Center for History, Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences & Ethics in Medicine

CHHASSEM
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About

Learn about the Center for History, Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Ethics in Medicine.

How Can We Help?

Learn About the Center's helpful resources and tools.

Areas

Explore our multi-faceted discipline areas.

Research

Learn About CHHASSEM's Research & Impact.

Education

Learn about CHHASSEM’s commitment to training and mentorship.

People

Meet the diverse team behind the Center.

We are building a welcoming home where we center the insights and lessons of history, ethics, humanities, social sciences, and the arts to deepen our understanding of health, illness, and care delivery, and to amplify the promise of biomedicine. Put another way, CHHASSEM asks an aspirational question: “What could healthcare become?”

We invite members of the U-M community to co-create this new space with us as a place where we revive the heart of medicine and reimagine the experience of healing and healthcare work.

CHHASSEM’s leadership team submitted its three-year strategic plan earlier this year - you can read it here if you are interested.

Leadership

Director

Lisa Harris

Lisa H Harris, MD, PhD
Professor

Managing Director

Emilee Coulter-Thompson, DrPh, LMSW

Emilee Coulter-Thompson, DrPH, LMSW

Managing Director

We encourage you to connect with CHHASSEM's Director, Managing Director, or Area Directors to share ideas.

Director: Lisa Harris

Managing Director: Emilee Coulter-Thompson

Arts and Medicine Directors: Greer Hamilton & Daniel Whibley

History of Medicine and Public Health Director: Laura Hirshbein

Medical Humanities Directors: Terri Laws & Kara Zivin

Medical Social Sciences Directors: Julie Maslowsky & Scott Stonington

Michigan Bioethics Directors: Kayte Spector-Bagdady & Christian Vercler

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Discipline Areas
  • Michigan Bioethics
  • Medical Social Sciences
  • History of Medicine & Public Health
  • Medicine & Arts
  • Medical Humanities
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    Our Newsletters

    The Connector highlights our latest news and events. Check out our most recent issues here and subscribe to our email list to keep up with CHHASSEM.

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    • Upcoming Events
    9 16 2026 7:00 pm 9 16 2026

    Film Screening: Contagion
    Film screening of Contagion at the Michigan Theatre
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    9 22 2026 4:00 pm 9 22 2026 - 5:30 pm

    The Samantha Woll Dialogues: Why is Reproduction a Religious Issue?
    Why is Reproduction a Religious Issue?
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    9 23 2026 12:00 pm 9 23 2026 - 1:00 pm

    Bioethics Grand Rounds- Ethics and Values in Conservation Biology
    Bioethics Grand Rounds-September
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    9 29 2026 6:00 pm 9 29 2026 - 9:00 pm

    Finding Reverence in Medicine
    A conversation about reverence, vulnerability, and the human dimensions of caregiving.
    Rana Awdish
    10 27 2026 12:00 pm 10 27 2026 - 1:30 pm

    History of Medicine Club Event with Jacob Steere-Williams
    History of Medicine Club event
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    10 28 2026 12:00 pm 10 28 2026 - 1:00 pm

    Bioethics Grand Rounds

    Guest speaker Jacob Steere-Williams
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    11 17 2026 6:30 pm 11 17 2026 - 8:30 pm

    House Officer Association Panel discussion “Our stand is firm: Interns, Residents, and the Fight for Equity”
    HOA Panel discussion
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    12 3 2026 12:00 pm 12 3 2026 - 1:30 pm

    Highlighting Social Science and Global Health in The Lancet: The Cases in Global Social Medicine Series.

    Highlighting Social Science and Global Health in The Lancet
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    Featured News & Stories

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    Health Lab

    Doctors in the house: History of medical interns and residents at Michigan Medicine

    Terms like house officers, interns, residents, PGY, and clinical fellows are all part of academic medicine today. But these ways of describing clinical training stages all grew over times since the late 1800s.
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    The Fundamentals

    The Bioethics of Data and A.I. in Healthcare

    Season four of The Fundamentals is here, and we're celebrating by doing a special two-episode release to launch the season! On this episode of the Fundamentals, we talked to Professor Kayte Spector-Bagdady, the George E. Wantz Professor of Bioethics, about the use of massive amounts of data, artificial intelligence, and more. Be sure to check out our second launch episode and our entire back catalog on The Fundamentals website, or on your favorite podcast player.
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    Research News

    Securing NIH awards is getting more competitive — and confusing

    As success rates for grant applicants plummet, researchers scramble for new funding.
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    Health Lab

    The algorithm will see you now? Patients say not without a doctor nearby

    Researchers at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University found that U.S. adults were significantly more likely to trust in and choose medical AI in scenarios with better AI performance, U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, national and local certifications, the presence of a clinician, and the use of representative data.
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    News Release

    Pioneers and pathbreakers: Black History milestones at Michigan Medicine

    As part of the celebration and examination of U-M medical history, an overview of some of the key Black Americans who learned, taught, worked and led at the Medical School and beyond.
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    News Release

    175 years of U-M medical history come alive in museum exhibit

    A free museum exhibit explores the medical history of the University of Michigan from 1850 to today.