Prepare for Health-Related Careers
Explore how cultures across time have understood health and illness and how these ideas shape medical care across the globe.
Medical Anthropology Minor
Medical anthropologists study the ways that health and illness are understood within cultures, as well as the effects of those understandings on medical treatment. This minor is useful to a broad range of academic programs, especially health-related fields.
What Will I Learn?
Medical anthropology is a growing field of increasing relevance as American health care serves a more diverse population and deals with global health concerns. In this program, you will:
- Learn how different cultures throughout various time periods understand illness, disease and treatments
- Study major ideas about illness, disease and medical practices from anthropology
- Understand how to study medical systems across cultures and think about the challenges and ethics involved
What is Unique About Our Program?
This minor brings together ideas from many fields such as biology, communications, criminal justice, exercise and nutrition, history, psychology and sociology. You will also be encouraged to combine hands-on experiences through internships and fieldwork, with classroom learning.
What Are My Career Opportunities?
Medical anthropology can prepare you for careers and further studies in public health, anthropology and health-related fields. The minor also builds foundational skills in health care and policy which are some of the fastest growing areas in the U.S.
- Epidemiologist
- Public health nurse
- Health promotion and education specialists
- Social and community service managers