Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• GMS IM 670: Special Topics in Bioimaging
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor - Imaging has come to increasingly serve as a substrate and necessary ingredient for progressively more complex diagnoses and therapy. The increasing significance of the imaging components has been classically appreciated in fields such as radiation therapy, where planning of treatment based on images is integral to the therapy itself, and has spread beyond the boundaries of such disciplines to numerous surgical fields such as neurosurgery, orthopedics, and ear, nose, and throat surgery. This course provides focused work in such areas as PET/CT and ultrasound/EEG/MEG. 2 cr,
• GMS IM 680: Professional Development
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor - This course provides instruction in application softwares for imaging processing and mathematical analysis. In addition, this is a preparatory course for students making the transition from a formal academic program into the dynamic work place. It will cover those fundamental skills required to facilitate searching, locating and qualifying for the job of one's choice. It will cover topics such as building a portfolio, networking, resume writing, and interviewing skills. Speakers in the various fields of imaging will be invited to discuss how he or she make the transition into the workplace and students will have the opportunity to discuss and discover the various pitfalls on the paths of entry into the field of his or her choice. 2 cr
• GMS IM 700: Thesis Research I
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor - First phase of the directed research project, either thesis or practicum, in the field of bioimaging. Students choose an area of concentration in bioimaging and identify a line of research with clearly defined specific objectives to be conducted. 2 cr
• GMS IM 701: Sectional Anatomy for Imaging Professionals
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor - Imaging techniques such as computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have seen rapid rates of growth in the past years. It is vital that professionals working with these imaging tools have a strong working knowledge of gross anatomy to understand the images they are looking at. This course is designed to give students in the Masters in Bioimaging program the fundamental knowledge they will need of gross anatomy. The course is taught from medical images such as CT and MRI rather than more traditional methods since this is the source of information the MBI students are expected to encounter in their future. 2 cr,
• GMS IM 705: Clinical and MR Pathophysiology
  This course familiarizes the student with common pathologies found in magnetic resonance imaging and the appearance of these pathologies in various imaging protocols and the imaging appearance of a variety of pathological aberrations affecting patients. The knowledge of disease processes and their signal characteristics on various imaging sequences is essential to ensure the best practices in patient care and quality imaging. This course will include a high level review of clinical imaging in various disease states. Lectures are geared toward a practical, problem-solving approach to conditions and a systematic approach to interpretation of diagnostic imaging studies will be utilized. 4 cr
• GMS IM 710: Thesis Research II
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor - Second phase of a four-semester thesis research project in the field of bioimaging during which students postulate a hypothesis, design an experimental protocol to test the hypothesis, acquire data (pilot and final). 2 cr
• GMS IM 730: Thesis Research III
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor - Third phase of a four-semester thesis project in the field of bioimaging during which students finish data analysis and primarily concentrate on writing a comprehensive technical report describing in detail their work in Phases I and II. 2 cr
• GMS IM 791: Clinical Internship I
  This course is the first of two structured clinical internship courses designed to provide students with clinical practice and patient management training. Student progression in competency levels through clinical performance objectives are accomplished through demonstration and observation, after which the student assists in performing specified clinical activities. When a satisfactory degree of proficiency is apparent, the student performs specific activities under supervision to achieve clinical competency specified under Article II of the American Registry Radiological Technologists (ARRT) Rules and Regulations. 4 cr
• GMS IM 792: Clinical Internship II
  Graduate Prerequisites: GMS IM 791 - This course is the second of two structural clinical internship courses designed to provide students with clinical practice and patient management training. Student progression in competency levels through clinical performance objectives are accomplished through demonstration and observation, after which the student assists in performing specified clinical activities. When a satisfactory degree of proficiency is apparent, the student performs specific activities under supervision to achieve clinical competency specified under Article II of the American Registry Radiological Technologists (ARRT) Rules and Regulations. 4 cr
• GMS MA 605: History of Medicine and Healing in the United States
  This course explores the history of medical, cultural, and therapeutic pluralism in the United States, beginning with the colonial period and continuing to the present. We will examine how this pluralism necessarily includes the story of American religious pluralism, the rise of biomedicine, and the changing faces of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), while factoring in the roles of class, race, and gender. We will work with primary source materials, as well as sources from history of medicine, and medical anthropology. 4 cr, Spring sem. M 2:30-5:15, Charles River Campus.
• GMS MA 610: Reading Ethnography in Medical Anthropology
  [Not currently offered] This seminar will read medical anthropological ethnographies analytically. Starting with a review of the debates, going through selected classic ethnographic studies, the seminar will explore ethnographies that address different cultural meanings of human experiences of suffering and affliction, including illness and violence. Students will engage in studying the methodology, theoretical underpinnings, writing, and social positions represented in these ethnographies. 3 cr, Fall sem.
• GMS MA 620: World Religions and Healing
  An introduction to approaches to healing integral to Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, African, African-descended, Latin American, Chinese, Native American traditions, and to some of the outcomes of their interactions. Through readings and audio-visual materials, we will explore these practices as expressions of some of the ways that people from these traditions understand sacred realities, the meaning and end of human life, the experience of affliction and suffering, the role and authority of the healer or healers, and the nature of the transformations pursued by individuals and communities. 4 cr, Fall sem. M 2:30-5:15, Charles River Campus.
