Previous Mini-Medical School topics
have included:
- How to Think Like a Doctor: Medical
students develop their skills in critical reasoning through the discussion
of numerous medical case studies. In this interactive session, participants
reviewed several cases and, through discussion, gained a better understanding
of how physicians use the information obtained by asking questions and completing
a physical examination to arrive at diagnoses.
- Life
and Death at the Cellular Level: The death of a cell,
a process called apoptosis, holds great promise for the treatment of cancer,
stroke, autoimmune disorders and neuro-degenerative diseases. For example,
chemotherapy is designed to kill cancer cells (cells that grow rapidly and
do not die when they should). On the other hand, curing Alzheimer's and other
neuro-degenerative diseases (which happen because too many cells die) may
well depend upon extending the life of existing nerve cells. What do scientists
understand about cell death and survival and can this knowledge be used for
the future treatment of numerous diseases.
- An Inside Look at
Some Bad Infections: Medical
students are taught about serious infectious diseases using visualization
and action to "walk
through" their causes, symptoms and consequences. Using similar techniques,
this session offered an opportunity to apply "medical detective work" to
figure out which diseases caused serious: often fatal: outcomes in eight
different cases.
- The Art of Patient Care: This session
offered a chance to experience first hand how medical students are trained
to care for patients in Wright State's Simulated Patient Program. Participants
were given checklists to use in evaluating how well medical students applied
the principals of good patient care in their encounters with "simulated
patients" in
role-playing situations.
- DNA: Cloning, Fingerprinting & Cancer: While cloning makes for good science fiction and sensational headlines,
the real scoop is how scientists are learning to treat genetic diseases,
such as cancer, by cloning pieces of DNA. This talk explains how DNA works
and how genetic traits such as blue eyes or susceptibility to certain diseases
are inherited.
- Neuroscience: Frontiers in Brain Research: This
talk outlines some fundamental ideas about brain structure and function and
illustrates how neuroscientists at WSU are contributing to the massive and
ongoing effort to understand the brain.
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