Human Structure

Catalog description

The fundamental goal of this course is to provide an anatomical framework for understanding the form and function of the normal human body. In pursuing that goal, this course will expose students to principles that define critical thinking within the basic sciences. The knowledge students develop about anatomical relationships and structure and function can then be applied to problems of dysfunction that are relevant to clinical practice providing the foundation for success in other courses and in future studies. This goal will be achieved through a variety of team- centered and learner-focused experiences, including direct, active dissection of human cadavers, learner-centered investigation of intact and prosected human brain specimens, classroom presentation and discussion, and team-based learning activities. The team-based learning activities will emphasize applications that connect the dissection and didactic experience to larger problems in functional and clinical anatomy. With these goals in mind, the central theme of the course is gross human anatomy and the relationships between the musculoskeletal, neurological, and vascular systems of the human body. These relationships will be explored by dissection, examination, and integrative investigations of the morphology and function of the axial skeleton, upper and lower limbs, the central and peripheral nervous systems, and cardiac, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, urogenital and reproductive systems. This process will involve the instructional staff for gross anatomy in all aspects of the course, as well as course leaders from other courses in the Masters of Biomedical Sciences curriculum. The broader participation of program faculty will help integrate course content with larger curricular goals and objectives, including those pertaining to the longitudinal clinical practice—a unique feature of this approach that is…