The Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health is a nine-month Harvard Medical School graduate program for those interested in using storytelling to make a difference in health.
The Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health is the only master’s degree program in the United States to offer evidence-based, multidisciplinary storytelling and an arts-driven curriculum focusing on health interventions. Students will have expert mentors guide them through using the storytelling medium of their choice (for example, film, creative nonfiction, podcasting, or graphic design) to craft a novel public health intervention.
The program is led by faculty directors Dr. Neal Baer, MD (writer and producer of ER, Law & Order SVU, and Designated Survivor, and executive producer of Peabody Award-winning Welcome to Chechnya) and Dr. Jason Silverstein, PhD (science journalist and writer-in-residence in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School). Faculty offering instruction in the program includes MacArthur “Genius” Grant and Pulitzer Prize winners, memoirists, essay writers, playwrights, and social media experts.
Each year, the program is joined by a distinguished artist-in-residence who works closely with students throughout the academic year, offering workshops, office hours with students, and public conversations that bridge the arts and medicine, broadly defined.
For the 2026–2027 academic year, the artist-in-residence will be Roxane Gay, the New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and publishes an imprint at Grove Atlantic, Roxane Gay Books. She is also the site editor and owner of The Rumpus.
Who Should Apply?
The Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health program is designed for health care professionals, medical and public health students, journalists, health advocates, bioethicists, foundation staff, hospital administrators, public health policymakers, writers, activists—anyone interested in telling stories to improve health and make a difference in the world through media.
The program will prepare students for a range of jobs in traditional and social media, journalism, foundations, direct health care, health care policy, and community organizations, and provide valuable networking opportunities with experts in various industries and storytelling modalities.
Contact Us
If you have additional questions, please email the program at mmh@hms.harvard.edu or call 617-432-5292.
