APPLIED TRAINING IN A MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY MASTER'S PROGRAM

Learning practical skills is key to becoming an applied anthropologist. For my MS degree, I chose a program at Boston University School of Medicine that incorporates skills development into the curriculum through its Service-Learning Internship Program (SLIP). The SLIP facilitates students' familiarity with their field site throughout the first year, before they start summer fieldwork. My SLIP and thesis fieldwork took place in a VA hospital's pain clinic-a placement ideal for my interest in researching pain management during an opioid epidemic. This paper describes my training, developing a research question, meeting theoretical and logistical requirements, handling the unpredictable nature of research, data collection, analysis, and writing. I use getting Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for my thesis project as an example of how these skills came together. Guided by my mentors, this experience afforded me hands-on training. I can now bring my anthropological approach into the work force.