Dartmouth University

What you'll study

This master's curriculum integrates core principles of health professions education with applied ethics and the medical humanities. You will study contemporary theories of teaching and learning in clinical settings, curriculum design and assessment, qualitative and mixed-methods research, and ethical analysis as applied to patient care, education and health policy. Modules typically cover:

• Foundations of Health Professions Education — adult learning theory, instructional design, and competency-based education.
• Assessment and Evaluation — developing reliable assessment tools, workplace-based assessment, program evaluation and feedback strategies.
• Ethics in Clinical and Educational Contexts — applied clinical ethics, professionalism, ethical issues in education and research ethics.
• Medical and Health Humanities — narrative medicine, literature and medicine, visual and performing arts approaches to empathy and reflection.
• Research Methods for Educators — qualitative methods, survey design, mixed-methods approaches, and programme evaluation techniques.
• Leadership and Change Management — leading curricular change, interprofessional education, and faculty development.

The programme typically includes a capstone project or thesis in which students design, implement and evaluate an educational intervention or an ethics/humanities scholarship project within a clinical or academic setting. Students can often tailor elective choices to particular disciplines (medicine, nursing, allied health) and pursue mentorship with faculty involved in education scholarship and ethics consultation.

Entry requirements

Applicants are normally required to hold a recognised bachelor's degree. Clinical experience or professional practice in a health-related field is strongly preferred and often expected for competitive applicants. Typical application materials include a CV, personal statement outlining educational and career goals, and two professional or academic references. Where relevant, applicants may also be asked to submit examples of prior educational work or a brief proposal for the capstone project.

Some programmes may request evidence of prior coursework in research methods or demonstrated experience with teaching activities; applicants without those backgrounds may be advised to undertake preparatory modules. Admissions decisions take into account professional experience, commitment to education and ethics, and fit with faculty supervision capacity.

Career prospects

Graduates pursue careers across academic, clinical and policy settings. Common roles include:

• Clinical educator or faculty developer in medical schools, nursing schools and allied health programmes.
• Curriculum designer or assessment lead responsible for programme evaluation and accreditation activities.
• Ethics consultant or member of clinical ethics committees in hospitals and health systems.
• Programme director for medical humanities initiatives, narrative medicine workshops or reflective practice curricula.
• Researcher in health professions education or bioethics, often working toward leadership in education scholarship or doctoral study.

The blend of education, ethics and humanities prepares graduates to influence how health professionals are taught and assessed, to lead faculty development efforts, and to contribute to institutional conversations about values, professionalism and patient-centred care.

Why study at Dartmouth University

Studying this interdisciplinary master's at Dartmouth offers close engagement with faculty experienced in clinical education, ethics consultation and humanities scholarship, and access to clinical settings within the Dartmouth health system. The programme emphasises small cohort learning, individualized mentorship and opportunities for hands-on educational practice and research.

Dartmouth's environment supports cross-disciplinary collaboration between medical educators, ethicists and humanities scholars, enabling students to pursue projects that bridge theory and practice. Graduates benefit from a network of educators across the institution and affiliated clinical sites, and from training designed to be immediately applicable to roles in academic medicine, hospital education programmes and health policy.