The History of Cancer in Science and Medicine

Catalog description

Cancer is a complex disease arising in a cell's DNA and characterized by uncontrolled cell divison. Biological research in this field is aimed at explaining the events leading to the development and progression of human cancers. Medicine, in turn, relies heavily upon such scientific research to improve strategies to prevent and treat the disease. Advancement on either front requires cancer biologists and oncologists to be historians in their own right by using a rich history of discovery to make progress possible. From black bile to oncogenes as explanations for carcinogenesis or from radical mastectomies to immunotherapy as hopes for "the cure", the history of cancer is filled with centuries of visionaries, toppled dogma, seredipity, failure, and hope that have laid the cornerstones for our current understanding. This course introduces students from all majors to the basic cancer biology and medicine. This will be accomplished with the use of a histroical narrative that highlights the many individuals and the key contributions which forged our current understanding of the disease, its treatment and perhaps its end. Junior standing required. (NOTE: THIS COURSE DOES NOT FULFILL THE CORE REQUIREMENT FOR A NATURAL SCIENCE COURSE.) Fulfills Core Requirement(s):Interdisciplinary Studies(IDS).