Medicine | Anthropology
Anthropology, “the science of humanity,” is an expansive field that encompasses a diverse array of subject matter. Since its creation, it has been a cornerstone of the intersection between natural science and the humanities. The various specialties within the overarching field each provide a different lens with which to view humanity and human history.
Social/Cultural Anthropology
These specialties focus on the cultural systems that distinguish human societies from one another as well as the systems of social organization that are associated with these systems. Topics may include the experience of illness and the social relations of sickness; popular health culture and domestic health care practices; risk and protective dimensions of human behavior, cultural norms and social institutions; the social organization of clinical interactions; and disease distribution and health disparity.
Archeology
Archeology is fundamentally a historical science which focuses on reconstructing, interpreting, and understanding past human societies. Thus, your archeology-focused paper may draw from a wide range of scientific disciplines, from chemistry and genetics to psychology and sociology help shape an understanding of past societies. Investigating topics such as the practices and health customs of past human societies can then inform modern medical practices and provide context for the evolution of medicine.
Biological/Physical Anthropology
The main focuses of this specialty are human evolution and human biosocial variation, and there are many topics that can be studied within these two concept areas. Topics may include the evolutionary context and medical ramifications of childbirth, the evolutionary history of human nutrition and its relation to the current obesity epidemic, and global human migration or distribution of disease.
This list of subspecialties is far from exhaustive, and it is made longer still with the idea that you can focus on a subject within one of the subfields or take a multidisciplinary approach. By studying the intersection of medicine and anthropology, you will gain a deep understanding of anthropological techniques as well as explore potential insights into the medical field and modern medical challenges from a unique perspective.
Medicine | Arts
Physicians are beginning to recognize the therapeutic potential of integrating performing and visual arts into clinical practice. The connection between the mind and physical health gives art incredible therapeutic power. There are several approaches that you can take in this section. For example, music and art therapy offer cathartic experiences for suffering patients and engaging in these activities themselves can give a sense of purpose and resolve. Additionally, several movies and TV shows have drawn from the field of medicine for entertainment. You may wish to explore how art has changed the way clinicians practice medicine, how the arts have portrayed medicine, or develop your own innovative topic exploring these complementary fields.
The patient as a spectator/listener:
Viewing artwork, listening to music, or watching a dance can distract patients from suffering, alleviate stress, and help them explore their emotions. Experiencing art is a crucial part of the human experience and has important implications for our well-being. Topics may include the use of art therapy in mental health treatment; the relationship between art and mood; use of art in treatment of physical conditions; and growing acceptance of art therapy in clinical medicine.
The patient as an artist:
Although an artist hopes that their craft impacts the lives of those around them, they are at least assured to gain benefit from it themselves. Learning an art form is a rewarding process that greatly elevates an individual’s life-satisfaction. Topics may include: the utility of art in improving emotion regulation; art as a form of physical rehabilitation; the relationship between art and the mind of a child; and the importance of children engaging in the arts as a part of pediatric care.
Movies, Television & Theater
Hospitals and health emergencies are a common theme across popular media. In turn, both movies and TV shows have influenced the public’s perception of medicine and healthcare. Topics may include the accuracy of the depiction of medicine in the arts and the influence of media perceptions of medicine on physician practices.
You may choose to focus on how experiencing art changes mental, emotional, and physical well-being, or how direct engagement can influence patient health and improve overall quality of life. To be successful, you must demonstrate deep levels of understanding about an artistic field, and how this field has influenced medicine (or vice versa).
Medicine | Economics
The intersection between medicine and economics deals with the financial aspect of medicine including the efficiencies and inefficiencies inherent to the healthcare system, the development of therapies, the markets of such therapies and much more. Given the data-driven and versatile nature of this category, you are encouraged to use evidence from publications, databases, and current events to construct your argument, which can include figures, tables, and general graphs that illustrate your points.
Examples that you could write about include an economic evaluation of points in the drug development process, the pricing between different kinds of medical products (pharmaceuticals, prosthetics, therapies, etc.) along with the similarities, the cost drivers of different industries, and the influence of stakeholders of medical companies and institutions.
It is possible for you to conduct original research using databases/country data sets to establish a unique point that has previously not previously been explored; in these cases, we will certainly alert professors to the work done should you progress into the final round so that you may have their work evaluated by someone who is acclimated to such data collection and analysis. And, should the professor find something interesting that they have not considered before, they could be given the opportunity to engage with you to bring the perspective to a larger audience.
