618 Irving Ave.
Syracuse, NY 13210
(315) 464-5404
Course Descriptions
AIDS in American Literature - 3 credits
Deirdre Neilen, Ph.D., Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University
This course will examine attitudes (cultural, national, professional, medical, personal) towards those who have HIV/AIDS. The literature will present a combination of fictional and real characters; through their lives we follow the progression of the disease from its initial incarnation as mysterious, frightening curse to its current status as a chronic illness that can be managed with proper treatment and medication. We will explore the ethical dilemmas AIDS brought to the forefront of medicine, law, and politics and analyze today's responses with those in the first days of the epidemic. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM431/531 ETS405 CCFM1408 CCFM408 CCFM6408 Interview on Upstate's HealthLink on Air, November 29, 2009: Joel Potash, MD and Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Evolving attitudes toward AIDS and advances in its treatment. Download (10.08 MB)
Bioethics - 3 credits (Spring)
Dr. Ernest Wallwork, Ph.D.
Religion, Syracuse University
This course examines the use of ethical theories and standards by health care professionals. Specific issues presented in the context of case studies illuminate different types of ethical dilemmas and alternative ways of handling them morally. Issues include euthanasia, assisted suicide, truth-telling, confidentiality, research ethics, abortion, genetic counseling, surrogate motherhood, the uses of new reproductive technologies, and justice with respect to care. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradUpstate
MPHCCM407/507 PHI594 CFM1413 CCFM413 CCFM6413 MPHP664 ------ REL552 ------ ------ ------ ------
Child Health Policy - 3 credits
Amy T. Campbell, J.D., MBE , Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Children’s health is influenced by a host of factors, not least of which is policy. It may be influenced by policy directly at a medical level, or less directly at a child-serving systems (e.g., public health, education, juvenile justice) level. This course will cover how child health policy is developed, implemented, evaluated, and influenced, with a focus on how child health policy is influenced by circumstances beyond traditional boundaries of “health care.” Students will examine how law and medicine (specifically, “child health”) interact, hearing from a variety of disciplinary and community-bases perspectives. Students will discuss how expertise from various sources might be joined to enhance the effectiveness of child health policy. Revised Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradUpstate
MPHCCM439/539 LAW890 CCFM1416 CCFM416 CCFM6416 MPHP662
Culture and Mental Disorder - 3 credits
John Townsend, Ph.D.
Anthropology , Syracuse University
Mental disorders viewed as illnesses or social constructions. Cross-cultural variation and universals. Western and non-Western methods of treatment. Additional work required of graduate students. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM409/509 ANT467 CCFM1451 CCFM451 CCFM6451 PSY309 ANT667 ------ ------ ------
Culture and Reproductive Health and Medicine - 3 credits
Cecilia Van Hollen, Ph.D.
Anthropology, Syracuse University
This course examines diverse ways in which societies throughout the globe view and manage human reproduction and the implications this has for health care and medicine. The emphasis will be primarily, though not exclusively, on women’s reproductive health throughout the life cycle, including puberty, sex, pregnancy, family planning, childbirth, infertility, and menopause. The course also explores changes in reproductive health care in the context of globalization and considers how an understanding of the influence of culture on reproductive health is crucial for the development of international public health policy and practice. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM410/510 ANT462/662 CCFM1414 CCFM414 CCFM6414 ANT 410 HTW 462/662 ------ ------ ------ ------ WGS 462 ------ ------ ------
Disability, Medicine, and Representation - 3 credits
Rebecca Garden, Ph.D., Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University
This course aims to bring disability and medicine into cross-disciplinary dialogue by examining representations of disability and medicine in film, literature, and medical texts on disability. These texts and conventions are considered in light of critical discussions of representation and disability. The "medicalization" of disability is examined, with students invited to explore disability and ability as cultural representations, wherein bodily abilities and limitations are conditioned by subjective perceptions of “normalcy.” A principal question is how to incorporate a “social model” of disability into medical/clinical education and practice. Disability studies scholars and clinicians working on disability will be guest speakers. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM440/540 ETS 405 CCFM1417 CCFM417 CCFM6417
Dying and Death in American Literature - 3 credits
Deirdre Neilen, Ph.D., Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Contemporary culture in the United States appears to worship youth and do all it can to deny or at least delay aging for as long as possible. Consequently, many of us have difficulty both facing our own mortality and handling the serious illnesses of those we love. This course will examine American attitudes and responses toward the end of life through fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and film. Literature allows us to analyze our own attitudes and philosophies more objectively than we might otherwise do. The course will introduce the ethical issues that arise with end of life care particularly from the perspective of physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM429/529 ETS405 CCFM1405 >CCFM405 CCFM6405
