gender, Sexuality and Dating in Automation and Computation	T 5:30PM - 8:00PM	Tatarchenko, Ksenia	Greenhouse 113	Fall 2025	How do we understand and represent ourselves and others in the realm of digitally mediated love and intimacy? Through interdisciplinary readings and hands-on projects, this First-Year Seminar explores the intersection of technology, identity, and relationships, both before and after the advent of the computer age. Seemingly inescapable, computational systems shape the way we connect. However, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and search engines are not neutral—they are deeply entangled with questions of gender and sexuality. Amidst the promises of revolutionary changes brought by technological progress, we will critically examine how digital platforms both challenge and reinforce traditional norms around love, desire, and identity.
AS.004.341 (01)	Special Topics in Writing: War Writing and Medical Humanities	TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A	Gilman 217	Fall 2025	This is an interdisciplinary course blending the study of visual and textual narrative, history, ethics, medicine, and war studies. We will explore various genres as we survey how care – medical, psychiatric, and nursing – has changed during wartime over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with an emphasis on the narratives written by and about nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, field medics, orderlies, chaplains, ambulance drivers, and doctors in the conflicts. Though this is a survey, nurses will be our primary focus. We will examine how politics infiltrates the war hospital and affects care; the changing dynamic of women and men in the medical (and battle) field throughout the twentieth century; the innovations that emerged from battle surgery; humanitarian concerns on the front line where friend and foe are blurred; and more. Texts will include but not be limited to film, sitcom, novels, memoirs, letters, diary entries, posters, and poetry. We will use the critical lenses of gender, race, empire, colonialism, and disability to interrogate how medicine and care support – or destabilize! – these concepts in war. Students should expect to write and revise frequently and in a variety of genres throughout the course. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
AS.004.341 (02)	Special Topics in Writing: Publishing Problems	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Brown, Nate	Wyman Park N105	Fall 2025	How are American publishers responding to the use of AI? What's with all of the book banning? Why did “Cat Person” go viral? What’s an earnout bonus? In this class, we’ll look at the world of book publishing, taking a particularly close look at literary controversies, publishing best practices, and the rhetoric of the industry. We’ll read literary work, essays, and journalism related to the book business alongside legislation, school board meeting minutes, and court records to understand what the publishing industry is, how it works, and where it may be headed. In addition to performing and writing research, we’ll meet industry professionals and examine publishing documents like profit and loss requisitions, book contracts, and press releases to familiarize ourselves with the genres used in-house at American publishing houses. Finally, we’ll look at the local publishing ecosystem, which includes academic presses, independent publishers, literary journals and zines, book reviewers, bookstores, reading series, and more. Undergraduates at the sophomore level and above are welcome.
AS.004.441 (02)	Special Topics in Writing: Psychedelic Medicine	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Devenot, Nese Lisa	Smokler Center Library	Fall 2025	In recent years, media coverage of psychedelic research has fueled widespread enthusiasm, sometimes outpacing the current scientific evidence. While early studies suggest promising therapeutic potential, psychedelics remain an evolving field of research with many unanswered questions about safety, efficacy, and long-term effects. This course explores how to communicate about psychedelic science with clarity, accuracy, and nuance, which involves balancing positive potentials with critical inquiry. In particular, students will analyze how narratives around psychedelics are shaped in journalism, academic literature, and public discourse. We will examine the challenges of writing about emerging science, including the risks of overstating findings, the influences of historical stigma, and the ethical responsibilities of science communicators. Discussions will consider the media's role in shaping public perception, health policy, and the emerging psychedelic industry. By writing across multiple genres including public essays and case studies, students will develop the skills to craft compelling, well-informed pieces tailored to diverse audiences, from general readers to academic and policy communities. Whether you are interested in journalism, science writing, or public health communication, this course provides tools for ethically engaging with complex topics in contemporary science and medicine. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
AS.010.235 (01)	Art, Medicine, and the Body: Middle Ages to Modernity	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Merback, Mitchell	Gilman 119	Fall 2025	This course explores seven centuries of fruitful collaboration between physicians and artists, uncovering the shared discourses and therapeutic agendas that united the art of picture-making with the art of healing. Topics include understandings of the gendered body in ancient natural philosophy and Christian theology; astrological medicine; physiognomics and the visual diagnosis of mental and physical disease; medieval medical diagrams; the anatomical investigations of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo; depictions of pain and suffering in the art of Matthias Grünewald, melancholy in the prints of Albrecht Dürer, and the cross-cultural history of the therapeutic artefact; the spectacularization of the body in Enlightenment science, and the ethics of medical specimen display today -- all bringing into view the dynamic intersections of the history of medicine and the history of art.
AS.070.428 (01)	The Body Immortal in Yoga and Ayurveda	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Minkowski, Christopher Zand	Mergenthaler 426	Fall 2025	This course will trace the history of an idea - how to make the human body physically immortal - in two Indian systems of knowledge, Yoga and Ayurveda. The course will follow the development of this idea in both theory and practice in the ancient and medieval Indian world. Beginning with accounts of immortal humans that are found in early Sanskrit literature, the course will move on to the elaboration of yogic practice in the tantric movements and to the refinements to alchemical theory (rasāyana-śāstra) in Ayurvedic texts. The course will then move to the emergence of postural yoga (haṭha-yoga) as an independent discipline, which marks a new phase in the pursuit of corporeal immortality. Throughout we will keep track of competing theories of the body - its systems, components, processes, subtle dimensions, channels, centers, layers of physicality, and interactions with breath and spirit - as these form the ground on which to apply bespoke, immortality-creating methods.
AS.130.420 (01)	Research Methods: Arts of the Mesopotamian World: Crafters & Consumers	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Feldman, Marian	Gilman 130G	Fall 2025	This hybrid seminar examines in depth a series of artistic case studies over a 3000 year period in the region of what is today Iraq, Syria, and southeastern Turkey, from c, 3500-500 BCE. Discussion will focus on processes of making and contexts of using myriad forms of art and architecture. Topics will include the invention of writing and complex imagery; portraiture and ritual practice; the symbolic value of materials; visual narration; and the uses of space for expressive purposes. We will approach these and other topics through critical engagement with existing scholarship, as well as by direct study of objects in nearby museum collections.
AS.140.105 (01)	History of Medicine	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Ragab, Ahmed	Hackerman B 17; Krieger 300	Fall 2025	Course provides an introduction to health and healing in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Topics include religion and medicine; medicine in the Islamicate world; women and healing; patients and practitioners.
AS.140.105 (02)	History of Medicine	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Ragab, Ahmed; Staff	Hackerman B 17; Gilman 119	Fall 2025	Course provides an introduction to health and healing in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Topics include religion and medicine; medicine in the Islamicate world; women and healing; patients and practitioners.
AS.140.105 (03)	History of Medicine	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM	Ragab, Ahmed	Hackerman B 17; Gilman 119	Fall 2025	Course provides an introduction to health and healing in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Topics include religion and medicine; medicine in the Islamicate world; women and healing; patients and practitioners.
AS.140.321 (01)	Scientific Revolution	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Allen, Meagan Selby	Krieger 180; Krieger 306	Fall 2025	How did the Western understanding of nature change between 1500 and 1720? We'll study the period through the works of astronomers and astrologers, naturalists and magi, natural philosophers and experimentalists, doctors and alchemists & many others.
AS.140.321 (02)	Scientific Revolution	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Allen, Meagan Selby	Krieger 180; Hodson 301	Fall 2025	How did the Western understanding of nature change between 1500 and 1720? We'll study the period through the works of astronomers and astrologers, naturalists and magi, natural philosophers and experimentalists, doctors and alchemists & many others.
AS.140.330 (01)	Scientists or Swindlers: Alchemy from Antiquity to the Scientific Revolution	W 4:00PM - 6:30PM	Allen, Meagan Selby	Gilman 300	Fall 2025	This class will cover the history alchemy from its Greco-Egyptian and Arabic roots, through its popularization in the European Middle Ages, to its zenith in the Early Modern period. Using both primary and secondary sources, students will see how alchemy, rather than being a mystical quest or nothing more than the desire to turn lead into gold, was in fact a complex system of belief about the natural world and the generation of materials, both organic and inorganic. Reading works by historical alchemists such as Roger Bacon, Paul of Taranto, Paracelsus, and others, students will understand how alchemy was incorporated into numerous intellectual and practical disciplines, including metallurgy, medical theory, pharmacology, natural philosophy, and even theology. At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to answer: what role did the translation movements and cross-cultural exchanges play in the development of European alchemy? In what ways were (al)chemical theories different than modern chemistry? And in what ways are they the same? How do technology and culture drive changes in scientific theories? All majors are welcome, although students may find that a high-school level understanding of general chemistry will be helpful.
AS.140.403 (01)	The Cell and Molecules in History	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Jiang, Lijing	Gilman 300	Fall 2025	This is a reading seminar on foundational scientific writings and historical literature related to history of our understanding of the biological cell and molecules. From the idea of spontaneous generation to Schleiden and Schwann’s cell theory, from the “organizer” concept in embryology, to the comparative studies of Hox genes, from tissue culture to genomics, students explore how different tools, methods, and styles of reasoning became employed in creating and evaluating empirical observations, and how religious believes, metaphors, ideologies, state funding, and infrastructure became pivotal in organizing data and producing knowledge. The final project can be a historiographical essay, or a research paper related to the topic.
AS.140.411 (01)	Senior Research Seminar		Jiang, Lijing		Fall 2025	For History of Science, Medicine, and Technology majors preparing a senior honors thesis.
AS.140.411 (02)	Senior Rsrch Seminar		Portuondo, Maria M		Fall 2025	For History of Science, Medicine, and Technology majors preparing a senior honors thesis.
