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MHS Honors is a selective, two-semester program of individual undergraduate research, supervised by faculty advisors. Honors candidates propose, research, and write a thesis that contributes to an existing scholarly literature in the chosen field of study. To satisfy MHS’s requirements, the thesis must examine some aspect of health and health care in its social and cultural contexts.

 

Program Requirements:

  • A 3.3 cumulative grade point average.
  •  A 3.3 cumulative grade point average in Medicine, Health, and Society.
  • An application that: 1) Describes the proposed topic; 2) Identifies the faculty member who will serve as the thesis advisor; and 3) Includes a letter of recommendation from the proposed thesis advisor.
  • 6 hours in the fall and spring semesters of the senior year in MHS 297/298.
  • An honors thesis to be submitted no later than two weeks before the end of classes in the spring of the senior year.
  • Successful completion of an oral examination focusing on the topic of the thesis.

 

Application process:

  • Completed applications must be turned in by Friday before spring break (of the student’s junior year). Please bring Ms. Barbara Kaeser two copies of the application (Buttrick 230).
  •  A completed application includes a letter of recommendation from the faculty member who has agreed to be your thesis advisor. The letter should be sent under separate cover, either by email or in hard copy, to Ms. Barbara Kaeser.
  • The Director and Associate Director of MHS will review your application and make a decision by the Friday after spring break.
  • Students who are accepted into the honors track will sign up for MHS 297 (3 hours) in the fall semester of their senior year, and MHS 298 (3 hours) in the spring semester.

 

Additional information is available from the Director of Medicine, Health, and Society.

 

Current and Past Honors Theses:

Adam Carlisle, Clinical Research of Portion Estimation (2007)
Advisor: Russell Rothman, MD, VUMC

Kelley Coffman, Health Risks and Nuclear Materials (expected 2009)
Advisor: Jonathan Gilligan, A&S

Sarah Deery, Effect of Literacy and Numeracy on Renal Function in Patients with Diabetes (2008)
Advisor: Russell Rothman, MD, VUMC

Erin Duncan, Role of the Interpreter in the Hospital (2007)
Advisor: Elizabeth Heitman, PhD, VUMC

Disha Kumar, Race & Gender Concordance between Patient and Physician (2007)
Advisor: David Schlundt, PhD, A&S

Beth McKinnon, Patient-Physician Relationship in the Latino Population (2007)
Advisor: Elizabeth Heitman, PhD, VUMC

Brett Sklaw, The Narrow Approach of Acute Medicine: Diabetes as a Public Health Problem, 1930-1960 (2005)
Advisor: Arleen Tuchman, PhD, A&S

 

Honors Program (MHS 297/298) Application Form (PDF 57kb)