Economic Issues in Health Care - 3 credits
Harjit Arora, Ph.D.,
Economic Department, Le Moyne College
This course examines the challenging questions of why health care spending in the U.S. continues to rise in spite of efforts to control costs. The focus of the course will be on examining the key issues responsible for cost increases and why this country has one in six individuals without any health insurance and one in four with sub-standard health care. The topics include factors affecting demand and supply of healthcare services such as socio-cultural considerations and healthcare threats; demographic changes and aging of the population; economic and legal forces impacting healthcare system; and the role of technology in the delivery of healthcare. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM420/520 PSC 400 CCFM1420 CCFM420 CCFM6420 ECO320 ------ ------ ------ ------
Ethics and the Health Professions - 3 credits (Fall)
Robert W. Daly, M.D., Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Robert Flower, Ph.D.
Philosophy, Le Moyne College
This course examines the origins and use of ethical theories in the clinical, professional. organizational, and political-economic fields of action in health care. Specific issues presented in the context of case studies illuminate the several fields. These issues include assisted suicide, professional codes of ethics, the ethics of "cost-cutting," and justice with respect to care. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM408/508 PHI593 CCFM1402 CCFM402 CCFM6402 PHL347 REL551 ------ ------ ------
Exploring Good Leadership (formerly:Let's Talk About Ethical Leadership) - 3 credits
Gregory L. Eastwood, M.D., Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Two premises underlie this seminar course: (1) Because of widespread deficiencies in leadership to address the complex and critical issues that threaten humankind, there is an urgent need for broadly educated leaders who act within a set of ethical principles. (2) Anyone who is an undergraduate, graduate, professional, or postgraduate student may be called to exert leadership now or in the future. This course examines critically the character traits and skills of good leaders, whether the leader operates locally or in the world in any discipline, including business, government, health care, and academia. Using short essays, reference materials, excerpts from literature, ethical dilemmas, the students’ own experiences, and interactions with visiting leaders, students explore such topics as What is Ethical Leadership?, Who Can Be a Leader?, Integrity and Reputation, Knowing Yourself, Motivation and Principles, Education of Leaders, Use of Power, Learning from Mentors and Peers, Communicating Effectively, Listening with a Prepared Mind, Evolution and Ethical Behavior, and Leadership Style. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM430/530 PSC400 CCFM1415 CCFM415 CCFM6415
First Person: Narratives of Illness, Disability, and Identity - 3 credits
Rebecca Garden, Ph.D., Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University
This course explores first-person narratives of illness and disability, especially in light of other forms of social difference, such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and class. Using tools of literary analysis and cultural criticism, students come together from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds to examine the experiences of writers with AIDS, autism, cancer, hepatitis, and multiple sclerosis. Students consider ethical and social issues such as doctor/patient relationships, caregiver relations, questions of control, authority, appearance, and “normalcy” and the role of empathy and emotion in medicine and healing. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM405/505 ETS405 CCFM1427 CCFM427 CCFM6427
Global Health - 3 credits
Robert A. Rubinstein, Ph.D., Ms.PH
Anthropology, Syracuse University
This course examines global health from an anthropological perspective. It explores the political and social circumstances which shaped the development of international health. It examines how culture shapes both the conditions under which people experience morbidity and mortality and their responses to illness. Topics considered include the development of international health, epidemiological and anthropological research methods, gender and health, reproductive health, infectious disease, health and inequality and the health consequences of war. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate>br /> Med Upstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM441/541 ANT463/663 CCFM1418 CCFM418 CCFM6418 ------- HTW463/663 -------- -------- --------
Global Health and Ethics - 3 credits
James Dwyer, Ph.D., Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University
This course involves a careful examination of ethical issues in global and international health. The course focuses critical attention on ethical issues about trade in human organs, human migration, infectious diseases (like HIV and SARS), health inequalities within and between countries, nutrition, war, environmental degradation, and service abroad. To deal with these issues, the readings and lectures will develop ideas about responsibility, need, autonomy, community, human rights, and global justice.
Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM430/530 PSC400 CCFM1426 CCFM426 CCFM6426
History of Public Health in America - 3 credits
Gwen Kay, Ph.D.
History Department, SUNY Oswego
This course will analyze the changes, and crises, in public health in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. After establishing the realities of medicine in the 19th century, we will examine episodes that helped shape our national sensibility about public health. From the treatment of Bubonic plague in San Francisco (1906) to scientific study in Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama (1932-1972), from germ theory to AIDS, students will learn about successes and failures in public health. Mistakes and accomplishments in the past can serve as useful tools for those who will shape the future of our health and health care. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradUpstate
MPHCCM533 PSC600 CFM1409 ------ CCFM6409 MPHP678 ------ HST600 ------ ------ ------ ------
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Aging Issues - 3 credits
Nina Kohn, JD
College of Law, Syracuse University
The course will bring together students, faculty, and guests from multiple disciplines to explore interdisciplinary approaches to serving the needs of older adults. Each class will be devoted to a discrete topic ranging from end-of-life care, to driving cessation, to surrogate decision-making, to elder abuse. Students will be offered readings from multiple disciplines relating to the topic of the week and one or two case studies to consider in advance of class. Class time will be devoted in large part to an interactive discussion of the case study or studies of the week. The aim of the course is for students to learn how other disciplines might approach problems they encounter in their work with seniors, what other resources are available to assist them in their work with seniors, and how to work in a truly interdisciplinary manner with professionals from multiple disciplines. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradUpstate
MPHCCM432/532 LAW741 CCFM1410 ------ CCFM6410 MPHP680 ------ PSC700 ------ ------ ------ ------
Medical Anthropology - 3 credits
John Townsend, Ph.D.
Anthropology, Syracuse University
The fundamental tenets of health care delivery are analyzed and the concepts of "health," "illness," "patient," "cure," and "efficiency" are explored. Western medical practices are compared to practices in other cultures; implicit premises and deficiencies in western medicine are highlighted. Topics include analysis of status and roles in hospitals; socialization into the culture of medicine; magical curing; economic barriers to better health care; problems introducing western medicine into alien cultures; and the patient’s role. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM416/516 ANT465 CCFM1452 CCFM452 CCFM6452 ANT422 ANT665 ------ ------ ------
Medicine in Literature and Film - 3 credits
Deirdre Neilen, Ph.D., Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University
The relationship between artistic creation and medicine will be explored through the study of novels, film, short stories, poetry, and essays about medical situations, characters and themes. Thematic areas to be examined include the relationship between truth and confidentiality; the hospital as toxic and therapeutic environment; relationships between health care workers and patients; illness as metaphor and as reality; and the experience of disease. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM422/522 ETS405 CCFM1423 CCFM423 CCFM6423 ENG455 ------ ------ ------ ------
Representations of the Nurse in Literature, Film, and Television - 3 credits
Rebecca Garden, Ph.D., Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University
How the nurse has been represented historically in literature, film and television is explored, focusing specifically at the relationships among images of nurses, ideologies of nursing, and the practice of nursing. Representations of nursing in late nineteenth-century and twentieth-century texts are examined in relation to larger class and gender issues, including the ways in which the nurse threatened traditional notions of women. The social contexts of representations of nurses in late twentieth-century culture are analyzed, from Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to the gay male nurse Belize in Angels in America, and stereotypes and iconoclastic figures are identified. Focusing on more recent literature, film, and television, the figure of the nurse is considered in relation to contemporary concerns about the nursing profession, such as the relationship between nurses and physicians, the economy of the hospital and health care, and the nursing shortage. Syllabus
LMC SU Upstate
MedUpstate
CONUpstate
CON GradCCM434/534 ETS405 CCFM1411 CCFM411 CCFM6411