AS.145.109 (01)	Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Vado, Karina A	Gilman 50	Fall 2025	In May 1959, C.P. Snow, an English novelist and chemist, delivered a now-famous academic lecture on “The Two Cultures,” in which he declared that the “intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups.” These two groups, the “literary intellectuals” and the “scientists” are engulfed, according to Snow, by “mutual incomprehension,” “hostility and dislike” but “most of all lack of understanding.” Indeed, he tells us, the two cultures “have a curious distorted image of each other.” Modern-day headlines such as “Humanities aren't a science. Stop treating them like one” and “Why Science Will Never Replace the Humanities” attest to the enduring circulation of Snow’s view of a deep-seated antagonism between the humanities and sciences. Yet what factors led to these disciplinary distinctions? And are the sciences and humanities as rigidly polarized as Snow made them out to be? In this course, we will attempt to answer these questions by interrogating the relationship between science and literature, past and present. To focus our discussion and course readings, we will be primarily engaging key texts and developments in the history of biology alongside literary and (pop) cultural explorations of key biological theories/concepts (ex. theories of evolution, eugenics and genetics, the “modern synthesis,” genetic engineering, cloning, epigenetics, biomedicine and biotechnology, etc.). Through these interdisciplinary and multigeneric engagements, students will also assess how literary, medical, and scientific discourse have been implicated in the (mis)construction and reification of race, gender, sexuality, and other social phenomena.
AS.145.109 (02)	Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Vado, Karina A	Gilman 50	Fall 2025	In May 1959, C.P. Snow, an English novelist and chemist, delivered a now-famous academic lecture on “The Two Cultures,” in which he declared that the “intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups.” These two groups, the “literary intellectuals” and the “scientists” are engulfed, according to Snow, by “mutual incomprehension,” “hostility and dislike” but “most of all lack of understanding.” Indeed, he tells us, the two cultures “have a curious distorted image of each other.” Modern-day headlines such as “Humanities aren't a science. Stop treating them like one” and “Why Science Will Never Replace the Humanities” attest to the enduring circulation of Snow’s view of a deep-seated antagonism between the humanities and sciences. Yet what factors led to these disciplinary distinctions? And are the sciences and humanities as rigidly polarized as Snow made them out to be? In this course, we will attempt to answer these questions by interrogating the relationship between science and literature, past and present. To focus our discussion and course readings, we will be primarily engaging key texts and developments in the history of biology alongside literary and (pop) cultural explorations of key biological theories/concepts (ex. theories of evolution, eugenics and genetics, the “modern synthesis,” genetic engineering, cloning, epigenetics, biomedicine and biotechnology, etc.). Through these interdisciplinary and multigeneric engagements, students will also assess how literary, medical, and scientific discourse have been implicated in the (mis)construction and reification of race, gender, sexuality, and other social phenomena.
AS.145.109 (03)	Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Vado, Karina A	Gilman 50	Fall 2025	In May 1959, C.P. Snow, an English novelist and chemist, delivered a now-famous academic lecture on “The Two Cultures,” in which he declared that the “intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups.” These two groups, the “literary intellectuals” and the “scientists” are engulfed, according to Snow, by “mutual incomprehension,” “hostility and dislike” but “most of all lack of understanding.” Indeed, he tells us, the two cultures “have a curious distorted image of each other.” Modern-day headlines such as “Humanities aren't a science. Stop treating them like one” and “Why Science Will Never Replace the Humanities” attest to the enduring circulation of Snow’s view of a deep-seated antagonism between the humanities and sciences. Yet what factors led to these disciplinary distinctions? And are the sciences and humanities as rigidly polarized as Snow made them out to be? In this course, we will attempt to answer these questions by interrogating the relationship between science and literature, past and present. To focus our discussion and course readings, we will be primarily engaging key texts and developments in the history of biology alongside literary and (pop) cultural explorations of key biological theories/concepts (ex. theories of evolution, eugenics and genetics, the “modern synthesis,” genetic engineering, cloning, epigenetics, biomedicine and biotechnology, etc.). Through these interdisciplinary and multigeneric engagements, students will also assess how literary, medical, and scientific discourse have been implicated in the (mis)construction and reification of race, gender, sexuality, and other social phenomena.
AS.145.109 (04)	Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Vado, Karina A	Gilman 50	Fall 2025	In May 1959, C.P. Snow, an English novelist and chemist, delivered a now-famous academic lecture on “The Two Cultures,” in which he declared that the “intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups.” These two groups, the “literary intellectuals” and the “scientists” are engulfed, according to Snow, by “mutual incomprehension,” “hostility and dislike” but “most of all lack of understanding.” Indeed, he tells us, the two cultures “have a curious distorted image of each other.” Modern-day headlines such as “Humanities aren't a science. Stop treating them like one” and “Why Science Will Never Replace the Humanities” attest to the enduring circulation of Snow’s view of a deep-seated antagonism between the humanities and sciences. Yet what factors led to these disciplinary distinctions? And are the sciences and humanities as rigidly polarized as Snow made them out to be? In this course, we will attempt to answer these questions by interrogating the relationship between science and literature, past and present. To focus our discussion and course readings, we will be primarily engaging key texts and developments in the history of biology alongside literary and (pop) cultural explorations of key biological theories/concepts (ex. theories of evolution, eugenics and genetics, the “modern synthesis,” genetic engineering, cloning, epigenetics, biomedicine and biotechnology, etc.). Through these interdisciplinary and multigeneric engagements, students will also assess how literary, medical, and scientific discourse have been implicated in the (mis)construction and reification of race, gender, sexuality, and other social phenomena.
AS.145.112 (01)	Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Tatarchenko, Ksenia	Gilman 50	Fall 2025	This semester’s MSH Introductory Course, "Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities," combines STS, media theory, and fiction to ask: How does the 'net' structure (or fracture) connections between bodies, institutions, and even planets? Engaging with speculative fiction—such as Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days and Alexander Bogdanov’s Red Star (a socialist utopian vision of Mars)—alongside foundational and contemporary network studies, the course investigates how material and imagined networks structure labor, embodiment, and care. Students will critically analyze the intersection of fiction with historical and contemporary debates on automation, surveillance, and medical governance, asking: Who designs these systems? Who maintains them—and how? Who is excluded?"
AS.145.112 (02)	Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Tatarchenko, Ksenia	Gilman 50	Fall 2025	This semester’s MSH Introductory Course, "Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities," combines STS, media theory, and fiction to ask: How does the 'net' structure (or fracture) connections between bodies, institutions, and even planets? Engaging with speculative fiction—such as Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days and Alexander Bogdanov’s Red Star (a socialist utopian vision of Mars)—alongside foundational and contemporary network studies, the course investigates how material and imagined networks structure labor, embodiment, and care. Students will critically analyze the intersection of fiction with historical and contemporary debates on automation, surveillance, and medical governance, asking: Who designs these systems? Who maintains them—and how? Who is excluded?"
AS.145.112 (03)	Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Tatarchenko, Ksenia	Gilman 50	Fall 2025	This semester’s MSH Introductory Course, "Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities," combines STS, media theory, and fiction to ask: How does the 'net' structure (or fracture) connections between bodies, institutions, and even planets? Engaging with speculative fiction—such as Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days and Alexander Bogdanov’s Red Star (a socialist utopian vision of Mars)—alongside foundational and contemporary network studies, the course investigates how material and imagined networks structure labor, embodiment, and care. Students will critically analyze the intersection of fiction with historical and contemporary debates on automation, surveillance, and medical governance, asking: Who designs these systems? Who maintains them—and how? Who is excluded?"
AS.145.112 (04)	Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Tatarchenko, Ksenia	Gilman 50	Fall 2025	This semester’s MSH Introductory Course, "Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities," combines STS, media theory, and fiction to ask: How does the 'net' structure (or fracture) connections between bodies, institutions, and even planets? Engaging with speculative fiction—such as Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days and Alexander Bogdanov’s Red Star (a socialist utopian vision of Mars)—alongside foundational and contemporary network studies, the course investigates how material and imagined networks structure labor, embodiment, and care. Students will critically analyze the intersection of fiction with historical and contemporary debates on automation, surveillance, and medical governance, asking: Who designs these systems? Who maintains them—and how? Who is excluded?"
AS.145.219 (01)	Science Studies and Medical Humanities: Theory and Methods	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Puglionesi, Alicia Gladys	Maryland 217	Fall 2025	The knowledge and practices of science and medicine are not as self-evident as they may appear. When we observe, what do we see? What counts as evidence? How does evidence become fact? How do facts circulate and what are their effects? Who is included in and excluded from our common-sense notions of science, medicine, and technology? This course will introduce students to central theoretical concerns in Science and Technology Studies and the Medical Humanities, focusing on enduring problematics that animate scholars. In conjunction with examinations of theoretical bases, students will learn to evaluate the methodological tools used in different fields in the humanities to study the production and circulation of scientific knowledge and the structures of medical care and public health. This problem-centered approach will help students understand and apply key concepts and approaches in critical studies of science, technology, and medicine.
AS.145.312 (01)	Narratives of Bias in Healthcare	Th 2:30PM - 5:00PM	Balhara, Kamna	Mergenthaler 266	Fall 2025	What are the ways in which bias informs and infiltrates healthcare? What is the relationship of bias with power and injustice, across medical training, patient care, and the production of medical knowledge? This course will grapple with these questions through interpretation and discussion of works of visual art, fiction, non-fiction, and popular media that center the voices of patients and healthcare providers. We will tie a direct link to healthcare systems and patient outcomes by applying a similar critical and interpretive lens to primary sources from scientific and medical literature. Combining these conversations with discussions of healthcare practices, we will explore a broad survey of themes, including cognitive biases and decision-making in patient care, epistemic injustice, bias in artificial intelligence, and bias in medical language and the electronic health record. Students will be introduced to identifying and navigating narratives of bias in healthcare, with an emphasis on applying critical thinking to the systems that propagate and dismantle bias in healthcare.