Understanding healthcare economics is an essential part of the development and training of an upcoming physician. It holds the key for recognizing the reasons for high healthcare costs, the basis for the pharmaceutical market, differing health care models around the world, how providers interact with payers, and so much more that has shaped the industry into what it is today. This kind of understanding underlies all government-related policy initiatives and will help build the students as future doctors who will be able to visualize the system that they take part in as they exit medical school.
Medicine | Gender
The nuanced and interacting concepts of sex and gender have gained increasing recognition and discussion over the past few decades. The definition of sex relies heavily on a biological basis. While sex has long played a role in medicine, the importance of gender has been more recently recognized. Gender is typically considered to be a social institution, and the definition emphasizes social and cultural influences. The World Health Organization states that “Gender shapes everyone’s experience of health care, in terms of affordability, access and use of services and products, and interaction with healthcare providers.”
Despite the far reaching and numerous implications of gender on health, medicine has historically focused primarily on what works for men. For decades, clinical trials investigating diseases prevalent in both sexes considered males, typically of the Caucasian race, to be the “norm” study population. Women’s fluctuating hormone levels were thought to be a confounding factor, hindering an accurate understanding of women’s response to medications. Other marginalized gender identities have also suffered from insufficient representation and attention in medical research and employment. This has, in part, contributed to the health disparities that are apparent among populations with different gender identities. Understanding the intersection between gender and medicine is an important opportunity to address these disparities and further the goal of providing equitable healthcare.
Your papers in this space could explore a wide range of issues. They may include recent legislation on women’s health in the United States or globally, mental health problems and treatment options for individuals with a marginalized gender identity, or female pain and diagnosis in a clinical setting. You could also research the effect of masculinity on health behaviors, the representation of different genders in medical specialties, or how interactions with healthcare providers may be influenced by gender. These are only a small subset of possible options.
It will be important for you to be familiar with current events and issues in medicine. Additionally, you can benefit from the opportunity to question and consider accepted gender norms and how they may relate to a wide range of life outcomes as well as health. Finally, your topic may lead you to explore some of the challenges that are unique to people with a marginalized gender identity and gain a greater understanding, and hopefully empathy, for other individuals.
Medicine | Government
Medicine and government form a powerful intersection that has been at the core of the healthcare debate pervading American political discussion. Differences in opinion with regards to insurance, the FDA approval process and their purview of clinical trials, as well as the Medicare and Medicaid funding are the more common topics that have emerged, especially during the 2020 presidential election. The goal of this category of the competition is to analyze the separation and intersection of medicine, with a focus on looking at the way that medicine is impacted (positively and/or negatively) by the involvement of government and the implementation of regulation, lack of regulation, or the general implementation of policy.
For instance, the Hippocratic oath, taken by all medical school students following their medical education and on their way into the workplace, is perhaps best understood as the universal “do no harm” oath. However, encompassed within this oath is also to keep patients from “harm and injustice.” As such, the Hippocratic oath inevitably entwines ideas of politics and healthcare; protecting patients from harm and injustice extends far into the realm of policy. So, broad topics such as insurance, FDA approval, and private/public healthcare are encouraged for exploration within this section, but it is our hope that you target more specific study within the context of this competition.
A specific topic could be the 1927 Supreme Court Case of Buck vs. Bell in which the court ruled eight to one to permit that “the sterilization on eugenic grounds was within the police power of the state” and did not violate the Due Process clause of the 14th amendment of the Constitution. Plaintiff Carrie Buck was as a result sterilized when it was determined she inherited the “feeblemindedness” and “promiscuity” that led her mother to be institutionalized. This is an extreme example of outdated thinking when considering disabilities in American medicine, but has such thinking disappeared from medicine?
Additionally, the advent of artificial intelligence and advanced computer processing has recently started to pervade research involving the human genome. Given the threats of hacking and the loss of HIPAA protected information, should such technology be regulated in the name of security, or should we allow the development and proliferation of such technologies to advance the medical sector? Finally, the regulation of euthanasia has also been a contentious topic and has made its way into popular culture through movies and books, many of which are based on real patients. Through such avenues, it is evident that different countries hold different ethical beliefs regarding their medical practices. Given this, what is the interplay between the ethics of the country, governments’ view on medicine, and their policy for euthanasia?
Medicine | History
As healthcare becomes increasingly technology-driven, it’s easy for us to forget the myriad medical advancements that researchers and doctors have made over the course of human history. The modern physician owes his or her entire medical toolbox to past researchers, from the creation of medical ethical codes by Hippocrates to antiseptic technique development from Joseph Lister to antibiotic discoveries made by Alexander Fleming. In the Medicine & History section, you will be able to explore the historic various triumphs and failures in science and medicine that have been fundamental in shaping the healthcare system that we know today.
