On Becoming a Humanities Curriculum: The Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

The authors describe the development and implementation of a new longitudinal and integrated humanities curriculum in the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Included are a history of ethics and humanities education in the medical school leading to the creation of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics in July 2002; an articulation of the Center’s basic principles; a curricular blueprint outlining the core objectives and methodologies, such as a narrative approach of this required, four-year humanities curriculum for undergraduate medical students; and an overview of course materials and activities.