AS.145.316 (91DC)	Food as War, Food as Resistance, Food as Liberation	W 11:30AM - 2:00PM	Labruto, Nicole	555 Penn 170A	Fall 2025	Food can be many things: sustenance, nutrition, cultural practice, and even artform. But regardless of how food is framed, it is also always political. It has the potential to be weaponized in the context of conflict. It has the potential to assert self-determination and dignity among those displaced by conflict and forced removal. And it has the potential to undergird liberation struggles as communities create food autonomy outside of oppressive structures. This course examines food as a tool and technology of both war and liberation by utilizing historic and contemporary case studies of manufactured food scarcity, food apartheid resulting from structural inequality, food-based community building, and food autonomy. We will consider agriculture, food availability, food distribution, nutrition, food-related health outcomes, food procurement, food preparation practices, and food-based justice and independence movement. As a practitioner seminar, the course will engage with food practitioners and food activists whose work addresses food and nutrition-related disparities faced by communities in sites of conflict, inequality, and diaspora.
AS.145.317 (01)	Becoming Universal: Toward Global Computing	MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Tatarchenko, Ksenia	Krieger 307	Fall 2025	How did the computer become an omnipresent machine? This overview course aims to familiarize students with the evolution of the computer as a pivotal technological advancement of the twentieth century and to foster critical thinking about the widespread notion of computerization, which is often associated with profound changes, as reflected in terms like "Personal Computer Revolution," "the Age of Big Data," and the more recent "AI Revolution." Throughout the course, we will emphasize both the universal aspirations and the localized boundaries that have shaped patterns of technological dissemination and the circulation of knowledge—from the dawn of digital computing, rooted in the computational needs of the United States and Britain during World War II, to the modern-day manifestations of the so-called "digital divides." To achieve this objective, we will explore classical narratives centered on American history as well as emerging transnational and cultural studies in computing. This exploration will be enriched by extensive engagement with primary source documents.
AS.145.318 (91DC)	The War Lab: Medicine, Science, and Conflict	T 11:30AM - 2:00PM	Bayoumi, Soha Hassan		Fall 2025	This course explores how medicine, science, and technology intersect with war and conflict, shaping both the battlefield and society at large. It examines the medicine-science-war nexus by investigating the ways in which war and conflict have spurred scientific innovation and medical breakthroughs and, inversely, how scientific and medical innovations have enabled new forms of warcraft. From the development of antibiotics and prosthetics to the ethical dilemmas of weapons research and the use of artificial intelligence in combat, students will examine these entanglements and the profound moral and ethical questions they raise. Relying on case studies from historical and contemporary conflicts, historical documents, films, and literature, the course will investigate topics such as the technological frontiers of war, military funding of scientific research, post-conflict legacies of wartime technologies, and the long-term health outcomes of political and military conflict. Through a critical examination of these themes, students will gain a better understanding of the complex relationship between war and advancements in medicine, science, and technology and will be prompted to analyze the ethical, social, and political implications of the entanglements between war, science, and medicine.
AS.145.319 (91DC)	Technologies of Conflict, Technologies of Resistance: A Research Seminar	T 2:30PM - 5:00PM	Bayoumi, Soha Hassan	555 Penn 170B	Fall 2025	This research seminar will survey a variety of theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary approaches to the study of the intersections of medicine, science, and technology with war and conflict, as well as struggles for liberation and resistance. Each session will highlight work by a scholar (or more) representing a discipline or interdiscipline to showcase the ways in which academics and scholars have approached these themes. From anthropologists to historians and from scholars of gender studies to scholars of urban studies, the research seminar will invite guest speakers to discuss their work with students and explore the opportunities afforded by their methods of inquiry and the challenges they pose. Students will be guided throughout the seminar as they develop a research project: from the choice of topic to the development of a research question to the choice of sources, methods, and format, and, finally, as they pursue their research on their chosen topic.
AS.145.323 (01)	Music as Laboratory	W 4:30PM - 7:00PM	Ludwig, Loren	Shriver Hall 104	Fall 2025	What is the relationship between the histories of music and scientific development? How is making music a kind of laboratory research? Musical instruments and aesthetics have always emerged in dialogue with developments in science, technology, and medicine. The first stethoscope borrowed from the design of flutes and challenged physicians to grapple with new concepts like "sound," "signal," and "noise." The automation of industrial machinery was influenced by earlier musical automata--technology that sought to mechanically synchronize, sequence and loop musical phrases. Concepts like logarithms, combinatorics, resonance and sympathetic vibration, melancholy and mania, etc., relied on the contributions of musicians, music theorists, and instrument-makers. This seminar looks at points of contact between music and histories of science, technology, and medicine through both scholarly and creative lenses. The course integrates creative and experimental music making with reading and short writing assignments. Familiarity with music notation and some basic musical skills will be helpful but are not strictly necessary. Limit 15 students.
AS.145.390 (01)	Advanced Topics in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities: Feminist Sci Studies & Feminist Sci-Fi	T 3:00PM - 5:30PM	Vado, Karina A		Fall 2025	Critical studies of the significance of science, technology, and medicine rely on circuits of knowledge exchange that shape and reshape the landscape of scholarly interest. Building on the theoretical foundations established in AS.145.219 “Science Studies and Medical Humanities: Theory and Methods,” this course probes key questions in science studies (STS) and the medical humanities (MH) by tracing the intellectual genealogies of significant topics in these fields. By exploring a number of key texts, theories, and methodologies, it aims to acquaint students with both classic and cutting-edge writings and frameworks in STS and MH and equip students with the tools to engage with and apply them in their own research. Coursework will include close reading of core books to dissect how scholars marshal evidence to build their arguments; regular reading responses; and a final project that allows students to synthesize materials related to their own interests, which can serve as the foundation for an honors project. It is a required course for students pursuing the Science and Technology Studies (STS) track in MSH. The thematic focus of the course is determined by the instructing faculty and draws on their areas of scholarly expertise. This semester, the course will focus on the generative “meetings” of feminist intellectual thought, science and technology studies, and science fiction.
AS.145.403 (91DC)	Crusades, Plagues, and Hospitals: Medicine, Science, and War in the Medieval and Early Modern World	W 2:30PM - 5:00PM	Bayoumi, Soha Hassan; Labruto, Nicole; Ragab, Ahmed	555 Penn 632	Fall 2025	At the dawn of the twelfth century, armies marched from Latin Europe, heading for Jerusalem. They attacked and invaded large territories in Asia Minor and the Middle East and created Latin polities that ruled over the Levant for about two centuries. During this period, new societies' political and social orders took shape representing the connections, exchanges, and wounds of conflict. The Crusading project extended well beyond the Middle East: European Christian armies sought to convert Northern Europe, eradicate old polytheistic religions there, and reestablish Christian rule in the Iberian Peninsula. By the sixteenth century, a new wave of Crusades extended to include the wars against the Ottoman Empire, the colonial expansion in Africa, Asia, and the “New World.” At the same time, the colonial expansion involved the emergence of new chattel transatlantic slavery with the atrocities and destruction that it wrecked for centuries to come. Diseases, famines, and other natural disasters marched alongside the marching armies. Famines accompanied the first and second crusades in the twelfth century. By the end of the fourteenth century, the Black Death had spread throughout the world, claiming one-third of the world’s population. Similarly, leprosy and syphilis spread alongside the armies moving across the Atlantic and Indian oceans. This seminar investigates the place of science, medicine, and technology in medieval and early modern war, conflict, and slavery. Starting from the Crusades of the twelfth century to the colonial wars and slavery of the seventeenth century, the course will investigate how conflicts develop, the technologies involved in their pursuit—from military technology to navigation to architecture—how conflicts affect medicine and medical knowledge—from military medicine and surgery to the development of hospitals to epidemics—and how conflict, war, and enslavement impacted the movement of people, goods, and ideas.
AS.145.490 (01)	MSH Honors Thesis Seminar		Labruto, Nicole	Mergenthaler 288a	Fall 2025
AS.145.503 (01)	CAST-M Program Seminar		Robbins, Gabrielle Lydia Marie		Fall 2025	Independent Study for students in the CAST-M Program
AS.145.510 (01)	Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research		Wright, Lisa E.		Fall 2025	This course is for students in the Medicine, Science & the Humanities doing independent research. Course can be taken up to 3 credits with approval from the director.
AS.145.510 (03)	Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research		Ender, Evelyne		Fall 2025	This course is for students in the Medicine, Science & the Humanities doing independent research. Course can be taken up to 3 credits with approval from the director.
AS.145.510 (05)	Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research		Puglionesi, Alicia Gladys		Fall 2025	This course is for students in the Medicine, Science & the Humanities doing independent research. Course can be taken up to 3 credits with approval from the director.
AS.145.510 (11)	Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research		Labruto, Nicole		Fall 2025	This course is for students in the Medicine, Science & the Humanities doing independent research. Course can be taken up to 3 credits with approval from the director.
AS.145.510 (13)	Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research		Bayoumi, Soha Hassan		Fall 2025	This course is for students in the Medicine, Science & the Humanities doing independent research. Course can be taken up to 3 credits with approval from the director.
