University of Colorado Denver College of Liberal Arts and SciencesUniversity of Colorado Denver

GRADUATE PROGRAMS ::
Medical Anthropology Concentration

As part of the M.A. degree, students earn between 9 and 21 credit hours in one or more research and/or area concentrations.

Medical anthropology is a subdiscipline of anthropology that includes the study of all aspects of health, illness, and disease in human communities and populations. It draws on all of the perspectives that distinguish anthropology as a unique discipline: the analysis of human evolution and adaptation; cultural development, expressions, and variability; and historical change and continuity. Medical anthropology takes as its subject a broad range of specific topics, including the study of health care systems, factors that affect the distribution and determinants of disease in populations, maternal and child health, nutrition and food habits, human development, political ecology, health policy, and language and communication in health care contexts. Faculty in the department emphasize the applied dimensions of medical anthropology, preparing students for careers in public health, health care, and health sciences research. Courses in the department are complemented by electives in other departments (sociology, biology, psychology, history, geography) and programs on the UC Denver campus (health administration, public affairs, education) and at the CU Health Sciences Center (Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Nursing).

Courses

  • ANTH 5014. Biocultural Foundations of Health
  • ANTH 5024. Comparative Health Systems
  • ANTH 5030. Ethnobiology
  • ANTH 5040. Anthropology of Food and Nutrition
  • ANTH 5060. Evolutionary Medicine
  • ANTH 5150. Human Biocultural Adaptability
  • ANTH 5560. Human Ecology
  • HBSC 7310. Environmental Epidemiology

    NOTE: Students are also strongly encouraged to take elective courses in public health, epidemiology, and biostatistics, which are available in the Department of Biometrics and Preventive Medicine at the CU Health Sciences Center.

THOSE INTERESTED IN ADVANCED STUDY (Ph.D. in Health & Behavioral Sciences)

Students wishing to pursue doctoral-level study in interdisciplinary health research may do so by applying to the Ph.D. in Health and Behavioral Sciences (www.cudenver.edu/hbsc). This program provides advanced, research-based training in the application of the social and behavioral sciences to health issues and leads to the doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) in health and behavioral sciences (HBSC). For details of admission to this program, contact the program directly: Program in Health and Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado at Denver, Campus Box 188, PO. Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364 or 303-556-4300.