MD/MA programs in Medical Anthropology?

[Pwny]

Hi everyone,

I am currently taking a medical anthropology class, and have found myself really enjoying the subject. I have long been searching for something similar to medical anthropology, so when I finally found it, I kind of fell in love 😍, haha. Anyway, prior to taking this class, I intended on taking 1-2 years off before applying to medical school. I still plan to take time off, but am now considering also doing formal training in medical anthropology.

I've been looking through all the medical anthropology-related threads on SDN, but many of them are about people interested in pursuing an MD/PhD. I admit that I'm fairly new to this subject and don't know much about the field. I read about some people pursuing an MD/MA... does anyone know anything about what schools offer this? I've been doing research on this, but so far, I have only found information about MD/PhD programs.

Can anyone tell me the differences between both, or if there are more options? My goal is to someday apply what I learn to my career in medicine. Overall, I have become unsatisfied with the current health system, and would like to see some policy changes and better allocation of healthcare. I am interested in how different cultures and countries practice medicine and in particular, how western medicine has spread worldwide to becoming a dominating form of medicine.

Again, medical anthropology is a fairly new subject to me and I'm still trying to learn as much as I can about it, so please excuse my naivety in any of my questions. Thanks so much for your input.

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[Ombret]

A few thoughts:

- Maybe you don't need a combined degree program. You are already planning on taking a year or two off; can you do a master's degree in that time? The benefits of a formal combined program here seem slim. Also, your favorite graduate anthropology department may not be at a place with a medical school (or one you like).

- There are many MD/MPH programs and your specific area of interest within medical anthropology sounds like it could probably be considered part of public health studies.

- There are also lots of MD/MA programs. Most are specifically for an MA in biomedical research but you may well find some that are flexible on this. (I have some doubts about this because anthropology and lab science are funded by very different mechanisms.)

 

[indya]

Case Western has an MD/MA program in Medical Anthropology

http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/anth/medicalanth.html

 

[Pwny]

Ombret- I alloted the 1-2 years because I plan to do extra schooling (whether by taking a 5th year, a post-bacc, or SMP) to improve grades. It may be that I don't need a combined program for my interests, but I wanted to hear what everyone else had to say about other joint program options in case I decide to go that route. I'm going to spend more time this quarter speaking to faculty medical anthropologists on campus to also see what they suggest. Thanks for your input!

Thanks indya, I'll look into it 🙂.

 

[LobstahDoc]

Pwny,

The best list of med anth programs I've found is from the Society for Medical Anthropology (http://www.medanthro.net/academic/gradprograms.html). In talking to anthro professors at my school, the consensus seems to be that most MA programs are terminal degrees (i.e. not easily transferrable to a PhD track) that are more applied which it sounds like may be what you're looking for.

Best of luck!

 

[reznelson]

harvard has a combined MD/MA