AS.145.516 (01)	MSH Honors Thesis		Bayoumi, Soha Hassan		Fall 2025	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (02)	MSH Honors Thesis		Li, Lan		Fall 2025	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (03)	MSH Honors Thesis		Schrader, Stuart Laurence		Fall 2025	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (04)	MSH Honors Thesis		Puglionesi, Alicia Gladys		Fall 2025	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (05)	MSH Honors Thesis		Edwards, Zophia		Fall 2025	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (06)	MSH Honors Thesis		Balhara, Kamna		Fall 2025	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (07)	MSH Honors Thesis		Mooney, Graham		Fall 2025	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (08)	MSH Honors Thesis		Han, Clara		Fall 2025	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (09)	MSH Honors Thesis		Labruto, Nicole		Fall 2025	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (10)	MSH Honors Thesis		Lurtz, Casey Marina		Fall 2025	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.150.136 (01)	Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to Both	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Dulani, Saakshi	Hodson 213; Hodson 203	Fall 2025	Philosophy helps us form consistent beliefs. Science helps us learn about the world and our relationship to it. Philosophy of science, then, sits at the interface—helping us form consistent beliefs about the world and our relationship to it. How do we construct a narrative of (our) reality from scientific theories (i.e., the scientific image)? How do we conceptualize the worldly backers of scientific explanations, such as natural laws and causation? Philosophy of science also treats science itself as a subject of philosophical inquiry. What counts as science, and why is it considered a privileged source of knowledge? Are there shared methods across the sciences? Does science transcend—or reflect—social, political, and economic forces? Throughout this course, we will explore these questions by engaging with contemporary works in the metaphysics of science, social epistemology, and the philosophy of specific sciences—from physics to the social sciences.
AS.150.136 (02)	Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to Both	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM	Dulani, Saakshi	Hodson 213; Hodson 315	Fall 2025	Philosophy helps us form consistent beliefs. Science helps us learn about the world and our relationship to it. Philosophy of science, then, sits at the interface—helping us form consistent beliefs about the world and our relationship to it. How do we construct a narrative of (our) reality from scientific theories (i.e., the scientific image)? How do we conceptualize the worldly backers of scientific explanations, such as natural laws and causation? Philosophy of science also treats science itself as a subject of philosophical inquiry. What counts as science, and why is it considered a privileged source of knowledge? Are there shared methods across the sciences? Does science transcend—or reflect—social, political, and economic forces? Throughout this course, we will explore these questions by engaging with contemporary works in the metaphysics of science, social epistemology, and the philosophy of specific sciences—from physics to the social sciences.
AS.150.136 (03)	Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to Both	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Dulani, Saakshi	Hodson 213; Maryland 202	Fall 2025	Philosophy helps us form consistent beliefs. Science helps us learn about the world and our relationship to it. Philosophy of science, then, sits at the interface—helping us form consistent beliefs about the world and our relationship to it. How do we construct a narrative of (our) reality from scientific theories (i.e., the scientific image)? How do we conceptualize the worldly backers of scientific explanations, such as natural laws and causation? Philosophy of science also treats science itself as a subject of philosophical inquiry. What counts as science, and why is it considered a privileged source of knowledge? Are there shared methods across the sciences? Does science transcend—or reflect—social, political, and economic forces? Throughout this course, we will explore these questions by engaging with contemporary works in the metaphysics of science, social epistemology, and the philosophy of specific sciences—from physics to the social sciences.
AS.150.136 (04)	Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to Both	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM	Dulani, Saakshi	Hodson 213; Maryland 104	Fall 2025	Philosophy helps us form consistent beliefs. Science helps us learn about the world and our relationship to it. Philosophy of science, then, sits at the interface—helping us form consistent beliefs about the world and our relationship to it. How do we construct a narrative of (our) reality from scientific theories (i.e., the scientific image)? How do we conceptualize the worldly backers of scientific explanations, such as natural laws and causation? Philosophy of science also treats science itself as a subject of philosophical inquiry. What counts as science, and why is it considered a privileged source of knowledge? Are there shared methods across the sciences? Does science transcend—or reflect—social, political, and economic forces? Throughout this course, we will explore these questions by engaging with contemporary works in the metaphysics of science, social epistemology, and the philosophy of specific sciences—from physics to the social sciences.
AS.210.313 (01)	Medical Spanish	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Torres Burgos, Carmen	Gilman 77	Fall 2025	Medical Spanish is a comprehensive examination of vocabulary and grammar for students who either work or intend to work in medicine and health-related fields in Spanish-speaking environments. The student will be able to participate in conversations on topics such as contrasting health systems, body structures, disorders and conditions, consulting your doctor, physical and mental health, first-aid, hospitalization and surgery on completion of this course. In completing the course’s final project students will apply, synthesize, and reflect on what has been learned in the class by creating a professional dossier individualized to their professional interests. There is no final exam. Not open to native speakers of Spanish. No new enrollments permitted after the third class session.
AS.210.313 (02)	Medical Spanish	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Torres Burgos, Carmen	Gilman 77	Fall 2025	Medical Spanish is a comprehensive examination of vocabulary and grammar for students who either work or intend to work in medicine and health-related fields in Spanish-speaking environments. The student will be able to participate in conversations on topics such as contrasting health systems, body structures, disorders and conditions, consulting your doctor, physical and mental health, first-aid, hospitalization and surgery on completion of this course. In completing the course’s final project students will apply, synthesize, and reflect on what has been learned in the class by creating a professional dossier individualized to their professional interests. There is no final exam. Not open to native speakers of Spanish. No new enrollments permitted after the third class session.
AS.220.424 (01)	Science and Storytelling: The Narrative of Nature, the Nature of Narrative	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Panek, Richard	Gilman 79	Fall 2025	Class reads the writings of scientists to explore what their words would have meant to them and their readers. Discussion will focus on the shifting scientific/cultural context throughout history. Authors include Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Darwin, Freud, Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, Crick and Watson.
AS.225.350 (01)	Acting for Doctors	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Rome, Susan R	Krieger 103	Fall 2025	In this cutting-edge course, an acting class designed for pre-med students who are interested in a career in either clinical work or research, we will explore ways in which collaboration, curiosity, and connection can enhance your understanding and ability to be an effective medical professional. Empathy, perspective-taking, analysis of dramatic literature with medical themes, and devising a piece around medical ethics will be the focus of the activities. No acting experience is required, just a willingness to explore your creativity in an inclusive environment.
AS.280.120 (01)	Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore	T 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Leaf, Philip	Maryland 109	Fall 2025	An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.
AS.280.120 (02)	Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore	T 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Leaf, Philip	Maryland 109	Fall 2025	An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.
AS.280.120 (03)	Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore	T 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Leaf, Philip	Maryland 109	Fall 2025	An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.
AS.280.120 (04)	Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore	T 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Leaf, Philip	Maryland 109	Fall 2025	An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.
AS.300.402 (01)	What is a Person? Humans, Corporations, Robots, Trees	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Siraganian, Lisa	Gilman 208	Fall 2025	Knowing who or what counts as a person seems straightforward, until we consider the many kinds of creatures, objects, and artificial beings that have been granted—or demanded or denied—that status. This course explores recent debates on being a person in culture, law, and philosophy. Questions examined will include: Should trees have standing? Can corporations have religious beliefs? Could a robot sign a contract? Materials examined will be wide-ranging, including essays, philosophy, novels, science fiction, television, film. No special background is required.
AS.389.201 (01)	Introduction to the Museum: Past and Present	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Kingsley, Jennifer P	Gilman 17	Fall 2025	This course surveys museums, from their origins to their most contemporary forms, in the context of broader historical, intellectual, and cultural trends including the social movements of the 20th century. Anthropology, art, history, and science museums are considered.
AS.389.233 (01)	Exhibiting Cultures	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Roome, Kristine	Smokler Center Library	Fall 2025	This course critically examines the role of exhibitions in shaping cultural narratives and public understanding of people and places across the globe. Students will explore the history, theory, and practice of exhibiting cultures in museums, galleries, and digital platforms. Topics include curatorial ethics, representation and identity, postcolonial critiques, audience engagement, and the impact of emerging technologies on exhibition design. Through case studies and hands-on projects, students will analyze how cultural heritage is displayed and interpreted, considering issues of appropriation, authenticity, and inclusivity. The course culminates in a final project where students conceptualize and design their own cultural exhibition proposal.
AS.004.351 (01)	Community Engaged Writing: Drugs and Harm Reduction in Baltimore	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Devenot, Nese Lisa		Spring 2026	This course offers a community-engaged approach to writing and public health, focusing on harm reduction strategies related to drug use in Baltimore City. Developed in collaboration with a local harm reduction nonprofit, students will explore the intersections of public health, policy, and community outreach, with an emphasis on addressing substance use beyond alcohol. Through critical reflections, interviews, social media campaigns, and community needs assessments, and other communication projects, students will engage with harm reduction principles and learn to translate them into educational tools for both the broader Baltimore community and the campus population. Working with the university’s Office of Health Promotion and Well-Being, students will develop educational materials on harm reduction for dissemination through social media, blog posts, and in-person events. The course invites students to explore innovative approaches to harm reduction education, integrating emerging trends in substance availability and evolving motivations for use. Students will contribute to local harm reduction efforts by supporting the work of the nonprofit partner in Baltimore City, while also developing strategies to engage the campus community. Through experiential learning, students will examine how writing can drive meaningful change and influence public health outcomes. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
