Graduate Programme in Medical Science and Technology Studies

Medical Museion hosts the graduate programme in Medical Science and Technology Studies. The programme was initiated in 2011 as one of 18 specialised programmes in the Copenhagen Graduate School of Health Sciences. Scroll down to read about courses on offer, application, and current faculty and students.

What is it about?

Medical science and technology studies (MeST) is an umbrella term for a range of perspectives — historical, cultural, social, biographical, philosophical, political, aesthetic, etc. — on medical science and technology.

Students in the programme learn about the production, circulation and use of medical knowledge, skills and devices in the health system.

The programme works closely together with the Centre for Medical Science and Technology Studies (MeST), which involves scholars from the Medical Museion and the Section of Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen. The members of the teaching faculty (see below) are affiliated with the MeST centre.

Who is it for?

The programme is open to all graduate students interested in how the health system works. We have two main audiences:

Graduate students enrolled in the programme and similar programmes in Denmark and abroad who want to deepen their understanding of selected aspects of medical science and technology studies as an academic field.
Graduate students in the health sciences who want to get a wider perspective on how the health system works.

Currently, 12 graduate students (see below) are enrolled in the programme. Most are attached to Medical Museion or the Section of Health Services Research, but we welcome students from all research departments at the Faculty of Health Sciences.

To secure highest possible academic standards, the programme activities build on the research projects of the teaching faculty and the enrolled graduate students (see below).

Organisation

The graduate programme in Medical Science and Technology Studies is led by professor Thomas Söderqvist, Medical Museion.

The programme activities are discussed with a steering committee, which consists of the teaching faculty and two student representatives elected from the body of graduate students enrolled in the programme.

Faculty

The teaching faculty have their background in the humanities, social sciences and health sciences, including

science and technology studies
science communication studies
philosophy of science and technology, medical philosophy
medical history and biography
sociology and organisation studies
medical humanities, including literary and art studies
museology and curatorial studies
aesthetics
visual and material culture studies
medical ethics/bioethics

Adam Bencard, assistant professor, Medical Museion
Annamaria Carusi, associate professor, Section of Health Services Research
Ivan Lind Christensen, assistant professor, Section of Health Services Research
Jan Kyrre Berg Friis, associate professor, Section of Health Services Research
Klaus Lindgaard Høyer, associate professor, Section of Health Services Research
Annegrete Juul, assistant professor, Section of Health Services Research
Lene Koch, professor, Section of Health Services Research
Jesper Vaczy Kragh, associate professor, Medical Museion
Henriette Langstrup, associate professor, Section of Health Services Research
Jan Eric Olsén, associate professor, Medical Museion
Mette Nordahl Svendsen, associate professor, Section of Health Services Research
Thomas Söderqvist, professor, Medical Museion
Karin Tybjerg, associate professor, Medical Museion
Signild Vallgårda, professor, Section of Health Services Research
Louise Whiteley, assistant professor, Medical Museion

For most courses and other activities, the teaching faculty is supplemented with invited specialists drawn from our international network of research collaborators.

Courses in 2012

We are currently offering about 5 courses per year and some will be repeated every year.

Some courses are primarily aimed at students who are undergoing a professional training in science and technology studies, science communication etc. in this or similar programmes at other faculties and universities in Denmark and abroad.

Other courses are primarily aimed at graduate students in the health sciences, who are interested in getting a broader generic perspective on how medical science and technology is produced, circulated and used in the health system.

The following courses will be held in 2012:

At the Margins of Life and Death
Mette Nordahl Svendsen and Lene Koch together with Sharon Kaufman (Dept of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine, UCSF) and Lynn Morgan (Mount Holyoke College).
21-23 August 2012
Course description and more info here.

Public Health Ethics
Jan Kyrre Friis and Signild Vallgårda together with Angus Dawson (U Birmingham), Søren Holm (U Manchester), and Kalle Grill (Uppsala U).
14-16 November 2012
Course description and more info here.

Social Media, Medical Research and Public Engagement
Thomas Söderqvist and Louise Whiteley together with TBA
September or October 2012
(course description and more info TBA)

The following courses will be held in 2013:

Pushing the Boundaries of Medical Science Communication
Louise Whiteley and Thomas Söderqvist together with Maja Horst and Jenell Johnson (U Wisconsin-Madison)
4-7 March 2013
Course description and more info here, contact lowh@sund.ku.dk with questions or suggestions.

Earlier courses

Introduction to Medical Science and Technology Studies
Henriette Langstrup and Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen Friis
2011

Seminars and other activities

(TBA)

Students

12 graduate students are currently enrolled in the programme:

Julie Christina Grew, ICD technology for prevention of sudden death: Relations between patient, clinic, and politics (supervisor: supervisor: Mette Nordahl Svendsen)
Morten Hillgaard Bülow, A genealogical study of the concept of ‘healthy ageing’ and its relation to the notion of ‘human enhancement’ (supervisor: Thomas Söderqvist)
Sebastian Mohr, Transnationalizing sperm – transnationalizing standards. Mapping the choreography of sperm donation (supervisor: Klaus Høyer)
Andreas Hover Lundh, Conflicts of interest in biomedical publishing (supervisor: Peter C. Gøtzsche)
Louise Berendt, Gennemførelse og publikation af akademisk lægemiddelforskning (supervisor: Kim Peder Dalhoff)
Maria Olejaz Tellerup, Post-vital living: exploring how dead bodies are made productive in the medical sceinces and how policies regulating the area administer notions of person and body (supervisor: Klaus Høyer)
Barbara Ann Barrett, Guidelines in action. An anthropological analysis of prenatal screening (supervisor: Birgit Petersson)
Aske Juul Lassen, Health technologies in practice: ageing and chronic disease (supervisor: Michael Kjær)
Anette Stenslund, The smell in the gallery: synaesthetic dimensions in medical culture (supervisor: Thomas Söderqvist)
Sarah Wadmann, Evidence and practice: The production and translation of medical knowledge about blood pressure lowering drugs in Denmark (supervisor: Klaus Høyer)
Karen Dam Nielsen, IT-støttet egenomsorg for ICD-patienter: et studie af sociale og organisatoriske udfordringer forbundet med etableringen af bæredygtige infrastrukturer i kronikerbehandling (supervisor: Mette Nordahl Svendsen)
Adrian Joseph Bertoli, Diabetes research commmunication and changing indentities of type 2 diabetes patients, 1960-2010 (supervisor: Thomas Söderqvist)