The Case for an Updated Premedical Curriculum in the United States
In today’s world of stark inequalities, medical education is increasingly recognizing the importance of exposing future physicians to topics such as health equity, social justice, public health, and human rights. A human rights-based approach (HRBA) to medical education centers these concepts as the...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | Health and Human Rights |
| Online Access: | https://www.hhrjournal.org/files/2025/06/krysiewicz-bell-.pdf |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849429895047806976 |
|---|---|
| author | Aubrienne Krysiewicz-Bell |
| author_facet | Aubrienne Krysiewicz-Bell |
| author_sort | Aubrienne Krysiewicz-Bell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In today’s world of stark inequalities, medical education is increasingly recognizing the importance of exposing future physicians to topics such as health equity, social justice, public health, and human rights. A human rights-based approach (HRBA) to medical education centers these concepts as the foundation of equitable and accessible health care systems, comprising professionals who are literate in the social determinants of health and work to combat underlying inequalities. While medical schools and residency programs have preliminarily embraced this approach, the premedical curriculum has remained effectively stagnant since the early 20th century, adopting a narrow focus on the basic sciences and competitive individualism. In this essay, I argue that the premedical years represent a crucial, yet thus far overlooked, time frame in which to cultivate the values, qualities, and career expectations required of physicians under an HRBA to medical education, and critique how the current system generally fails to accomplish this. As a potential solution to realign the premedical curriculum with an HRBA and promote greater synergy within the medical education pipeline, I promote the introduction of premedical service-learning courses, which combine formal instruction in social justice, public health, and human rights with student-led community service projects. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c518bb23e91042528b7bde6fdacf2ac3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2150-4113 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Health and Human Rights |
| spelling | doaj-art-c518bb23e91042528b7bde6fdacf2ac32025-08-20T03:28:10ZengHarvard FXB Center for Health and Human RightsHealth and Human Rights2150-41132025-06-012717382The Case for an Updated Premedical Curriculum in the United StatesAubrienne Krysiewicz-Bell0Incoming first year medical student at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, United States.In today’s world of stark inequalities, medical education is increasingly recognizing the importance of exposing future physicians to topics such as health equity, social justice, public health, and human rights. A human rights-based approach (HRBA) to medical education centers these concepts as the foundation of equitable and accessible health care systems, comprising professionals who are literate in the social determinants of health and work to combat underlying inequalities. While medical schools and residency programs have preliminarily embraced this approach, the premedical curriculum has remained effectively stagnant since the early 20th century, adopting a narrow focus on the basic sciences and competitive individualism. In this essay, I argue that the premedical years represent a crucial, yet thus far overlooked, time frame in which to cultivate the values, qualities, and career expectations required of physicians under an HRBA to medical education, and critique how the current system generally fails to accomplish this. As a potential solution to realign the premedical curriculum with an HRBA and promote greater synergy within the medical education pipeline, I promote the introduction of premedical service-learning courses, which combine formal instruction in social justice, public health, and human rights with student-led community service projects.https://www.hhrjournal.org/files/2025/06/krysiewicz-bell-.pdf |
| spellingShingle | Aubrienne Krysiewicz-Bell The Case for an Updated Premedical Curriculum in the United States Health and Human Rights |
| title | The Case for an Updated Premedical Curriculum in the United States |
| title_full | The Case for an Updated Premedical Curriculum in the United States |
| title_fullStr | The Case for an Updated Premedical Curriculum in the United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Case for an Updated Premedical Curriculum in the United States |
| title_short | The Case for an Updated Premedical Curriculum in the United States |
| title_sort | case for an updated premedical curriculum in the united states |
| url | https://www.hhrjournal.org/files/2025/06/krysiewicz-bell-.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT aubriennekrysiewiczbell thecaseforanupdatedpremedicalcurriculumintheunitedstates AT aubriennekrysiewiczbell caseforanupdatedpremedicalcurriculumintheunitedstates |