AS.004.351 (02)	Community-Engaged Writing: Public Health Campaigns & Information Access	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Fusilier, Lauren	BLC 4040	Spring 2026	How do you take the complexity of health research, data, and policy and make it meaningful to the people it most affects? In this course, students will collaborate with a local public health organization to develop communication materials that help bridge gaps left by cuts to public health funding. Together, we will explore how public writing—such as infographics, social media campaigns, posters, or other community-facing materials—can make vital information accessible, usable, and impactful. This course is especially valuable for public health majors who want to expand beyond quantitative methods to develop qualitative, people-centered skills: crafting messages that reach real audiences, addressing issues of equity and access, and practicing communication as a form of public care. By the end of the semester, students will not only gain practical experience in multimodal communication but also learn how writing can serve as a critical tool in promoting health and wellbeing. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
AS.004.441 (01)	Special Topics in Writing: My Power: Motherhood in the Afterlife of Slavery	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Wright, Lisa E.	Gilman 217	Spring 2026	Who didn’t feel chills each time Blue Ivy appeared on the Renaissance stage as Beyoncé sings, “This that kinfolk, this that skinfolk, This that war, this that bloodline on the frontline, ready for war,” in her song “My Power?” Beyoncé, a rhetorical Queen herself, positions Blue Ivy to claim her power by countering the years of cruel insults she has endured from the public and social media alike, and also Beyoncé’s performance refutes motherhood tropes, the Matriarch, the Welfare Mother, and the Jezebel. In this space, we’ll center mothers as rhetorical subjects and agents to explore the various subtopics under the umbrella of the rhetoric of motherhood in the afterlife of slavery. You’re invited to listen to, read, research, and enter conversations surrounding motherhood rhetoric. Potential authors include Patricia Hill Collins, Brittany Cooper, Saidiya Hartman, Jennifer Nash, and Claudia Rankine. Students at the sophomore level and above are welcome.
AS.040.152 (01)	Medical Terminology	MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Smith, Joshua M	Latrobe 120	Spring 2026	This course investigates the Greek and Latin roots of modern medical terminology, with additional focus on the history of ancient medicine and its role in the development of that terminology.
AS.060.216 (01)	Zombies	MW 9:00AM - 9:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM	Hickman, Jared W	Gilman 132; Gilman 17	Spring 2026	This lecture survey will attempt to answer why the zombie has become such a fixture in contemporary literature and cinema. We will track this figure across its many incarnations--from its late-eighteenth-century appearance in ethnographic fictions growing out of the modern cultures of racialized slavery in the Americas right up to twenty-first-century Hollywood blockbusters in which the origins of the figure in the cultures of racialized slavery are perhaps not overt yet continue to manifest. What are the implications of the zombie's arc from a particular human being targeted for domination by a sorcerer to a living-dead horde created by radiation or epidemic? "Texts" may include: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; Edgar Allan Poe, "The Man Who Was Used Up"; H.P. Lovecraft, "Herbert West--Re-Animator"; Zora Neale Hurston, Tell My Horse; Victor Halperin, dir., White Zombie; George Romero, dir., Dead series; Edgar Wright, dir., Shaun of the Dead; Alejandro Brugués, dir., Juan de los Muertos; Colm McCarthy, dir., The Girl with All the Gifts; Colson Whitehead, Zone One; Jordan Peele, dir., Get Out. Fulfills the Global and Minority Literatures requirement.
AS.060.216 (02)	Zombies	MW 9:00AM - 9:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM	Hickman, Jared W	Gilman 132; Gilman 377	Spring 2026	This lecture survey will attempt to answer why the zombie has become such a fixture in contemporary literature and cinema. We will track this figure across its many incarnations--from its late-eighteenth-century appearance in ethnographic fictions growing out of the modern cultures of racialized slavery in the Americas right up to twenty-first-century Hollywood blockbusters in which the origins of the figure in the cultures of racialized slavery are perhaps not overt yet continue to manifest. What are the implications of the zombie's arc from a particular human being targeted for domination by a sorcerer to a living-dead horde created by radiation or epidemic? "Texts" may include: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; Edgar Allan Poe, "The Man Who Was Used Up"; H.P. Lovecraft, "Herbert West--Re-Animator"; Zora Neale Hurston, Tell My Horse; Victor Halperin, dir., White Zombie; George Romero, dir., Dead series; Edgar Wright, dir., Shaun of the Dead; Alejandro Brugués, dir., Juan de los Muertos; Colm McCarthy, dir., The Girl with All the Gifts; Colson Whitehead, Zone One; Jordan Peele, dir., Get Out. Fulfills the Global and Minority Literatures requirement.
AS.060.216 (03)	Zombies	MW 9:00AM - 9:50AM, F 8:00AM - 8:50AM	Hickman, Jared W	Gilman 132; Gilman 377	Spring 2026	This lecture survey will attempt to answer why the zombie has become such a fixture in contemporary literature and cinema. We will track this figure across its many incarnations--from its late-eighteenth-century appearance in ethnographic fictions growing out of the modern cultures of racialized slavery in the Americas right up to twenty-first-century Hollywood blockbusters in which the origins of the figure in the cultures of racialized slavery are perhaps not overt yet continue to manifest. What are the implications of the zombie's arc from a particular human being targeted for domination by a sorcerer to a living-dead horde created by radiation or epidemic? "Texts" may include: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; Edgar Allan Poe, "The Man Who Was Used Up"; H.P. Lovecraft, "Herbert West--Re-Animator"; Zora Neale Hurston, Tell My Horse; Victor Halperin, dir., White Zombie; George Romero, dir., Dead series; Edgar Wright, dir., Shaun of the Dead; Alejandro Brugués, dir., Juan de los Muertos; Colm McCarthy, dir., The Girl with All the Gifts; Colson Whitehead, Zone One; Jordan Peele, dir., Get Out. Fulfills the Global and Minority Literatures requirement.
AS.060.216 (04)	Zombies	MW 9:00AM - 9:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM	Hickman, Jared W	Gilman 132; Gilman 413	Spring 2026	This lecture survey will attempt to answer why the zombie has become such a fixture in contemporary literature and cinema. We will track this figure across its many incarnations--from its late-eighteenth-century appearance in ethnographic fictions growing out of the modern cultures of racialized slavery in the Americas right up to twenty-first-century Hollywood blockbusters in which the origins of the figure in the cultures of racialized slavery are perhaps not overt yet continue to manifest. What are the implications of the zombie's arc from a particular human being targeted for domination by a sorcerer to a living-dead horde created by radiation or epidemic? "Texts" may include: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; Edgar Allan Poe, "The Man Who Was Used Up"; H.P. Lovecraft, "Herbert West--Re-Animator"; Zora Neale Hurston, Tell My Horse; Victor Halperin, dir., White Zombie; George Romero, dir., Dead series; Edgar Wright, dir., Shaun of the Dead; Alejandro Brugués, dir., Juan de los Muertos; Colm McCarthy, dir., The Girl with All the Gifts; Colson Whitehead, Zone One; Jordan Peele, dir., Get Out. Fulfills the Global and Minority Literatures requirement.
AS.070.308 (01)	Cancer Care: Inequality, Ethnography, Poetics	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Roth, Sarah	Mergenthaler 426	Spring 2026	Cancer, the ‘emperor of all maladies,’ is a leading cause of death worldwide. Cancer is, seemingly, everywhere: it brings to mind screening programs, pinkwashed fundraisers, promises of a cure, and myriad memoirs and fictions, lending cancer an abundance of meaning in our contemporary world. With developments in genetic testing and early detection, many aspects of contemporary cancer care have transformed—and with them, questions around risk and responsibility. In the clinic, cancer outcomes are increasingly understood in terms of individualized risk. Yet, these developments and ways of understanding cancer are limited to urban centers of the world, largely in the U.S. and Europe, with access to costly medical technologies. Further, experiences and outcomes of cancer care, from surveillance to treatment, refract along lines of race, gender, and geography, and the disease is a frame through which the politics of healthcare can be starkly seen and traced. In this upper-level undergraduate seminar, students are invited to explore cancer care—inequalities, experiences, and poetics—through literary and ethnographic analysis.
AS.140.106 (01)	History of Modern Medicine	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Cummiskey, Julia Ross	Gilman 132; Gilman 219	Spring 2026	The history of medicine and public health from the Enlightenment to the present, with emphasis on ideas, science, practices, practitioners, and institutions, and the relationship of these to the broad social context.
AS.140.106 (02)	History of Modern Medicine	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Cummiskey, Julia Ross	Gilman 132; Gilman 75	Spring 2026	The history of medicine and public health from the Enlightenment to the present, with emphasis on ideas, science, practices, practitioners, and institutions, and the relationship of these to the broad social context.
AS.140.106 (03)	History of Modern Medicine	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Cummiskey, Julia Ross	Gilman 132; Gilman 55	Spring 2026	The history of medicine and public health from the Enlightenment to the present, with emphasis on ideas, science, practices, practitioners, and institutions, and the relationship of these to the broad social context.
AS.140.233 (01)	Science and Religion: A Complicated History?	MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM	Allen, Meagan Selby	Hodson 203	Spring 2026	Religion is often portrayed as being at odds with science. From Galileo’s treatment by the Roman Inquisition to contemporary Creationism museums, we are told that religious institutions do not support science. Likewise, religious people don’t make good scientists – or do they? Is religion really the thorn in the side of science that so many claim it is? In this class, we will discover the interwoven history between scientific practice and religion, beginning with the atomism and humoral theories of the Ancient Greeks and culminating in 21st century debates about stem cells and cloning. Many of the great scientific minds were also deeply religious – how did their beliefs shape their practice of science and approach to the natural world? Is religion truly antithetical to scientific practice? And if not, why do we so readily assume that it is?
AS.140.302 (01)	Rise of Modern Science	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Jiang, Lijing	Gilman 300; Gilman 300	Spring 2026	This course surveys major scientific developments from the mid-18th century to the present, with a focus on the physical and the life sciences. Topics include the chemical "revolution", evolution by natural selection, genetics, and the recombinant DNA technology. Throughout, the course highlights the institutional context of scientific work. It also situates scientific developments within their broader techno-social context, paying special attention to the political, economic, and/or technological factors that enabled these developments in the first place, and to the social, political, and environmental impacts that accompanied the rise of modern science.
AS.140.302 (02)	Rise of Modern Science	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Jiang, Lijing	Gilman 300; Hodson 316	Spring 2026	This course surveys major scientific developments from the mid-18th century to the present, with a focus on the physical and the life sciences. Topics include the chemical "revolution", evolution by natural selection, genetics, and the recombinant DNA technology. Throughout, the course highlights the institutional context of scientific work. It also situates scientific developments within their broader techno-social context, paying special attention to the political, economic, and/or technological factors that enabled these developments in the first place, and to the social, political, and environmental impacts that accompanied the rise of modern science.
