BIOL 48 Disease, The Environment, and Human History

Most diseases result from either environmental challenges that individuals face or the constitution of the individuals’ genomes.  For example, health challenges like obesity, diabetes and allergies can result from changes in the human diet, and infectious diseases like flus, Lyme disease and even bubonic plague are exacerbated by environmental changes that humans have made to our environment.  Diseases as varied as dementia, various cancers, sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis result from past genetic changes in humans that may have actually been favored in some contexts. Moreover, humans and their pathogens continually change in response to one another. In this course, we will place various human diseases in these broader contexts to explore their sources and ultimate causes, and we will consider the implications of this exploration for how science can shape better public policy to produce better health outcomes for individual patients and the public health system more broadly.

Instructor

McPeek

Prerequisite

One from among Biol 12/BIOL 19, Biol 13, Biol 14, Biol 15, Biol 16, or instructor permission

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:SCI

Distributive and/or World Culture

SCI

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Offered

• Fall