Medical Anthropology (BA, BS)

Medical Anthropology is a subfield of anthropology that draws upon biological and sociocultural anthropology to understand human health and well-being. What makes medical anthropology unique is that it considers how human evolutionary history combines with people’s current cultural, economic and political context to shape their health. Medical anthropologists work in universities, hospitals and clinics, in public health and for national and international health agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) focused on health. 
 
Medical Anthropologists:

  • Examine how health and illness are shaped, experienced, and understood across cultures and in light of global, historical, and political forces
  • Seek to identify the factors that explain the distribution of disease within and across human societies
  • Investigate people’s illness experiences and explain how these experiences shape the lives of individuals, families and communities
  • Help understand people’s healthcare seeking behaviors including their concurrent use of multiple medical systems within a single society such as the use of biomedicine and Chinese medicine in treating chronic pain
  • Apply their skills to improve healing by helping patients and their healers (doctors) better communicate 

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Academic Advisors

Schedule an Appointment

(614) 292-6961
Call for the following:
• Exploring and/or declaring a major
• Degree Planning/Progress Checks
• Scheduling
• Applying to graduate
• Preparing for graduate or professional school
• Petitions
• Other academic advising matters

Karen Royce

royce.6@osu.edu
(614) 292-6961
4078 Smith Lab
174 W 18th Avenue

Affiliated Departments & Centers

Associated Facilities

Student Organizations

Student Organizations

The undergraduate student organization, the Anthropology Club, offers members a chance to get to know other students, interact with facutly and learn more about research and field study opportunities. 

Students may also be interested in outreach and engagement opportunities provided through the department's Antrhopology Public Outreach Program (APOP). 

Learn more about APOP

Get Involved!

Anthropology faculty and graduate students are actively involved in conducting medical anthropology research and welcome the involvement of undergraduate students in these endeavors. 

  • Investigate how cultural ideals regarding child development shape exposure to pathogens and the formation of the gut microbiome.
  • Understand the ways food insecurity affects the physical and mental health of populations in the USA and around the world, including among students on the OSU campus.
  • Explore how senescence and frailty vary across human populations and the role cultural change and stress play in this process
  • Understand the factors that shape migrant and refugee health in the USA.
  • Explore the sociocultural factors that influence mother-infant sleep patterns and their relationship with current public health campaigns on safe sleep
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