Evolutionary Medicine

Catalog description

Evolutionary medicine is the application of evolutionary theory to the study of human health and disease. Health is affected by things like the aging process, the microbiome, cancer, infectious disease, and antibiotic resistance. Most medical research attempts to identify how factors such as these can be controlled. Evolutionary medicine attempts to explain why they exist in the first place. In this course, students will be exposed to a new perspective for understanding human health and disease. Students will think through the evolutionary causes of disease and the possible consequences (positive and negative) of medical and public health interventions. Students will also interpret arguments posed in the peer-reviewed scientific literature and critically evaluate those posed in the popular press.