AS.140.303 (01)	Medieval Science: The History of the Experiment in the Middle Ages	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Allen, Meagan Selby	Gilman 300	Spring 2026	What is “Science”? How do we do “science”? How have the boundaries of these definitions – what we consider to be science and the proper methods of gathering scientific information – changed over the centuries? Have scientists always held the same beliefs about what kinds of knowledge and evidence constitute “science”? In this class, we will examine how science was done in the period before the “Scientific Revolution”. We will learn about the ways in which Medieval scientists classified types of knowledge and what they considered to be acceptable means of determining truths about the world around them.
AS.140.312 (01)	The Politics of Science in America	M 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Ginsberg, Benjamin; Kargon, Robert H	Gilman 75	Spring 2026	This course examines the relations of the scientific and technical enterprise and government in the United States in the 20th and 21st centuries. Topics will include the funding of research and development, public health, national defense, etc. Case studies will include the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic, the Depression-era Science Advisory Board, the founding of the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, the institution of the President’s Science Advisor, the failure of the Superconducting Supercollider, the Hubble Space Telescope, the covid pandemic, etc.
AS.140.316 (01)	Minds and Machines	TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Honenberger, Phillip	Gilman 413	Spring 2026	Is the mind identical to the brain? Is the mind (or brain) a computer? Could a computer reason, have emotions, or be morally responsible? This course examines such questions philosophically and historically. Topics include: the history of AI research from 1940s to present; debates in cognitive science related to AI (computationalism, connectionism, and 4E cognition); and AI ethics.
AS.140.319 (01)	Tales of Medical Horror	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	White, Alexandre Ilani Rein	Gilman 300	Spring 2026	What can the medium of horror tell us about popular understandings of medicine? What sorts of anxieties and concerns about the fields of health, bodily autonomy and the relationships between medicine and society can be drawn from the horror genre? Connecting film and some literature in the genres of horror to historical sources and readings in the field of the history of medicine, this class will use popular media as a window into key themes in the history of medicine. Some key topics of this class include reproductive rights and autonomy, the relationship(s) between medicine and religion, racism, xenophobia and disease and surgical horror. This class will meet twice a week with an additional film screening every other week in the evening. This class with its focus upon horror and especially horror films will deal with disturbing and violent material including graphic violence. Please be advised.
AS.140.347 (01)	History Of Genetics	T 4:00PM - 6:30PM	Comfort, Nathaniel	Gilman 300	Spring 2026	The science, social thought, and cultures of heredity since the 19th century. We cover pre-Mendelian heredity, Mendelism, classical genetics and cytogenetics, molecular biology and genomics, including the Human Genome Project. We discuss eugenics, social Darwinism, scientific racism. We consider DNA in medicine, popular culture, art, commerce. Big questions include: Why are we so obsessed with heredity? Is Mendelism wrong? Is intelligence genetic? Is it possible to do meaningful science on race and intelligence? To what extent is your genome “you”?
AS.140.411 (01)	Senior Research Seminar		Jiang, Lijing		Spring 2026	For History of Science, Medicine, and Technology majors preparing a senior honors thesis.
AS.145.108 (01)	Disability Futures: An Introduction to Medicine, Science, and the Humanities	T 12:00PM - 1:15PM, Th 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Puglionesi, Alicia Gladys	Bloomberg 278; Krieger 306	Spring 2026	Disability Futures investigates the role of science and medicine in defining “normal” bodies and minds, and the processes of social change through which we can imagine and build an accessible future. Too often, technologists envision a future where disability has been “cured.” In reality, disability has always been an important part of human life; a world where disabled people thrive is a better world for everyone. This course surveys the field of disability studies with a focus on how disability has shaped, and been shaped by, science, medicine, and technology. We combine approaches from science and technology studies (STS), public health, and the medical humanities, covering topics such as art and speculative fiction, eugenics, technoableism, intersectionality, disability politics, structural determinants of health, and disability justice. Throughout the course, we center creative reimaginings by disabled people in science and the arts.
AS.145.108 (02)	Disability Futures: An Introduction to Medicine, Science, and the Humanities	T 12:00PM - 1:15PM, Th 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Puglionesi, Alicia Gladys; Treadway, Tashi M	Bloomberg 278; Shriver Hall Board Room	Spring 2026	Disability Futures investigates the role of science and medicine in defining “normal” bodies and minds, and the processes of social change through which we can imagine and build an accessible future. Too often, technologists envision a future where disability has been “cured.” In reality, disability has always been an important part of human life; a world where disabled people thrive is a better world for everyone. This course surveys the field of disability studies with a focus on how disability has shaped, and been shaped by, science, medicine, and technology. We combine approaches from science and technology studies (STS), public health, and the medical humanities, covering topics such as art and speculative fiction, eugenics, technoableism, intersectionality, disability politics, structural determinants of health, and disability justice. Throughout the course, we center creative reimaginings by disabled people in science and the arts.
AS.145.219 (01)	Science Studies and Medical Humanities: Theory and Methods	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Vado, Karina A	Gilman 300	Spring 2026	The knowledge and practices of science and medicine are not as self-evident as they may appear. When we observe, what do we see? What counts as evidence? How does evidence become fact? How do facts circulate and what are their effects? Who is included in and excluded from our common-sense notions of science, medicine, and technology? This course will introduce students to central theoretical concerns in Science and Technology Studies and the Medical Humanities, focusing on enduring problematics that animate scholars. In conjunction with examinations of theoretical bases, students will learn to evaluate the methodological tools used in different fields in the humanities to study the production and circulation of scientific knowledge and the structures of medical care and public health. This problem-centered approach will help students understand and apply key concepts and approaches in critical studies of science, technology, and medicine.
AS.145.327 (01)	Emergency!: A cultural and historical exploration of the concept of “emergency” in medicine	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Balhara, Kamna		Spring 2026	What constitutes an “emergency” in medicine? How has our understanding of emergencies evolved over time in response to historical events, cultural shifts, popular media, and changes in the healthcare system? How has this contributed to the development of the specialty of emergency medicine? In what ways does time, urgency, and emergency differ when one is within the walls of the hospital? This course will use a multimodal approach to tackle various facets of an “emergency” in medicine – for instance, comparing how healthcare practitioners conceptualize “emergency” vs the how the broader population views emergencies, considering the development and implications of the concept of triage, and evaluating the provision of emergency care in times of crisis such as natural disasters or the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This course will also offer a unique local look at what “emergency” means at Johns Hopkins - we will leverage the Chesney Medical Archives to understand how emergency care has evolved across time locally at Johns Hopkins, and students will also have the opportunity to shadow the course instructor (an emergency physician) in the Johns Hopkins Emergency Department.
AS.145.328 (01)	The Clinical Conversation: Ethics and Communication in Healthcare	M 3:00PM - 5:30PM	Beach, Mary Catherine	Mergenthaler 266	Spring 2026	This course provides an in-depth exploration of communication in healthcare. Students will examine both the routines of everyday clinical communication—such as agenda setting, information gathering, and shared decision-making—and the complex, emotionally charged encounters that arise in the face of behavior change, serious illness, and end-of-life discussions. The course integrates scholarship and practice: students will gain exposure to communication research methods, including descriptive approaches and conversation analysis, while working with dialogue and engaging in experiential exercises to better understand and cultivate respect, empathy, epistemic reciprocity, and listening. Topics include motivational interviewing, emotional communication, physician self-disclosure, informed consent, the impact of communication and relationships on patient outcomes, and how social relationships, identity, power, and inequality are manifested in interaction.
AS.145.329 (01)	Skin: Medicine and Culture on the Surface	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Staff	Krieger 302	Spring 2026	This course examines the scientific and cultural history of human skin in the United States. As a surface, a boundary, and a text to be “read” and “written” upon, how has skin been made meaningful? How do metaphors and imagery—like skin as protector, as entrance and exit, as a container for individual identity—inform medical studies of skin? And how does medical research shape how skin shows up in literature, film, art, and politics? Readings will focus on the role of skin in representations of racial perception, health, disease, and beauty, and our discussions will ask how skin has become such an important object for defining ‘humanness’ in the U.S. From dermatological experiments on the enslaved and imprisoned, to environmental pollution, Black feminist sci-fi, pore-erasing creams, and shape-shifting superheroes, this course moves across time and media to peel back the many meanings of skin.
AS.145.331 (01)	Eugenic Imaginaries in American Literature, Culture, and Society	TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Vado, Karina A	Gilman 75	Spring 2026	In this course, we will explore the intersections of American literature, broadly conceived, and eugenics. Defined as the “[pseudo]science of racial improvement,” eugenics gained global traction amongst scientists, physicians, politicians (both liberal and conservative), intellectuals, writers, and the general public in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Engaging genres such as horror, sci-fi, utopian and dystopian fiction, and textual mediums such as novels, poetry, television, and film from the US, Mexico, and Canada, we will thus consider how social and cultural ideas shape scientific practice and how scientific ideas inform literary and cultural imaginaries. At the same time, we will be paying special attention to how these literary and cultural texts affirm, critique, revise, or conjure futures beyond the horrors of eugenics and its destructive politics of exclusion. Considering, then, the many genealogies of eugenics, we will supplement our primary readings with excerpts of texts that shaped the makings of eugenics, legitimated it as an interdisciplinary scientific field, and that later served as springboards for the implementation of eugenic policy. Further, we will engage relevant scholarship in the fields of anthropology, history of science and medicine, sociology, science and technology studies, and the medical humanities. Through these and other readings, we will critically survey the lingering legacies of eugenic thought and how they inform contemporary questions of classification, “fit” and “unfit” bodies, death and dying, illness and health, and social identity (ex. class, disability, gender, race, and sexuality).
