Medical anthropology is the study of human health and disease, health care systems, and
biocultural adaptation. The discipline draws upon the four fields of anthropology to
analyse and compare the health of regional populations and of ethnic and cultural
enclaves, both prehistoric and contemporary. Collaboration among paleopathologists,
human biologists, ethnologists, and linguists has created a field that is autonomous from
any single subdiscipline, with strong potential for integration of physical and Cultural
anthropology. The field is also highly interdisciplinary, linking anthropology to
sociology, economics, and geography, as well as to medicine, nursing, public health, and
other health professions.