Rationale:

The Medical Scholars Program has long had a Liberal Studies emphasis and that is not changed in the proposed curriculum. Required courses for ALL Medical Scholars still include 9 credit hours of Humanities and Social Sciences. Also, Medical Scholars are still required to complete the College of Arts and Science breadth requirements. When the students choose their specialization in the new curriculum, they may choose Bioethics, a track that includes significant choices in philosophy. Therefore, the original intent of Medical Scholars is still represented in this new curriculum.

However, students who have an interest in medicine span many disciplines and colleges at the University. We have attempted to broaden the program to be attractive to these students while not dampening the enthusiasm for the program from the population of students who would normally be interested in its Liberal Studies emphasis. In addition, physicians and administrators at Jefferson Medical College have advised us that the profession itself is moving to include more training in public policy and economics as part of the medical education process. Therefore this new curriculum will put the Medical Scholars Program at the forefront of this new emphasis.