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1st appeared 10 September 1999 UCSF Offers Its First-Ever Mini Medical School this Fall UCSF’s first-ever Mini Medical School, a series of evening classes to be taught by a dozen of the University’s best faculty members this fall, is now open for enrollment.
Experts from UCSF’s schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy -- those who are on the front lines of health sciences research and are rated outstanding by their students -- will explain how scientific and medical advances affect human health. "These are no ordinary teachers," says Shelley Chu, a fourth-year medical student at UCSF. "They speak in plain English, focus on core concepts and use stories, dramatization and humor to get their points across. They would be my top candidates for a Who’s Who of Great Science Communicators."
Chu is among the UCSF students who are volunteering their time serving as teaching assistants for the course. Some will attend the lectures to answer questions during breaks. The series, to run on six consecutive Wednesday evenings from Oct. 6 through Nov. 10, is open to anyone interested in learning more about the concepts and processes of human health and biology. Attendees will be encouraged to ask questions, but will not be required to do homework, write papers or take exams. UCSF is offering the Mini Medical School -- a form of adult education that has received phenomenal participation around the country -- in response to a growing public desire to better understand today’s health care news. "Information will be presented in a way that links theory, research, and real life," says Nancy Adler, UCSF professor of medical psychology and director of the UCSF Center for Health and Community. Adler will teach "The Effect of Stress on Human Health," which she says will describe how "what happens to us, and our psychological response to it, gets into our bodies and affects our physical health." She will cite studies demonstrating the remarkable effects that mind and emotions can have on individuals’ health and new techniques that can be learned and used successfully to help manage stress. Other experts who will teach at the Bay Area’s first Mini Medical School include:
Still other classes will take students behind the scenes of ulcer disease, asthma and heart disease, and through the data from population studies concerning smoking and lung cancer. Neurology professor and course director Daniel Lowenstein, a recipient of numerous teaching honors from UCSF students and from national organizations, says teaching is a labor of love. It is "a passion for learning, love of neuroscience, caring that my students learn, and helping them carefully build upon what they already know to reach new understandings." In his class, Lowenstein will describe "The Ever-Changing Brain: Its Form, Function and Quest for Knowledge." Renowned pain researcher Allan Basbaum, named by his students a 1999 outstanding lecturer, blends art, poetry, humor and student-teacher interaction to make his classes lively. In his class -- "What Causes Pain and How Can We Make It Go Away?"-- Basbaum will present evidence that persistent, intense pain is not a symptom but is itself a disease that produces long-term changes in the brain. As a result of these changes, non-painful stimuli become painful. He also will discuss the unique subjectivity of the pain experience, which often leads to its undertreatment. The Mini Medical School concept was pioneered at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver in 1990. Since then, health sciences courses have been offered in similar forms across the country, drawing classes of up to 600 people, with waiting lists of up to 1,300. Space is limited at UCSF’s Mini Medical School -- so registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Two topics will be presented at each class meeting, with a question-and-answer session following each lecture. Those who attend all six sessions will receive an honorary diploma. Classes will be held in Cole Hall, from 7 to 9 p.m. A $40 fee for the entire series is payable when registering. To register, download the registration form, and send with a check made payable to UC Regents, to UCSF Mini Medical School, Public Affairs, Box 0462, San Francisco, CA 94143. For directions, registration and parking information, call 476-2557. Links: Mini Medical School registration form (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Source: Linda Thomas |
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