Are you interested in studying health and healing from multiple perspectives? The Health Studies Minor is a great place to start. For students planning to pursue clinical or research careers, for those passionate about policy work, and for everyone in between, the Health Studies Minor is a space to explore, learn, and discover together.
Drawing upon Lewis & Clark’s strong culture of interdisciplinary learning, the Health Studies minor recognizes the central role health plays in our lives and the value of a liberal-arts approach to solving the world’s current and future health challenges. The minor is multidisciplinary, bringing together coursework, internship experiences, and scholarly activity across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The minor provides the statistical and scientific foundation necessary for students interested in fields such as public health, counseling, and healthcare policy alongside the narrative, psychological, and cultural contexts that supplement the coursework of those interested in medicine, nursing, physical therapy, and other clinical careers.
Thethree core courses:
One statistics course,chosen fromECON 103(Statistics),MATH 123(Calculus and Statistics for Modeling the Life Sciences),MATH 255(Statistical Concepts and Methods), orPSY 200(Statistics)
One foundational course in health studies: HEAL 210(Public Health) orPSY 375(Health Psychology)
An internship capstone:HEAL 300(Health Studies Internship)
Elective courses,four credits from each ofthree categories:
Mechanisms of wellness and disease
Psychological and narrative representations of wellness and disease
Global and cultural approaches to wellness and disease
Examples of elective courses include: Introduction to Neuroscience; Disease Ecology; Physiology; Drugs and Behavior; Epidemiology; Writing and Illness; Psychiatric Health; Health Narratives; Religion, Spirituality, and Medicine; Global Health; Medicine, Healing, and Culture; and Global Health Economics.
Leveraging our renowned overseas and off-campus programs, students may apply up to 12 credits toward the minor from an approved overseas study program focused on public health. All students will have a health-related internship in Portland or overseas as part of their capstone experience. Explore volunteer and community-based projects through the Center for Community and Global Health.
