Head of department: Imre Lázár ,MD.. MSc., CSc.
Staff: László Lajtai ,MD MA Anna Susánszky MA, Ágnes Zana MA PhD, Zoltán Zsinkó-Szabó MD, MA

The currently offered course in Medical Anthropology is taught in Hungarian as optional course. Students are examined twice during the semester by written exams. Power point presentation and a short paper based on fieldwork are necessary for a successful exam.

The module of Medical Anthropology include: introduction to medical anthropology, basic concepts of human ethology, long-term consequences of early bonding, the 'culture and personality' tradition, anthropology of the body, symbolic anatomy and physiology , culture, diet and health, medical pluralism, medical representations and semantic networks, biomedicine, ethnomedicine and alternative therapeutic methods,  explanatory models, illness metaphors, doctor-patient relationship, culture-bound syndromes, placebo and nocebo, symbolic therapy and cultural aspects of psychiatry,  anthropology of pharmacology and drug use, anthropology of gender, sexuality and reproduction, medical anthropology and stress, anthropology of pain, human ecology of medicine, global aspects of medical anthropology, critical medical anthropology and applied medical anthropology, cultural epidemiology and methodological issues.

The courses are based on lectures and weekly research seminars in medical anthropology, including insight into qualitative social research methods and 'micro' fieldwork tasks. The Department of Medical Anthropology offers themes for fieldwork-based dissertations on alternative and traditional medicine (TCM, homeopathy, kinetic studies) or mother-child attachment.

Compulsory textbooks:

Cecil G. Helman (2003) Culture, health and Illness (Kultúra, egészség és betegség).
Medicina Kiadó, Budapest,
Suggested readings:

Babulka, Péter, Borsányi, László, Grynaeus, Tamás (eds) (1989) Síppal-dobbal. Traditional Medicine among  non-European people(Hagyományos orvoslás az Európán kívüli népek körében). Mezőgazdasági Kiadó, Budapest, 1989.

Health and culture (Egészség és kultúra). Szöveggyűjtemény in Hungarian , az Orvosi Antropológia Részleg kiadványa, 2000.
Buda Béla és Kopp Mária (szerk.): (2001) Behavioral Sciences (Magatartástudomány). Medicina Kiadó, Budapest, 2001.
Losonczi Ágnes (1989): Harming and protective society (Ártó-védő társadalom). Közgazdasági és Jogi Könyvkiadó, Budapest,

The medical anthropology department offers also other elective courses, like ’Worksite health culture and stress’ (Imre Lázár), ’Cultural differences of reproduction’ (Anna Susánszky, Szilvia Csóka), ’Death, Culture and Medical Anthropology’ (Ágnes Zana).

The Department of Medical Anthropology admits PhD students. At Semmelweis University Doctoral School No. 4 there is a possibility to do research on medical anthropological at Mental Health Sciences Doctoral School within the frames of Behavioral Science program.