CENTER FOR URBAN BIOETHICS AND HUMANITIES

About the Center

The purpose of the Center for Urban Bioethics and Humanities at Temple University School of Medicine is to foster an academic culture that augments the education of medical students, physicians, and the local community with the richness of the humanities and bioethics and applies it to the practice of medicine in the urban environment.

Given the current climate of health care in the United States and the all-too-frequent marginalization of humanistic patient care, the emphasis on bioethics and humanities as a staple of the education of health care professionals changes the ways in which care givers consider patients and their illnesses.  Effective patient care takes into consideration the entirety of an individual, their successes and their struggles, and is not limited to a more narrow focus limited only to disease processes.  In recognizing that physicians' most valuable teachers are their patients, opportunities need to be created to allow the maturing student to gain a holistic perception of individuals in the community in which they serve.  By integrating academic initiatives with community service, the very moral compass of medicine shifts towards the humanistic and ethical treatment of individuals.