Anthropology and Global Health
Joint Degree Program
Masters in Anthropology/Masters in Public Health (MPH)

Program Design

The completion of each degree separately would normally require 85-92 total hours: 36 hours for a Masters of Arts in Anthropology and 49-56 hours for a Masters in Public Health. This joint program is intended to be a full-time program and will require 72-77 total hours for completion.  The joint Masters degree is designed so that the masters in Anthropology and Public Health will be completed at the same time, ideally at the end of the third year of coursework.  If the two degrees were pursued separately, the average time would be four and a half years.  The MA in Anthropology is generally completed in two years, while the MPH also usually requires two years.  See course descriptions and sample course planning guides for specifics.

The Anthropology and Global Health core courses will emphasize the integration of Medical Anthropology with Public Health, specifically in the area of Global Health. Students in the joint program will take two foundation courses in their first year of study that will provide an overview of cultural medical anthropology and biomedical anthropology, focusing on their intersections with global health concerns.  An integrative seminar in the third year of the program will orient students to the intersections of Anthropology and Global Health.  The seminar, which will be team-taught by Anthropology and Public Health faculty, will emphasize the integration of the fields of medical anthropology and public health and explore the basic issues, challenges, and initiatives in contemporary global public health through in-depth case studies. The course sequence will develop students' awareness of the complexity of health problems in so-called “developing” and “developed” nations and the consequent difficulties of developing effective long-term solutions.  The development of these courses is one of the most important and unique facets of the proposed program. As we discuss in more detail in the Justification section, of the three medical anthropology programs in the US that currently offer integrated Anthropology/Public Health degrees, only one other program has developed joint courses to highlight and synthesize the topical overlap between the fields.

Introduction to AGH
Faculty
Requirements
Course Descriptions
Sample Course Planning Guide