• GMS MA 622: Religion, Culture and Public Health
  This medical anthropology course will explore relationships between religion, culture, and health in the context of public health projects. We will examine historical developments, examples of faith-based public health organizations, and current research on "religious health assets," both locally and internationally. Students will design and conduct qualitative research projects on the culture of a faith-based health organization. 3 cr, Fall sem Th 3:30-6:15, Charles River Campus.
• GMS MA 624: Anthropology of Immigrant Health
  This course will examine key areas in the study of immigrant and migrant health, drawing on concepts, methods, and theories developed by medical anthropology. We will explore intersections between health care and immigration policy, access to services, practiced characterized as "cultural competency," the contests and collaborations within medical pluralism, segmented acculturation, and the politics of "illegal status" as a form of social regulation. We will also employ ethnographic analyses of those processes that exacerbate the structural vulnerability of immigrants (whether undocumented or not) to ill-health, and discuss case examples of advocacy- and community-based initiatives that have improved immigrants' access to social services and their overall well-being in their social and health landscapes. 3 cr, Fall sem Th 3:30-6:15, Charles River Campus.
• GMS MA 630: Medical Anthropology and the Cultures of Biomedicine
  This course examines biomedicine as a cultural system with multiple local and national expressions worldwide, all of which have undergone changes over time. Topics will include the exploration of biomedicine as a cultural system, with cultural variations and different conceptual domains; processes of acculturation to biomedicine, the medicalization of social realities; biomedical narratives; the patient-doctor relationship (including when the physician is the patient); understandings of interventions and the meanings assigned to them; and different ways of thinking about efficacy in relation to process and chronicity. The course will draw on ethnographic studies of biomedicine not only in the United States, but in other global settings. 3 cr, Spring sem. M 2:30-5:15, Charles River Campus.
• GMS MA 640: The Cultural Formation of the Clinician: Its Implications for Practice
  This course provides a context for exploring and reflecting on one's own cultural formation, in relation to aspects of one's identity like gender, sexual orientation, social class, race, immigration, religion, age, mental health and addiction, and disabilities. Unearned social privilege, and related blind spots toward these parts of our identities, have been shown to increase risks for related health disparities and problematic research findings. The course examines how our unconscious biases can enter our work as care providers or researchers. Offered through M.S. program in Medical Anthropology. 3 cr, Fall sem. T 5:00-7:50, Medical Campus.
• GMS MA 650: Culture and Politics of Health Care Work
  This medical anthropology course examines the history, culture, and politics that shape health care work and organizations. Beginning with the notion of "competencies" in biomedical training, this course examines the models of professional enculturation and competition in established and emerging health professions. The course will focus on the conceptual and embodied formation of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and collaboration between professional and nonprofessional caregivers; examining in particular the discourse of "cultural competence." Readings include autobiographical and ethnographic accounts of healthcare professionals, staff, and family caregivers. Students conduct qualitative interviews with a variety of health care workers to analyze specific cultural and political contexts of care and health professional education. 3 cr, Spring sem. Th 3:30-6:15, Charles River Campus.
• GMS MA 670: Power and Health in Latin America and the Caribbean
  The aim of this course is to examine the socio-political, economic, historical and public health dimensions that have promoted or jeopardized people's wellbeing in Latin America and the Caribbean. This course will introduce students to historical and contemporary debates around the right to health in this region. We will explore the origin and theoretical foundations of the social movement known as Latin American Social Medicine (LASM) and the historical role it has played in promoting health and advancing the right to health in Latin America. Students will explore the political economy of health theory, and the theoretical frameworks of critical medical anthropology and of LASM to study health and disease. Ethnographies and accompanying articles from various disciplines will guide a critical exploration of the connections between health disparities, social justice, and health as a human right in the region. 3 cr, Fall sem. Th 12:30-3:15, Charles River Campus
• GMS MA 676: Special Topics in Medical Anthropology: Program Evaluation for Social Sciences
  This course will examine different approaches to applying the tools and methods of anthropology to evaluating programs. Evaluation anthropology takes an integrated approach that examines meanings of program efficacy and effectiveness, in the context of cultural systems that change over time and space. As Mary Odell Butler has asked, "How can we establish useful statements of program value given the complex contexts in which programs are implemented? How can we arrive at evaluation results induced from variable manifestations of program concepts in complex cultural systems?" 3 cr, Fall sem. M 5-7:45, Medical Campus
• GMS MA 677: Special Topics in Medical Anthropology: Epidemiology for Social Scientists
  This seminar focuses on selected issues in medical anthropology. This semester, the course will introduce epidemiologic theories and methods to students who are in the social sciences and humanities. The course seeks to systematically analyze the field of epidemiology and how the discipline is leveraged in a spectrum of health arenas. We will examine core topics and concepts such as causality, associations, confounding and interactions, as well as review epidemiologic study designs, as a way to critically engage with the epidemiologic activity of quantitative analysis toward specific public health aims and objectives. Students will be encouraged to approach epidemiologic methods and theories with a critical eye toward recognizing the assumptions, disciplinary power and actions that epidemiologists take to achieve their mission and vision for health and wellbeing. 3 cr, Spring sem. T 12:30-3:15, Charles River Campus.