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The Department of History and Philosophy of Medicine consists of four major units: the Academic Programs, the Clendening Library, the Clendening Museum, and the KU Medical Center Archives. The Department unites these programs in its mission to advance understanding and application of ethical, historical and social analysis of health, medicine and healing.

Using the combined resources of the department we strive to teach students and colleagues how historical, ethical, and societal factors influence health and health care; and we inform our teaching through scholarship in the history and philosophy of medicine that merits national recognition.

Through our ethics programs we seek to deepen a moral appreciation of medicine's role in healing with teaching programs in the medical school and the KU Hospital residency programs combined with an active ethics consultation service in the KU Hospital. The department also lends support and leadership for the KU Hospital Ethics Committee.

Finally, the Clendening Library, Museum, and Archives act as careful stewards of our extensive historical collections, reach out to KUMC and the broader community to teach about the history of medicine, and promote the use and appreciation of the collections by scholars and students; while also seeking to add some color and variety to the life of the medical center.

KU School of Medicine

University of Kansas Medical Center
History and Philosophy of Medicine

Mail Stop 1025
3901 Rainbow Blvd.
Kansas City, KS 66160
Tel: 913-588-7098 | Fax: 913-588-7060