AS.145.350 (01)	MSH Research Capstone	M 3:00PM - 5:30PM	Puglionesi, Alicia Gladys	Gilman 300	Spring 2026	The Research Capstone seminar prepares students to undertake original extended research in the medical humanities and science studies. The course will help students synthesize the interdisciplinary knowledge upon which the Medicine, Science, and the Humanities (MSH) major is built. Students will have the opportunity to form research topics, devise and execute research plans, write a research grant application, and share their work with the class. The course is aimed at MSH juniors seeking to create Honors projects, though the course is open to any student wishing to learn or enhance research skills.
AS.145.460 (91DC)	Research Seminar: Critical AI: Questions and Methods	T 2:30PM - 5:00PM	Tatarchenko, Ksenia	555 Penn 656	Spring 2026	Borrowing its title from a new journal and an emerging, interdisciplinary field of study, this class examines artificial intelligence, and its subfield of machine learning, through the lens of the humanities and social sciences. The course focuses on the historical, cultural, ethical, and societal dimensions of AI. It combines group discussions of selected readings with individual research projects supervised by the instructor.
AS.145.510 (01)	Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research		Labruto, Nicole		Spring 2026	This course is for students in the Medicine, Science & the Humanities doing independent research. Course can be taken up to 3 credits with approval from the director.
AS.145.511 (01)	Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research		Merback, Mitchell		Spring 2026	This class is for the MSH majors completing their research project. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.511 (04)	Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research		Puglionesi, Alicia Gladys		Spring 2026	This class is for the MSH majors completing their research project. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.511 (05)	Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research		Bayoumi, Soha Hassan		Spring 2026	This class is for the MSH majors completing their research project. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.511 (06)	Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research		Bayoumi, Soha Hassan		Spring 2026	This class is for the MSH majors completing their research project. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (01)	MSH Honors Thesis	M 4:30PM - 5:20PM	Choi, Susan; Labruto, Nicole		Spring 2026	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.145.516 (04)	MSH Honors Thesis		Puglionesi, Alicia Gladys		Spring 2026	This class is for the MSH majors completing their honors thesis. Instructor approval required. This course can be taken for up to 3 credits with instructor approval.
AS.150.219 (01)	Introduction to Bioethics	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Rieder, Travis N	Gilman 50; Krieger Laverty	Spring 2026	Introduction to a wide range of moral issues arising in the biomedical fields, e.g. physician-assisted suicide, human cloning, abortion, surrogacy, and human subjects research. Cross listed with Public Health Studies.
AS.150.219 (02)	Introduction to Bioethics	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Rieder, Travis N	Gilman 50; Krieger Laverty	Spring 2026	Introduction to a wide range of moral issues arising in the biomedical fields, e.g. physician-assisted suicide, human cloning, abortion, surrogacy, and human subjects research. Cross listed with Public Health Studies.
AS.150.219 (03)	Introduction to Bioethics	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Rieder, Travis N	Gilman 50; Bloomberg 276	Spring 2026	Introduction to a wide range of moral issues arising in the biomedical fields, e.g. physician-assisted suicide, human cloning, abortion, surrogacy, and human subjects research. Cross listed with Public Health Studies.
AS.150.219 (04)	Introduction to Bioethics	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Rieder, Travis N	Gilman 50; Shaffer 302	Spring 2026	Introduction to a wide range of moral issues arising in the biomedical fields, e.g. physician-assisted suicide, human cloning, abortion, surrogacy, and human subjects research. Cross listed with Public Health Studies.
AS.150.219 (05)	Introduction to Bioethics	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Rieder, Travis N	Gilman 50; Gilman 134	Spring 2026	Introduction to a wide range of moral issues arising in the biomedical fields, e.g. physician-assisted suicide, human cloning, abortion, surrogacy, and human subjects research. Cross listed with Public Health Studies.
AS.150.219 (06)	Introduction to Bioethics	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Rieder, Travis N	Gilman 50; Bloomberg 172	Spring 2026	Introduction to a wide range of moral issues arising in the biomedical fields, e.g. physician-assisted suicide, human cloning, abortion, surrogacy, and human subjects research. Cross listed with Public Health Studies.
AS.150.219 (07)	Introduction to Bioethics	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Rieder, Travis N	Gilman 50; Gilman 217	Spring 2026	Introduction to a wide range of moral issues arising in the biomedical fields, e.g. physician-assisted suicide, human cloning, abortion, surrogacy, and human subjects research. Cross listed with Public Health Studies.
AS.150.219 (08)	Introduction to Bioethics	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Rieder, Travis N	Gilman 50; Bloomberg 276	Spring 2026	Introduction to a wide range of moral issues arising in the biomedical fields, e.g. physician-assisted suicide, human cloning, abortion, surrogacy, and human subjects research. Cross listed with Public Health Studies.
AS.210.313 (01)	Medical Spanish	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Torres Burgos, Carmen	Gilman 313	Spring 2026	Medical Spanish is a comprehensive examination of vocabulary and grammar for students who either work or intend to work in medicine and health-related fields in Spanish-speaking environments. The student will be able to participate in conversations on topics such as contrasting health systems, body structures, disorders and conditions, consulting your doctor, physical and mental health, first-aid, hospitalization and surgery on completion of this course. In completing the course’s final project students will apply, synthesize, and reflect on what has been learned in the class by creating a professional dossier individualized to their professional interests. There is no final exam. Not open to native speakers of Spanish. No new enrollments permitted after the third class session.
AS.210.313 (02)	Medical Spanish	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Torres Burgos, Carmen	Gilman 17	Spring 2026	Medical Spanish is a comprehensive examination of vocabulary and grammar for students who either work or intend to work in medicine and health-related fields in Spanish-speaking environments. The student will be able to participate in conversations on topics such as contrasting health systems, body structures, disorders and conditions, consulting your doctor, physical and mental health, first-aid, hospitalization and surgery on completion of this course. In completing the course’s final project students will apply, synthesize, and reflect on what has been learned in the class by creating a professional dossier individualized to their professional interests. There is no final exam. Not open to native speakers of Spanish. No new enrollments permitted after the third class session.
AS.213.385 (01)	The Flesh of Nature: Body, Media and Environment	MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Harmon, Brad	Gilman 443	Spring 2026	In this course we will explore how literature and film depict the material relationships between our human bodies and more-than-human worlds within and around us. We will consider not only how the classical elements (earth, air, fire, water) are media and how they connect our individual bodies with other bodies, but how the body itself is a medium. We will examine a range of ecologically conscious literary texts and films from the German and Nordic worlds as they engage themes including elementality, the nuclear age, the Anthropocene, and queer ecologies.
AS.220.424 (01)	Science and Storytelling: The Narrative of Nature, the Nature of Narrative	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Panek, Richard	Dunning Hall 121	Spring 2026	This course is half reading seminar, half writing workshop. The two halves build on one underlying principle: Both the scientific method and the traditional literary narrative follow the same storytelling structure: What do you know? What do you want to know? What do you learn? Now what do you know? Etc. In the seminar half of the class, we read and discuss samples of the writings of scientists throughout history—focusing especially on what those works would have meant to the authors and to their readers. Primary sources include Plato, Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Darwin, Einstein, Heisenberg, plus many more. In the workshop half of the class, students will write—in a step-by-step, week-by-week process, in close collaboration with their peers—a midterm paper and a final paper on any science topic and in any form of their choosing, while applying storytelling lessons from the seminar half of the course.
AS.225.350 (01)	Acting for Doctors	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Rome, Susan R	Krieger 103	Spring 2026	In this cutting-edge course, an acting class designed for pre-med students who are interested in a career in either clinical work or research, we will explore ways in which collaboration, curiosity, and connection can enhance your understanding and ability to be an effective medical professional. Empathy, perspective-taking, analysis of dramatic literature with medical themes, and devising a piece around medical ethics will be the focus of the activities. No acting experience is required, just a willingness to explore your creativity in an inclusive environment.
AS.230.341 (01)	Sociology of Health and Illness	M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 3:00PM - 3:50PM	Agree, Emily	Gilman 50; Croft Hall G02	Spring 2026	Students will learn core concepts that define the sociological approach to health, illness and health care. Classes will involve a combination of lectures and examples, as well as weekly discussion sections.
AS.230.341 (02)	Sociology of Health and Illness	M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 3:00PM - 3:50PM	Agree, Emily	Gilman 50; Krieger 300	Spring 2026	Students will learn core concepts that define the sociological approach to health, illness and health care. Classes will involve a combination of lectures and examples, as well as weekly discussion sections.
AS.230.341 (03)	Sociology of Health and Illness	M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 4:30PM - 5:20PM	Agree, Emily	Gilman 50; Krieger 306	Spring 2026	Students will learn core concepts that define the sociological approach to health, illness and health care. Classes will involve a combination of lectures and examples, as well as weekly discussion sections.
AS.230.341 (04)	Sociology of Health and Illness	M 3:00PM - 4:50PM, W 4:30PM - 5:20PM	Agree, Emily	Gilman 50; Croft Hall G02	Spring 2026	Students will learn core concepts that define the sociological approach to health, illness and health care. Classes will involve a combination of lectures and examples, as well as weekly discussion sections.
AS.389.445 (01)	The Political Lives of Dead Bodies	M 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Hester, Jessica Leigh; Lans, Aja Marie	Gilman 55	Spring 2026	Taking its name from the work of scholar Katherine Verdery, who investigates why and how certain corpses took on a political life in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, this course examines ways that human bodies have been collected, displayed, concealed and disappeared across cemeteries, museums, universities and other sites. We will trace various valuations (and devaluations) imposed on bodies across the life course and examine how some bodies are made to matter more than others in both life and death. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives across anthropology, Black studies, history of medicine and more, we will engage with case studies from across the globe, from the 18th century to the present day.

