This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of epidemiology, as the methodological approach, which underlies biomedical research, and will examine the ways that the methodologies of anthropology and epidemiology complement each other in the study of health and disease. The course will examine the points of similarity between anthropology and epidemiology particularly as regards the importance of examining sociocultural phenomena in order to better understand the origins of disease. The course will explore the tensions between anthropology and epidemiology in matters of methodology, exemplified by the debate over quantitative vs. qualitative approaches, as well as theoretical perspective.