Medical anthropology in the curriculum: a revisit to the subject

A survey of U.S. medical schools and their branch campuses was made to determine the magnitude of the teaching of medical anthropology in American medical schools. Curriculum committee chairpersons were sent postcard questionnaires to establish the number of campuses that include the subject in their curricula. Thirty representatives of the 103 campuses responding replied in the positive. In July 1974 these 30 were sent an 11-item questionnaire; 27 were returned. Although progress has been made in the last 15 years in the development of medical school departments with interests in the various behavioral science fields, including anthropology, based on this study only 5 percent of U.S. medical students had the opportunity to attend lectures in the field of medical anthropology.