The student profile
Some Former students
AMMA Classes Pictures
Future AMMA students
AMMA attracts students from all parts of the world. AMMA-students worldwide have successfully applied. The AMMA is meant for social scientists working in multidisciplinary research projects in the field of health and health care, and for physicians and other professionals of health care, such as Departments of Public Health and programs for prevention. The program is also useful for social scientists who wish to specialise in medical anthropology, for instance as part of their PhD program planning and for academic staff of European universities planning to develop courses and/or research in medical anthropology. Students either have got a Master’s degree, or have got a Bachelor’s with two years of relevant working experience.
Preeti Kirbat
David Kyaddondo
Laura Ciaffi
Michael Golinko
Preeti Kirbat was born in India. After a first degree in Political Sciences at the University of Delhi she continued her studies in England. She obtained a MA in Development Studies at the University of East Anglia and focused on gender and women studies.
"After I returned to India I started working for a non-governmental organisation. There I was involved in projects focusing on women. One of them was educating women in the outskirts of Delhi on the different possibilities of contraception. Instead of telling these women which contraception they should use we were introducing them to various contraceptive possibilities and then we would let them choose for themselves. In this way we could make them trust their own instincts and choices and were sure contraception was being used."
After a few years Preeti started working in a research project on anti-fertility vaccine. The project was initiated by the University of Delhi and the Universiteit van Amsterdam.
"For the first time I felt the lack of a strong theoretical basis which was needed to carry out good research. I started looking for a program which could fill this gap."
"Dr. Anita Hardon, who is one of my lecturers now, told me about the Amsterdam Master's in Medical Anthropology. The combination of social anthropology and medical anthropology made the program unique. I was not only going to obtain a better theoretical background for carrying out good research but I would also learn more on the main fields of study which were to be combined in this program."
"On arriving in Amsterdam I was met by a student mentor who showed me around the city of Amsterdam. Together with the introduction and the well-organised AMMA-management I feel that this year will be a success on the scientific and the social level."
David Kyaddondo comes from Uganda. He received his BA-degree in Social Work and Social Administration from Makere University in 1991. The Civil War had just ended in Uganda and David started working for the Ministry of Social Rehabilitation where he conducted programs for war widows and orphans. In 1992 he moved on to the Child Health and Development Centre where he had to carry out research.
"The research projects involved medical doctors, social scientists, demographers and very few anthropologists. During each project I felt I was missing the specific knowledge to carry out the project at my best. In some cases I was lacking theory, and in others I was missing research skills. On the whole I was missing a medical basis."
"At that time, the Centre was working closely together with the University of Copenhagen. This university organised a two week course on medical anthropology and it was there that my interest in this specific field was generated. The teacher of the course, Dr Susan Reynolds Whyte, informed me on the Amsterdam Master's in Medical Anthropology which could teach me to carry out both better qualitative and quantitative research."
"Once I arrived in Amsterdam I found the AMMA-management and teaching staff very caring. There is no social distance between the teacher and the students. This atmosphere is mirrored in daily street life. People are friendly and if you ask their help they'll do what they can."
Laura Ciaffi was born in Milan, Italy. As a physician she specialised in tropical medicine in Italy and London. She worked for four years in clinical management of AIDS in Italy. She also worked with "Doctors without Borders" first in Nicaragua and later in Indonesia. The program in Nicaragua focused on Primary Health Care and the training of Traditional Birth Attendants, in Indonesia it concerned a SDH/HIV prevention program.
"I first heard about the Amsterdam Master’s in Medical Anthropology while I was working in Indonesia. There I met Dr. Lia Sciortino from the Ford Foundation. I was talking to her about my problems to understand the cultural context of the people in Indonesia, I felt that there was a gap between my western bio-medical knowledge and the local understanding of illnesses. She advised me to do the AMMA course."
"At first I wanted to study Public Health but while I was working in Indonesia I realised that Medical Anthropology was more appropriate, because my lack of knowledge of cultural issues was hindering my work. I realised that my bio-medical knowledge was simply not sufficient".
"I think that the AMMA course is interesting because it offers a new way of looking at health issues. I am particularly looking forward to the more applied modules, which are scheduled for the second and third trimester. I like the atmosphere in AMMA, especially the relationship with the teachers, because it is closer and more productive than I was used to and you have a better access to them. I also like the fact that all the AMMA students come from different backgrounds and cultures."
Michael Golinko, was born in Detroit in the USA on 24 July 1976. He became very interested in non-Western systems of healing during a trip to Southeast Asia. "When I started my second year of medical school in Tampa I began looking into ways to study and learn more about these complimentary systems in order to find a way to integrate them with the western medicine I was learning. While most medical schools offer one-month internships during the last year of study, I felt that would not be nearly enough time to really explore my interests. I applied to the AMMA program and visited Amsterdam in December and even with the unbelievably horrible weather, I still succumbed to the spell of Amsterdam, like so many foreigners before me.
So far, the program and Amsterdam has exceeded my expectations in every way. For me, this style of learning is very refreshing, coming from fact-based medical school lectures; it’s a wonderful thing to actually want to attend class! After some time in the AMMA course, I realized that we are not only reading about anthropology but that we are living it. The diversity of our group is astounding and quite unique. Although small, the program here draws more students from more countries than just about any other masters program I have come in contact with the Universiteit van Amsterdam. So far, I have felt very, very fortunate to be in this program, as I feel that I can learn as much if not more from my classmates as I can from the professors.
| Class/year | View |
| Class 2007-2008 | Click here |
| Class 2006-2007 | Click here |
| Class 2005-2006 | Click here |
| Class 2004-2005 | Click here |
| Class 2003-2004 | Click here |
| Class 2002-2003 | Click here |
| Class 2001-2002 | Click here |
| Class 2000-2001 | Click here |
| Class 1999-2000 | Click here |
| Class 1998-1999 | Click here |
| Class 1997-1998 | Click here |
We can imagine that you are interested in experiences of current AMMA students and other interesting details of our programme, that are not mentioned in the rest of the website. Therefore you can visit an introductory module on Medical Anthropology website here.