• a year-long interdepartmental lecture and lab course in Pathophysiological Basis of Disease (PATH 713, 714, 715 and 716) taken in either Year 1 or 2
• professional development seminars during Program Year 1
• a monthly multi-speaker symposium that broadly explores specific diseases from bench to bedside and complements the course
• clinical mentoring and training supervised by the Clinical Co-mentor during Year 2 and beyond

Pathophysiological Basis of Disease (PATH 713, 714, 715, 716)

This year­long course was developed specifically to fulfill our Program goals, which are to integrate the pathological basis of disease, abnormal physiology associated with disease, and the clinical presentation of major diseases and disease processes.

The program of study is organized as a series of four graduate-level courses, two lecture courses (3 hours/wk, Fall and Spring Semesters), and two laboratory courses (2 hours/wk, Fall and Spring). The Fall semester of the course covers topics related to general pathology, which includes cell and molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, and immunology, as they relate to our contemporary understanding of the pathogenesis of disease. Topics related to general pathology include response to injury, inflammation, tissue renewal and repair, neoplastic disease, vascular disease, diseases of immunity, infectious disease, and genetic and environmental disease. The Spring semester covers topics related to diseases of the organ systems, or systemic pathology. Systemic pathology is focused on the description of specific disease processes and manifestations, consisting of both histopathology and the correlative and causal relationships between genotype and phenotype. This section of the course focuses on major organ systems, including blood vessels, heart, bleeding disorders, diseases of the lymphatics, lung, head and neck, gastrointestinal tract, liver and biliary tract, pancreas, kidney, breast, male genital system and prostate, female genital system and cervix, skin, the endocrine system, bones and joints, the central nervous system, peripheral nerves, and skeletal muscle.

The laboratory portion of the course follows the organization and schedule of the lecture course. The laboratory focuses on the microscopic and gross appearance of pathological lesions. In each unit of the laboratory, students will be challenged to integrate the pathological and physiological bases of disease through exercises that incorporate clinical cases, with clinical laboratory findings, symptomology, patient history, and associated microscopic and gross lesions.

Participating students attend the weekly IBMS Seminar Series during Fall and Spring semesters of the first year. Sessions are led by invited faculty experts with very active student participation. Current topics relate to development as a scientist (such as giving a successful research seminar, presenting a scientific poster, time management), career planning (such as “Taking control of your career”), as well as seminars on various research topics, and rotation talks and poster presentations critiqued by students and faculty. Several sessions address translational issues, like ethics of human investigation and how the IRB works. We will add sessions on the FDA, design of clinical trials and protocols, HIPPA, and several research presentations by translational researchers who represent thesis research opportunities for participating students.

Program Goal: To provide biomedical, chemistry, biology and physics graduate students and post doctoral fellows an increased understanding of careers in translational research and to provide the skills, network and support needed to pursue careers in translational research.

Lunch will be provided at all sessions.  The sessions will be held in 3200 Thurston-Bowles building.

See Schedule >>

Each month, the Program in Translational Medicine organizes a symposium on a selected topic in translational research. These symposia take the format of a symposium at a national meeting, with several speakers and ample opportunity for questions/discussion. The general topics for the symposia coincide and explore in broader depth topics covered in the Molecular and Cellular Pathophysiological Basis of Disease course. Topics under development include obesity, viral hepatitis, vaccine treatment of cancer, coronary artery disease, depression and schizophrenia. During each symposium, basic scientists and clinicians describe relevant aspects of a select disease or disease process in a series of presentations. This includes (i) epidemiology of the disease, (ii) pathological basis for the disease, (iii) abnormal physiology related to the disease, and (iv) clinical presentation, diagnostic studies and current therapy, all with the goal of, (v) defining unanswered questions and opportunities for translational research related to this disease. sample: November 2006 Symposium (pdf)