Medical anthropology is a subdiscipline of anthropology that includes the study of all aspects of health, healing illness and disease in human communities and populations. It draws on all 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. A particular strength of our program is its integration of theoretical knowledge with community- and field-based training opportunities and challenges. We prepare students for careers in nonprofit and community groups, non-governmental organizations, advocacy, public health, health care institutions, and health sciences research.
Students can pursue the following topics in our program:
- Concepts of health, disability, and illness across cultures
- The life-course across cultures
- Social determinants of health
- Immigration and health
- Maternal and child health
- Indigenous wellness practices
- Visual storytelling
- Health equity
Note: Students are encouraged to take elective courses in GIS mapping (geography), ecology (biology/anthropology), public policy, public health, epidemiology and biostatistics as it is relevant to their course of study.
Those Interested in Advanced Study
A doctoral program on the UC Denver campus that may be of particular interest to graduates is the PhD in Health and Behavioral Sciences offered through the Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences (http://clas.ucdenver.edu/hbsc) and is highly interdisciplinary. It is a natural extension of a master's degree in anthropology.
Full-Time Faculty
Sarah Horton (PhD, University of New Mexico, 2003)
Medical anthropology, public policy, health citizenship, globalization, migration and transnationalism, “illegality,” US Latinos; US Southwest, Mexico
Profile | Sarah.Horton@ucdenver.edu
Marty Otanez (PhD, University of California-Irvine, 2004)
Political ecology, visual ethnography, media production, labor studies, health policy, tobacco control; Africa
Profile | Marty.Otanez@ucdenver.edu
David Tracer (PhD, University of Michigan, 1991)
Biological anthropology, maternal and child health, growth and development, decision-making theory
Profile | David.Tracer@ucdenver.edu
Christine Sargent (PhD, University of Michigan, 2018)
Kinship, disability, bioethics, Middle East, North America
Profile | Christine.Sargent@ucdenver.edu
Affiliated Faculty
Jean Scandlyn (PhD, Columbia University, 1993)
Healing and ritual; community-based health care delivery; adolescence; migration; gender and anthropology; North America, Latin America, Southeast Asia