Education Overview
The educational mission of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine is to develop intellectual and analytic resources to investigate and to address key social, cultural, and ethical barriers to the delivery of health care and to diminishing population disparities in the receipt of care.
Faculty members engage students by:
- introducing them to the specialized literature and methods in medical anthropology, epidemiology, social history of medicine, medical ethics, and medical humanities;
- providing opportunities for supervised experiences in community, international, and clinical settings that join service with learning; and
- fostering personal development and commitment to humane and ethical medical care.
Courses, fellowships and advanced degree programs are available to students from the undergraduate to the postdoctoral level who seek to understand the relationships between medicine and the social forces and conditions that affect health.
Courses
Descriptions of courses in global health and social medicine, medical ethics, medical anthropology, history of medicine, medical sociology.
Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery
The Harvard Medical School Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery (MMSc-GHD) program provides training in research, program design, and management that students need to become leaders in the emerging field of global health delivery. The degree-granting program offers a rigorous cross-university curriculum focused on developing the tools needed to perform social and delivery science and policy research in resource-limited settings. The core component of the MMSc-GHD is a field-based mentored research project in global health culminating in a master's thesis.
Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health
The Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health is the only master’s degree program in the United States to offer evidence-based, multidisciplinary storytelling and an arts-driven curriculum focusing on health interventions. Students will have expert mentors guide them through using the storytelling medium of their choice (for example, film, creative nonfiction, podcasting, or graphic design) to craft a novel public health intervention.
Media and Medicine: How to Tell Stories that Make a Difference
An intensive program for those interested in using storytelling to advance health. We welcome health care professionals, medical and public health students, journalists, health advocates, bioethicists, foundation staff, hospital administrators, public health policymakers—anyone interested in telling stories to improve health both here in the US and around the world.
Scholars in Medicine
Information for HMS students regarding the Scholars in Medicine program.
Fellowships
Descriptions of predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships with application information.
Public Lectures
Information about the Roger Allan Moore, W.H.R. Rivers and John McGovern lectures.
Educational Opportunities
Service learning, internships and other ways to engage in global health and social medicine.