BIOL 340 - Darwinian Medicine

(3 credits)
Prerequisite: BIOL 200 with a minimum grade of “C-” and BIOL 225 with a minimum grade of “C-“; or consent of instructor
See Addenda to the 2023/2024 Catalog  for changes to this course effective Spring 2024.

Darwinian medicine asks questions about the evolutionary history, evolutionary causes, and ecological context of human disease. This course introduces the concepts needed to understand human disease from an evolutionary perspective. We will explore these concepts through the lens of important medical advances in the understanding of cancer, autoimmune disorders, anatomical disorders, and host-pathogen relationships in an attempt to answer the question: why do we get sick? Offered alternate fall semesters. (CWRM)