Academic Resources: graduate programs
Columbia University
Degrees offered:
Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology (in Public Health)
Medical Anthropology Faculty:
Jennifer Hirsch, Kim Hopper, Miguel Muñoz Laboy, Lesley Sharp, Richard Parker (Chair), Carole Vance
Anthropology Faculty:
Students take classes both in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences and on the Arts and Sciences campus, and thus have the opportunity to work as well with faculty in the Anthropology department. For more information on that department, see http://www.columbia.edu/cu/anthropology/
Non-Anthropology Faculty:
Other non-anthropology faculty: Sociomedical Sciences is an interdisciplinary department. In addition to anthropology, SMS includes sociologists, political scientists, historians, psychologists, and economists, including Constance Nathanson, Jo Phelan, Peter Messeri, Ana Abraido-Lanza, Ron Bayer, Amy Fairchild, David Rosner, and James Colgrove. For a full listing, see our department website at: http://www.sms.mailman.columbia.edu/
Program information:
Mission Statement
Our mission as medical anthropology scholars in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences is:
- To prepare students for interdisciplinary scholarship and service grounded in ethnographic theory and practice.
- To investigate the social, cultural and political practices that shape health and illness, including health inequalities.
- To foster collaborative and interdisciplinary scholarship and policy initiatives with public and private public health institutions, NGOs, advocacy and activist groups and researchers from a broad range of disciplines.
A little bit more about the Medical Anthropology group in SMS:
The Medical Anthropology group works from the premise that health is fundamentally related to social organization and social processes, including economics, politics, identity, law, cultural production and media, and religion. We are committed to advancing scholarship focused on the social construction of health, its relationship to equity and other principles of social justice and human rights. Many of us have worked in Latin American (Brazil, Mexico, the Dominican Republic) and among Latinos in the US, but our geographical strengths increasingly include Africa and Asia as well (South Africa, Madagascar, India, and Vietnam). We have active research agendas in a variety of urban settings, and our focus on cities and health inequities complements and draws on the strengths of colleagues throughout the Department of Sociomedical Sciences and the Mailman School of Public Health who work in these areas.Our research interests vary widely, but some of our shared concerns and current projects include:Ethnographic approaches to exploring the relationship between structural factors and everyday practicesThe intersections of gender, sexuality and health, with a particular focus on intersections between masculinities and HIVHealth in urban settings, including issues of homelessness, housing, and urban designCross-cultural issues in mental illness and transcultural psychiatryTechnocratic medicine and the symbolics of the bodyCritical approach to trafficking Memorial forms and the study of deathThe history of the development and impact of public health policies and the processes by which new policies are developedMarriage, extramarital sex, and HIV risk. In addition to the strength of our research program, other attractions of doing medical anthropology at Columbia include our location within a leading school of public health, the proximity to a medical school, the possibility of earning an MPH in the process of doing the PhD, the global environment of New York City, and the existence of other programs in Sociomedical Sciences which facilitate our interdisciplinary collaboration with sociologists, historians, ethicists, political scientists, psychologists, and economists.
Contact Information:
For questions specifically about the anthropology concentration in the SMS doctoral program:Jennifer S. Hirsch, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Associate Director of the Doctoral Program for the Anthropology Concentration: jsh2124@columbia.edu
For general questions about the doctoral program:Peter Messeri, Ph.D., Director, Doctoral Program: pam9@columbia.edu
For questions regarding the application process or the scheduling of visits for prospective students:Ms. Rosalie Acinapura, Doctoral Program Coordinator: rma18@columbia.edu