Enhancing the health and quality of life for individuals and communities are central goals to societies the world over. Medical sociology is a subfield devoted to the study of population health, health care systems and policy, and the social dimensions of illness and healing. Medical sociologists study the causes of health inequalities, social constructions of health and illness, origins of medical authority, doctor-patient relationships, community influences on health, and the social forces that affect policy. The Sociology Department's Sociology of Health and Medicine Certificate provides training in the core research methodologies and theories of medical sociology, examining individual experience, institutional structures, laws and policies that affect health, and broader systems of inequality that lead to unequal rates of illness and access to care. This certificate provides depth of training in these areas and is ideal for students interested in graduate-level study and social research on health and medicine as well as those interested in careers in public health, health care services, and non-profit organizations.