This course examines the ethics of medical practices and issues in contemporary society. Coursework will pose questions regarding areas that affect human life and death. Topics include practices such as euthanasia, birth control and abortion, cloning, genetic engineering, and biomedical research. Students will analyze the ethical nature of covered practices, how they affect humans on individual and social scales, and the relationship between patients and physicians and medical structures in terms of information, consent, and responsibility. Case studies from local European as well as non-European countries will be closely considered for discussion and study.
This course provides a general introduction to the study of human anatomy and physiology. The course is designed for non-biology majors who want to learn the basics of anatomy. General properties of living organisms are considered while human structures and functions are emphasized. The class will study the creation of the human body, from cells to tissues, organs to organ systems, and finally the organism, along with the chemical and physical principles behind its operation, and the principal systems and their physiological processes will be discussed. In addition, students are given a historical overview of anatomical studies from the work of Galen in antiquity to the anatomical investigations of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Vesalius during the Renaissance. New and noninvasive technologies, such as MRI, that uncover parts of the human anatomy never seen before, will be introduced. Field trips include the La Specola Zoological Museum for its collection of 18th-century anatomical wax models.
Epidemiology is interdisciplinary science with goal of identifying and describing patterns of disease occurrence, identifying determinants of disease, and evaluating disease prevention and health care treatment efforts. With its focus on human populations, epidemiology is directly linked with public health research, policy, and practice. Introduction to fundamental definitions, concepts, methods, and critical thinking used in epidemiologic study. Designed to lay foundation for future study to evaluate factors related to health outcomes in human populations using epidemiologic principles.
Cultural, scientific, and social context that shaped modern medicine from Renaissance to Romantic era. Topics include establishment of anatomy, physiology, and modern clinical medicine, mapping of human body, medical approach to mental illness, rise of anatomo-clinical method at Paris School.
Structural presentation of human body, including musculoskeletal, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, renal, and reproductive systems. Laboratory uses virtual cadaver dissection and examination.
