Description
This course provides a general overview of the biological bases of health and illness with focus on the relationship between biological, personal, and environmental determinants of health and illness. Students will learn about key biological and physiological systems relevant to public health issues and the mechanisms of disease and their expression in major organ systems of the human body will be discussed. Topics will include, but are not limited to: infections, cancer, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, stroke, malnutrition, the biological response to harmful environmental exposures, stress, inflammation, immune disorders, and aging, with an emphasis on how these factors lead to disease and how, through the control of risk factors and early detection, they can be prevented.