在當前社會快速變遷、並受到全球化影響的時代裡，以美國為例，醫療人類學的重要性早已在人類學界突顯出來，甚至有超越傳統文化人類學領域之勢，影響其它科學及社會科學領域。在全球各地，醫療相關研究也在歷史學與社會學界蓬勃發展，創造出多元面向及廣度的研究議題與成果。反觀台灣，從事醫療人類學研究的學者與學生雖已有相當人數，但分屬在不同的系所機構，「醫療人類學」做為一個次學門在台灣的發展仍不明顯。因此，成立醫療人類學研究群的目標在於制度化地持續促進交流與討論，以此推動醫療人類學的長遠發展。同時，也期望增進國內其他相關學科或機構中研究醫療議題人員對人類學的理解與合作。
目前，東亞地區其他國家在醫療人類學的發展情形與台灣相似，甚至在某些情況下面臨更大的挑戰。不過，近年來該區域也逐漸出現許多值得肯定的新研究成果。未來長遠發展方面，醫療人類學研究群也致力於擴大區域(東亞地區)醫療人類學者之間的交流與對話，進而擴大醫療人類學區域的學術影響性，這是未來值得令人期待的發展願景。
成立時間 2011年 成員召集人：黃約伯
參與成員：黃樹民、劉紹華
【English Summary】Medical Anthropology Research Group
In this ever-changing landscape of globalization, medical anthropology—in the U.S., for instance—has risen to such prominence as to command the traditional field of cultural anthropology and leave its imprints on science and social sciences in general. Around the world, medical research in anthropological contexts has engaged in fruitful dialogues with studies of history and social sciences and created a broad array of concerns unimaginable a couple decades ago. However, despite the increasing number of scholars and students committed to medical anthropology in Taiwan, it has hardly staked out its territory as a sub-discipline in Taiwanese scholarly world. Therefore, in order to emphasize its enduring relevance to a wide range of disciplines, we organize this research group of medical anthropology in which to exchange research results and to find grounds for further research collaboration.
Most importantly, we hope to institutionalize such a platform and develop a research community where anthropology provides a point of departure for researchers interested in or devoted to medical issues and anticipates dialogues among Asia-Pacific medical anthropologists. Similarly in Eastern Asia, medical anthropology is only in its nascent phase with promising great potentials. We will gather such academic forces and set sights on joint regional work in the near future.
Conveners: Huang, Yueh-Po
Email: medanth@sinica.edu.tw
webpage link: http://maegroup.blogspot.com/