Academic Programs MPH/PhD Anthropology
Joint Degree Program
The joint degree program between the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences (BCHS) and the Department of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences prepares anthropologists who would be specialists in the cultural, social, and behavioral aspects of health and health care in either a domestic or an international setting for research, teaching, and public policy planning. The goal of this program is to train students to have theoretical, analytic, and methodological skills that are broader than those provided by either degree alone. The student earns a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree as part of the PhD in anthropology.
Applicants to the joint degree program must apply separately to the PhD program in the Department of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences, and the MPH program in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences in the Graduate School of Public Health. Admission requirements for each program must be met. The program is structured so that students meet core requirements for anthropology, medical anthropology, and public health, including the requirements for behavioral and community health sciences.
Admission and course requirements for the MPH degree are outlined on this Web site and for the PhD in anthropology on the medical anthropology Web site.
Students completing the joint program can graduate with a total of 87 credits, which includes independent study/reading/dissertation courses. The typical program for full-time students consists of completion of course work in the first three years, with dissertation field research and dissertation writing to be completed in the following two years. It is expected that the MPH essay/thesis requirement can be met by the doctoral dissertation, with the PhD and MPH degrees to be awarded at the same time.
Positions for health-trained medical anthropologists are available in governmental agencies, international civil service, voluntary and nongovernmental organizations, foundations involved in public health concerns (domestically as well as in other countries), and research institutes; also, positions as faculty members are available in departments of anthropology with specializations in medical anthropology, or in schools of public health or schools of medicine.
Contact Information
MPH Program
University of Pittsburgh
Graduate School of Public Health
Martha Terry
222 Parran Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
412-624-5887
materry@pitt.edu
University of Pittsburgh
Graduate School of Public Health
Natalie C. Arnold
227 Parran Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
412-624-3107
narnold@pitt.edu
PhD Program
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Anthropology
Phyllis Deasy
3H01 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
412-648-7500
medanth@pitt.edu