Courses

Study Abroad

Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate

FYS: Introduction to Lives in Medicine - Exploring the Experience of Patients and PractitionersAS.001.181 (01)

FYS: Luv Machines: Gender, Sexuality and Dating in Automation and ComputationAS.001.264 (01)

Special Topics in Writing: War Writing and Medical HumanitiesAS.004.341 (01)

Special Topics in Writing: Publishing ProblemsAS.004.341 (02)

Special Topics in Writing: Psychedelic MedicineAS.004.441 (02)

Art, Medicine, and the Body: Middle Ages to ModernityAS.010.235 (01)

The Body Immortal in Yoga and AyurvedaAS.070.428 (01)

Research Methods: Arts of the Mesopotamian World: Crafters & ConsumersAS.130.420 (01)

History of MedicineAS.140.105 (01)

History of MedicineAS.140.105 (02)

History of MedicineAS.140.105 (03)

Scientific RevolutionAS.140.321 (01)

Scientific RevolutionAS.140.321 (02)

Scientists or Swindlers: Alchemy from Antiquity to the Scientific RevolutionAS.140.330 (01)

The Cell and Molecules in HistoryAS.140.403 (01)

Senior Research SeminarAS.140.411 (01)

Senior Rsrch SeminarAS.140.411 (02)

Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the HumanitiesAS.145.109 (01)

Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the HumanitiesAS.145.109 (02)

Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the HumanitiesAS.145.109 (03)

Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the HumanitiesAS.145.109 (04)

Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and HumanitiesAS.145.112 (01)

Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and HumanitiesAS.145.112 (02)

Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and HumanitiesAS.145.112 (03)

Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and HumanitiesAS.145.112 (04)

Science Studies and Medical Humanities: Theory and MethodsAS.145.219 (01)

Narratives of Bias in HealthcareAS.145.312 (01)

Food as War, Food as Resistance, Food as LiberationAS.145.316 (91DC)

Becoming Universal: Toward Global ComputingAS.145.317 (01)

The War Lab: Medicine, Science, and ConflictAS.145.318 (91DC)

Technologies of Conflict, Technologies of Resistance: A Research SeminarAS.145.319 (91DC)

Music as LaboratoryAS.145.323 (01)

Advanced Topics in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities: Feminist Sci Studies & Feminist Sci-FiAS.145.390 (01)

Crusades, Plagues, and Hospitals: Medicine, Science, and War in the Medieval and Early Modern WorldAS.145.403 (91DC)

MSH Honors Thesis SeminarAS.145.490 (01)

CAST-M Program SeminarAS.145.503 (01)

Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent ResearchAS.145.510 (01)

Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent ResearchAS.145.510 (03)

Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent ResearchAS.145.510 (05)

Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent ResearchAS.145.510 (11)

Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent ResearchAS.145.510 (13)

MSH Honors ThesisAS.145.516 (01)

MSH Honors ThesisAS.145.516 (02)

MSH Honors ThesisAS.145.516 (03)

MSH Honors ThesisAS.145.516 (04)

MSH Honors ThesisAS.145.516 (05)

MSH Honors ThesisAS.145.516 (06)

MSH Honors ThesisAS.145.516 (07)

MSH Honors ThesisAS.145.516 (08)

MSH Honors ThesisAS.145.516 (09)

MSH Honors ThesisAS.145.516 (10)

Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to BothAS.150.136 (01)

Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to BothAS.150.136 (02)

Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to BothAS.150.136 (03)

Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to BothAS.150.136 (04)

Medical SpanishAS.210.313 (01)

Medical SpanishAS.210.313 (02)

Science and Storytelling: The Narrative of Nature, the Nature of NarrativeAS.220.424 (01)

Acting for DoctorsAS.225.350 (01)

Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in BaltimoreAS.280.120 (01)

Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in BaltimoreAS.280.120 (02)

Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in BaltimoreAS.280.120 (03)

Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in BaltimoreAS.280.120 (04)

What is a Person? Humans, Corporations, Robots, TreesAS.300.402 (01)

Introduction to the Museum: Past and PresentAS.389.201 (01)

Exhibiting CulturesAS.389.233 (01)

Community Engaged Writing: Drugs and Harm Reduction in BaltimoreAS.004.351 (01)

Community-Engaged Writing: Public Health Campaigns & Information AccessAS.004.351 (02)

Special Topics in Writing: My Power: Motherhood in the Afterlife of SlaveryAS.004.441 (01)

Medical TerminologyAS.040.152 (01)

ZombiesAS.060.216 (01)

ZombiesAS.060.216 (02)

ZombiesAS.060.216 (03)

ZombiesAS.060.216 (04)

Cancer Care: Inequality, Ethnography, PoeticsAS.070.308 (01)

History of Modern MedicineAS.140.106 (01)

History of Modern MedicineAS.140.106 (02)

FYS: Introduction to Lives in Medicine - Exploring the Experience of Patients and Practitioners
AS.001.181 (01)

FYS: Luv Machines: Gender, Sexuality and Dating in Automation and Computation
AS.001.264 (01)

Special Topics in Writing: War Writing and Medical Humanities
AS.004.341 (01)

Special Topics in Writing: Publishing Problems
AS.004.341 (02)

Special Topics in Writing: Psychedelic Medicine
AS.004.441 (02)

Art, Medicine, and the Body: Middle Ages to Modernity
AS.010.235 (01)

The Body Immortal in Yoga and Ayurveda
AS.070.428 (01)

Research Methods: Arts of the Mesopotamian World: Crafters & Consumers
AS.130.420 (01)

History of Medicine
AS.140.105 (01)

History of Medicine
AS.140.105 (02)

History of Medicine
AS.140.105 (03)

Scientific Revolution
AS.140.321 (01)

Scientific Revolution
AS.140.321 (02)

Scientists or Swindlers: Alchemy from Antiquity to the Scientific Revolution
AS.140.330 (01)

The Cell and Molecules in History
AS.140.403 (01)

Senior Research Seminar
AS.140.411 (01)

Senior Rsrch Seminar
AS.140.411 (02)

Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities
AS.145.109 (01)

Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities
AS.145.109 (02)

Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities
AS.145.109 (03)

Science/Fiction: Making Knowledge in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities
AS.145.109 (04)

Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities
AS.145.112 (01)

Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities
AS.145.112 (02)

Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities
AS.145.112 (03)

Wired Worlds: Computation, Medicine, and Humanities
AS.145.112 (04)

Science Studies and Medical Humanities: Theory and Methods
AS.145.219 (01)

Narratives of Bias in Healthcare
AS.145.312 (01)

Food as War, Food as Resistance, Food as Liberation
AS.145.316 (91DC)

Becoming Universal: Toward Global Computing
AS.145.317 (01)

The War Lab: Medicine, Science, and Conflict
AS.145.318 (91DC)

Technologies of Conflict, Technologies of Resistance: A Research Seminar
AS.145.319 (91DC)

Music as Laboratory
AS.145.323 (01)

Advanced Topics in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities: Feminist Sci Studies & Feminist Sci-Fi
AS.145.390 (01)

Crusades, Plagues, and Hospitals: Medicine, Science, and War in the Medieval and Early Modern World
AS.145.403 (91DC)

MSH Honors Thesis Seminar
AS.145.490 (01)

CAST-M Program Seminar
AS.145.503 (01)

Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research
AS.145.510 (01)

Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research
AS.145.510 (03)

Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research
AS.145.510 (05)

Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research
AS.145.510 (11)

Medicine, Science & the Humanities Independent Research
AS.145.510 (13)

MSH Honors Thesis
AS.145.516 (01)

MSH Honors Thesis
AS.145.516 (02)

MSH Honors Thesis
AS.145.516 (03)

MSH Honors Thesis
AS.145.516 (04)

MSH Honors Thesis
AS.145.516 (05)

MSH Honors Thesis
AS.145.516 (06)

MSH Honors Thesis
AS.145.516 (07)

MSH Honors Thesis
AS.145.516 (08)

MSH Honors Thesis
AS.145.516 (09)

MSH Honors Thesis
AS.145.516 (10)

Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to Both
AS.150.136 (01)

Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to Both
AS.150.136 (02)

Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to Both
AS.150.136 (03)

Philosophy & Science: An Introduction to Both
AS.150.136 (04)

Medical Spanish
AS.210.313 (01)

Medical Spanish
AS.210.313 (02)

Science and Storytelling: The Narrative of Nature, the Nature of Narrative
AS.220.424 (01)

Acting for Doctors
AS.225.350 (01)

Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore
AS.280.120 (01)

Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore
AS.280.120 (02)

Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore
AS.280.120 (03)

Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore
AS.280.120 (04)

What is a Person? Humans, Corporations, Robots, Trees
AS.300.402 (01)

Introduction to the Museum: Past and Present
AS.389.201 (01)

Exhibiting Cultures
AS.389.233 (01)

Community Engaged Writing: Drugs and Harm Reduction in Baltimore
AS.004.351 (01)

Community-Engaged Writing: Public Health Campaigns & Information Access
AS.004.351 (02)

Special Topics in Writing: My Power: Motherhood in the Afterlife of Slavery
AS.004.441 (01)

Medical Terminology
AS.040.152 (01)

Zombies
AS.060.216 (01)

Zombies
AS.060.216 (02)

Zombies
AS.060.216 (03)

Zombies
AS.060.216 (04)

Cancer Care: Inequality, Ethnography, Poetics
AS.070.308 (01)

History of Modern Medicine
AS.140.106 (01)

History of Modern Medicine
AS.140.106 (02)

History of Modern Medicine
AS.140.106 (03)

Science and Religion: A Complicated History?
AS.140.233 (01)

Rise of Modern Science
AS.140.302 (01)