Kings College London-

Course Details

Msc in Medicine Health and Public Policy

Course Description

Advances in biomedicine and neuroscience, coupled with rapid technological innovation, are said to be fundamentally changing the ways in which disease is understood, defined and treated. At the same time social, political, economic and regulatory transformations, at both national and global levels, are reconfiguring relationships between governments, citizens and private actors, with profound consequences for the production and distribution of health and disease around the world. These developments have important implications for public policy, particularly with respect to questions of justice and equity. The MSc in Medicine, Health and Public Policy addresses the nature and policy implications of developments in health and medicine from social scientific and ethical perspectives. It is designed for graduates who wish to develop specialist understanding of the complex interconnections between (1) changing social, economic and political contexts, (2) advances in the biosciences and technological innovation, and (3) the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. Drawing on concepts, theories and methods from the social sciences and from philosophy and ethics, students are encouraged to combine rigorous theoretical analysis with concrete, problem-based and policy-relevant research addressing key issues and controversies relevant to recent developments in health and medicine. Students will have the opportunity to study a wide range of topics, which may include: inequalities in health and access to healthcare; the dynamics and policy implications of ageing societies; the securitization of public health; the impact of war and conflict on health and well-being; transnational trends in medical research, pharmaceutical regulation and health technology assessment; ethical issues in clinical research; the implications of recent scientific advances in genomics, molecular biology and neuroscience for ideas of personhood and identity, and for the organisation and funding of healthcare; patient advocacy, health movements and citizen participation in health policy making; the commodification of the body; the role of psychiatry in the cultural construction of normality and abnormality; and the marketization and privatization of medical care. The programme reflects King's commitment to world-leading interdisciplinary scholarship on health and medicine, and to the use of engaged, academic research as a means of contributing to understanding of, and responses to, pressing social and global issues.

Course Duration

NumberDuration
1year

Career outcomes

Students may go on to pursue careers in academia, in the fields of policymaking, research, and regulation in the public and private sectors, in government agencies, think-tanks and in national and international NGOs. We collaborate closely with the Careers & Employability Office at King's College London to enhance the employability of our students, and we organise targeted careers sessions with guest-speakers from relevant fields.

Msc in Medicine Health and Public Policy Kings College London-