MED275-A: At the Crossroads: Science Meets the MedicalPatient
Pathogenic and Therapeutic Mechanisms of Human Disease

Units: 2.
Quarter: Fall 2009
Location: MTF274
Time: Tuesdays, 1:00 to 2:30 PM
Course Directors: Jess Mandel, M.D.; Kenneth Kaushansky, M.D.; Jason Yuan, M.D., Ph.D.
Required readings: 2-3 key journal articles will be distributed prior to each seminar.

This course is the first in a series of two Med275 courses having the same style and focus that alternate annually in the autumn quarter.   It examines 10 diseases that are different from those in Med275-B. 
Both courses in the series may be taken by interested students.

Course Objectives: To educate graduate and medical trainess on the pathogenic and therapeutic mechanisms of major human diseases, highlighting the state of current research, the diagnostics and therapeutics currently employed, and the unmet diagnostic and therapeutic needs.  Each lecture is preceeded by an interview of a patient with the disease being discussed.  The patient describes the disease onset, symptoms, progression, therapeutics taken, therapeutic side effects, and the impact of the disease on his/her life.  Students ask the patient questions for 10 minutes or so.  Next, a physican-scientist  lectures for an hour on the current state of known molecular mechanisms, open research questions, and diagnotic/therapeutic needs.  This course is required forMed-into-Grad students as part of their core training prior to entering the clinical training in Winter quarter.  Graduate students from  programs based in the School of Medicine, as well as in the undergraduate campus, are welcome to attend, as are medical students interested in translational research.
The course does not focus on the “gaps”, the many diseases that lack both a defined molecular mechanism and an effective therapeutic. Med-into-Grad discover these “gaps” during Winter quarter clinical training, and use the knowledge from this class to hypothesize the most effective avenues to elucidate molecular mechanisms.  During their Winter quarter clinical training, Med-into-Grad students will also use knowledge from this course, as well as from their molecular research backgrounds to envision more effective diagnostics and improved molecular or mechanical therapeutics.

Date	Location	Week	Topic	Speaker
Sept. 15	MTF 274	I.	Introduction
			Part 1 : Human Diseases: An Overview (30 min.)	Ken Kaushansky, M.D.
			Part 2 : Clinical Diagnostic and therapeutic approaches (30 min.)	Jess Mandel, M.D.
Sept. 22	MTF 274	II.	Arthritis: Role of MAP kinase pathway in inflammatory arthritis	Gary Firestein, MD
Sept. 29	MTF 274	III.	Embryonic stem cell diffentiation: New approaches to old (and intractable) diseases	Mark Mercola, Ph.D.
Oct. 6	MTF 274	IV.	Neuroendosomes and Human Disease	William Mobley
Oct. 13	MTF 274	V.	Heart Failure: Viral infection-mediated cardiomyopathy	Kirk Knowlton, M.D.
Oct. 20	MTF 274	VI.	Myeloprofiliative disorders	Ken Kaushansky, M.D.
Oct. 27	MTF 274	VII	Therapeutic targets for HIV/AIDS	Doug Richman, M.D.
Nov 3	MTF 274	VIII.	Atherosclerosis	Joseph Witztum
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Nov 10	MTF 274	IX.	Colon Cancer: Pathogenic and therapeutic role of TGF-β signaling	John Carethers
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