Training

The work of our doctoral students reflects an overarching concern with the relationships between culture and power that has been a key academic focus across a number of disciplines in recent decades. The Center provides key support for a number of Sociomedical Sciences’ academic programs – in particular, our doctoral program in medical anthropology and the MPH certificates in global health, history, ethics and law, and sexuality, sexual and reproductive health.

Center faculty play central roles in the design, assessment and training of masters degree students in public health. In addition to their research, our faculty members incorporate the vision of the Center into the training in research methodology and intervention design for MPH students. Three of the four courses that make up the current departmental core curriculum for Sociomedical Sciences MPH students are taught by faculty members from our Center. Collectively, our faculty members annually supervise between 25-35 MPH thesis student research projects. They also play central roles in the leadership of curriculum design for masters and doctoral students.

Across the broader University campus, Professor Parker is also a member of Columbia University's Committee on Global Thought (CGT), and through the CGT is actively involved in the development of a new masters' degree program in global thought. The integration of research and training enables the Center to build multiple intellectual spaces for the development of innovative research on the political and cultural dimensions of public health responses.