Lyon 1 Claude Bernard University and the École normale supérieure de Lyon, in partnership with the Hospices Civils de Lyon, are launching a dual degree program in Medicine and the Humanities in the fall of 2026. This program trains physicians to apply research in the humanities and social sciences to better understand the social, cultural, environmental, and organizational determinants of care, and to enhance the quality, relevance, and equity of patient care.
Why should future doctors be educated in the humanities through research in the social sciences and humanities?
Health is a crucial issue for both public policy and individuals and communities, and our understanding of health has changed profoundly over the past thirty years. The determinants of health are complex: inequalities, environmental changes, and shifts in lifestyles. In the spirit of the Ottawa Charter, it is essential to link clinical practice to the determinants of health in order to strengthen prevention, health promotion, and continuity of care for patients.
Medical education will benefit from better integrating this social, cultural, organizational, and environmental complexity. New generations of students can be prepared to practice medicine grounded in respect for the human person in all their dimensions—physical, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual—while also taking into account ongoing societal and environmental changes. For example, how can pain be addressed in patient care? How can we avoid gender bias in clinical diagnoses?
The dual degree program in Medicine and the Humanities offers a rigorous research-based education in the humanities and social sciences, designed to equip students with practical tools to inform clinical reasoning, reduce biases (particularly gender biases), and better account for the experience of suffering. Beyond acquiring knowledge in the humanities and social sciences, future physicians will be able to acquire and apply research and analytical methods from the humanities to inform their clinical reasoning and better fulfill the social responsibilities of medicine—challenges for which they are trained at the School of Medicine.
How should future doctors be educated in the humanities?
Students in medicine, midwifery, pharmacy, or dentistry apply for the dual degree program at the end of their second year of medical school. The dual degree program offered is as follows:
ENS de Lyon Degree curriculum | Medicine curriculum | |
Combined curriculum | Year 1 | Year 3 |
Social Sciences and Humanities specialized track | Year 2: Degree + Master Year 1 Year 3: Degree + Master Year 2 | |
Combined curriculum | Year 4 Degree | Year 4 |
This program offers a rigorous immersion in the humanities and social sciences, grounded in research. Students follow a comprehensive humanities and social sciences curriculum in their chosen discipline and acquire skills in research, analysis, and critical reading. Active teaching methods (workshops, role-playing, simulations) allow students to apply these skills to healthcare settings and contemporary health issues. By joining ENS de Lyon, they benefit from an interdisciplinary environment, personalized support, an international outlook, and privileged access to the campus’s cultural and artistic offerings.
Educational example: In role-playing exercises, students may be presented with simulated cases based on real-life hospital situations and discussed within a hospital ethics committee. These exercises aim to develop skills in collective deliberation, argumentation, analysis of determinants (social, cultural, organizational), and clinical decision-making, in order to clarify the ethical implications of care decisions and inform the management of patient care.
Upon completing the ENS de Lyon degree program, students may, depending on their career goals, pursue a PhD in Social Sciences and Humanities or leverage these dual skills in fields such as university-affiliated hospitals, public health, or organizational innovation.
Funding offered to five candidates over the two-year Master's program, in the form of a doctoral stipend
Five medical students enrolled in the Medicine and Humanities program will receive a stipend during the two-year Master's funding period, amounting to €1,000 per month, or €12,000 per year per student. They will have the opportunity to continue their studies by pursuing a PhD in Social Sciences and Humanities.
Applicants are invited to submit their applications between May 5 and June 9; all relevant information will be available on the ENS de Lyon website. The program will launch in the fall of 2026.
Press contacts:
- Aude Riom, head of communication, ENS de Lyon, email: aude.riom [at] ens-lyon.fr, tel.: +33 6 30 14 08 38
- Béatrice Dias, head of communication Lyon 1 Université Claude Bernard, email: beatrice.dias [at] univ-lyon1.fr, tel.: +33 6 76 21 00 92
- CHU de Lyon, email: Presse [at] chu-lyon.fr