One area that you can look at is periods of rapid medical advancement, like war or manufacturing revolutions like the industrial revolution. During these time periods, due to either a lack or a removal of restrictions on researchers, scientists were able to rapidly make findings in several areas of medicine. Topics may include rapid development of vaccines during public health epidemics; changes to medical research publication during public health developments; and cuts or additions to certain areas of research funding during war times.
You could also take a broader approach to look at the history of medicine in the broader context of socioeconomic, cultural, and/or other scientific trends across history. For example, the Industrial Revolution not only highlighted the dramatic need for better surgical practice, but also yielded valuable technologies that made surgery safer, quicker, and more successful. In a much more tragic example, the eugenics movement considerably reflects the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin, whose findings fueled the rise of global ‘Social Darwinist’ movements and inspired the doctrine of ‘survival of the fittest’.
It is your job as a writer to explore the aforementioned themes. What constitutes the historical triumphs and tragedies in the medical history of your chosen field/topic? Who contributed to the medical discoveries outlined in your writing? Keep in mind both the human benefits, and the human costs of medical practice. How have current techniques improved on existing ones – in both objective/scientific and subjective/humanitarian terms. How can they be further improved?
Medicine | Philosophy
You may choose to examine clinical practice using applied ethics, in which philosophical ideas are used to determine the right course of action in specific cases. The basic principles of medical ethics –beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and autonomy – should be used to build an argument about the permissibility and/or necessity of certain actions in medical practice. The following are possible topics for an essay in medical ethics (note: this list is by no means exhaustive, and you are encouraged to develop their own questions).
Beneficence/Nonmaleficence
Beneficence and nonmaleficence are central tenants to healthcare; both refer to the obligations that physicians have in doing good to others and not inflicting harm on their patients. Topics may include physician assisted suicide; patient privacy and confidentiality; and abortion.
Justice
Justice means giving each patient the care that he or she deserves. Topics may include equal access to healthcare and equity of treatment; organ donation; and techniques for trait selection like pre-implantation diagnosis or germline editing.
Autonomy
Autonomy refers to self-governance and a state of being where one is able to live a life authentically by one’s own values and desires. In a healthcare setting, this means allowing patients to make well-informed decisions about their health. Topics may include pediatric medical treatments; patients in comatose or vegetative states; or treatment non-compliance.
You may also wish to examine medicine through the lens of ‘pure’ philosophical ideologies such as Kantian deontology, stoicism, or virtue ethics. These essays will demonstrate an understanding of philosophical theory and describe its relevance to the field of medicine. No matter what topic you choose, in your paper, you should display deep levels of understanding of medical ethics, moral-philosophy, logic, and reason.
Medicine | Religion
Religion and spirituality have been tied to medicine and healing for centuries. Before the development of modern medicine, shamans and medicine men were the principal resource of the sick, injured, and dying, and the healing practices and medicinal herbs they utilized were deeply intertwined with spiritual beliefs. In modern life, religion continues to be a critical determinant of physical, emotional, and social health. For many people, religion provides an ethical framework which guides decision making and determines personal values. Religious beliefs have also been documented to have profound effects on the mental health of patients, especially those faced with the end of life. Subsequently, religious belief has been widely considered to be used along with modern medicine due to the important role it can have in the lives of both patients and doctors.
Your article can explore a variety of topics, such as: religion’s influence on doctors, patients, or both; religion’s role in shaping health care legislation; the ethics of incorporation of religion from either the patient or provider perspective; or even the extent to which religion should be used in medicine. There are a wide range of possible perspectives and subjects that explore the intersection between medicine and religion, and you should find a niche subject that includes scientific sources as well as research that draws from the humanities.
Despite its importance in medicine, religion is often not adequately addressed in modern-day medical practice. This is manifested not only in the lack of research between medicine and religion compared to other topics but also in healthcare providers’ lack of understanding of spiritual assessment and applications.
Research within this topic will allow you as a future medical student to gain a greater understanding of and sensitivity to the nuances of religion’s role in medicine. Considerations of religion into the practice of medicine may facilitate more effective interpersonal communication with future patients that could benefit the entire industry.
If you would like a pdf version of all the student information, see here. Please note that the PDF and BtMMD web pages change as broken links are noted and updated. If you are having trouble with a link on the PDF, try redownloading it and see if the issue is fixed; if it isn’t, please reach out to us via email!