Course Descriptions
Clinical Gross Anatomy - MCHA500 (5)
This course builds the foundation required for students to learn basic descriptive, functional and clinical human anatomy through didactic lectures, small group learning activities and e-learning modules. Hands-on application of anatomical concepts and relationships will be gained through whole body dissection in small groups.
Instructional Methods - MCHA501 (1)
The course prepares students with theoretical foundations and practical techniques to plan, apply and design appropriate instructional methods while serving as a teaching assistant. It introduces a wide range of instructional methods and discusses techniques of writing good examination questions.
Medical Imaging - MCHA502 (2)
This course applies basic foundational anatomy principles to medical imaging including X-ray, MRI, CT and ultrasound. Students are expected to apply their cross-sectional knowledge to the interpretation and acquisition of medical images.
Embryology - MCHA503 (3)
This course consists of lectures devoted to the student's understanding of how the human body develops. Topics covered will include early embryogenesis, organogenesis and clinical embryology.
Histology of Cells and Tissues - MCHA510 (2)
The overall goal of this course is to provide students with an understanding of how cells become specialized to form tissues and how those tissues form organs. The course provides an essential foundation for understanding structure-function relationships in normal organs and how those relationships are affected by pathogenic mechanisms.
Introduction to Research - MCHA520 (3)
This course provides the knowledge necessary to understand the purpose and process of educational research and help learners become informed consumers of research literature in the field of medical and health professions education. It will survey the major types of educational research in this area including qualitative and quantitative forms of analysis to better answer questions which cannot be studied in laboratory settings, particularly in the social sciences and education. This course will also prepare students for their Capstone projects.
Teaching Assistant - MCHA504 (2)
This course allows students to serve as teaching assistants for medical, physician assistant or graduate courses in gross anatomy or histology. Responsibilities would include prosection of specimens, laboratory instruction, small group facilitation, course reviews and design of innovative study materials.
General Mechanisms of Disease - PATH516 (3)
The General Mechanisms of Disease module serves as a transition from the foundational modules to the organ systems modules. It focuses on the general mechanisms of disease, introducing students to microbiology and infectious disease, principles for discriminating healthy from unhealthy conditions and predicting clinical manifestations. The course consists of face-to-face lectures by basic science faculty focusing on major principles and their biomedical applications. Exams are used to assess foundational knowledge and facilitate knowledge integration and are designed to facilitate student review and self-assessment. The PathA student will complete approximately 60 contact hours. The course will have three major non-comprehensive multiple choice exams each covering approximately 6 to 8 hours of lecture content. The course will assess topic-specific foundational knowledge and facilitate disease knowledge integration.
Capstone Project - MCHA507 (3)
All students participate in a capstone experience through a synthesis and integration of knowledge gained through their coursework and other learning experiences, with the application of anatomical specimen preparation, medical education, clinical trainers/phantoms, service learning or simulation. The project must be an original work of scholarship or research.
Fall Electives
Applied Learning Theories (online) - MHPE600 (3)
This course is an introduction to adult learning theory applied to medical and health professions education settings. Learners successfully completing this course will explore major contributors in behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism to the field of adult learning to create an educational philosophy. Learners will create artifacts in an electronic portfolio to exemplify the application of seven areas of learning theory: assessment of prior knowledge, encoding and retrieval and knowledge, motivation form learning, mastery of learning, feedback and practice, course climate and self-directed learning.
Clinical Shadowing/Service Learning I - MCHA 512 (2)
Clinical Shadowing and Service Learning opportunities are arranged through the School of Medicine. Students are expected to participate in approximately 3 hours/week of shadowing and service learning experiences. Participation in these activities will be monitored by EVMS faculty advisors and academic counselors.
Clinical Shadowing/Service Learning II - MCHA 514 (2)
Clinical Shadowing and Service Learning opportunities are arranged through the School of Medicine. Students are expected to participate in approximately 3 hours/week of shadowing and service learning experiences. Participation in these activities will be monitored by EVMS faculty advisors and academic counselors.
Functional Neuroanatomy - MCHA516 (3)
This course presents an overview of the human nervous system so that a student can understand the function of its complex parts as they relate to each other, to normal brain function and to major neurologic and psychiatric problems. This is an integrated neuroscience course that includes molecular, developmental, anatomical, metabolic, physiologic and pathologic concepts. Learning methodologies include lectures, wet labs, special dissections, small group problem-based learning and peer-to-peer teaching.
Medical Terminology - MSA500 (2)
The medical terminology class is an intense, three-week course that employs a body systems-oriented, word-analysis approach to learning medical terminology. The goal of the class is to prepare students for the terminology they might encounter in their subsequent coursework, in their clinical rotations and ultimately in their roles as healthcare professionals.
Medical Ethics - PATH501 (2)
This is a hybrid course having both an online component and face-to-face classroom discussions. The course was developed by Edx Inc., in collaboration with the faculty of Georgetown University, Kennedy Institute of Ethics. The course content and videos are equivalent to the (PHLX101-03X) course offered at Georgetown University. The in-house utilization of the course has supplemental features that include periodic interactive face-to-face classroom discussions on selected topics and themes. These discussions, conducted either as Blackboard postings or as classroom exchanges, personalize the course content. The course presents five major themes of bioethics and each of the five major themes is highlighted by a classroom discussion on the topic. Each week, a new unit will become available to the students either online or Blackboard. Presented in this course are the following themes: Autonomy, bioethics and the human body, bioethics as it pertains to the beginning and end of life and bioethics that have a global impact.
Social and Behavioral Sciences for Public Health - MPHE611 (3)
This course is a social and behavioral sciences core course for the MPH program. Psychological, social and cultural concepts and models relevant to health and disease in society are reviewed and critiqued. The course will enable students to describe core theoretical perspectives from each of the social science disciplines of psychology, sociology and anthropology. Students will learn how to select and apply appropriate social and behavioral models to the design of public health interventions and policies. The course will also cover existing social inequalities in health status related to race, social class and gender, and the critical intersection between social risk factors, behavioral risk factors and the development and implementation of public health interventions. Social ecological models that influence population health at multiple levels are emphasized.
Foundational Science I: BM529
The Foundational Sciences 1 module introduces students to the molecular and biochemical underpinnings of cellular structure and function, and initiates the foundations of clinical practice through the conductance of a patient-centered interview. Students will apply the principles of cell structure and function to clinical scenarios.
Spring Electives
Assessment of Learning (online) - MHPE603 (3)
Assessment drives learning, whether through the effectiveness of instruction or the assessment of individual learners. This course will describe how effective assessment can be employed to improve instructional effectiveness for learners, faculties and institutions. A wide array of formative and summative assessment instruments and techniques will be explored and applied through practical application.
MCAT Preparation - BM522/BM523 (4)
Students take an MCAT preparation course taught by the Princeton Review during the first year of the program. EVMS faculty advisors and academic counselors will monitor students' progress in the course. Approximately 60 hours of in-class preparation per semester. This course requires an additional fee.
Pathophysiology - PATH510 (4)
This course is a didactic presentation of human pathophysiology designed for Health Professions students. A clear understanding of the etiology, pathogenesis, pathophysiology and morphologic changes of disease serves as an essential basis for the understanding and competent practice in all areas of medicine. Students in this course will: Develop a background and vocabulary in pathophysiology; acquire an understanding of general physiologic/pathophysiologic processes such as inflammation, repair, neoplasia and senescence; survey pathophysiologic processes and morphologic changes which manifest in organ systems and establish a basis for the understanding of disease; exercise an approach to clinical problems which evaluates symptoms, signs and findings with a knowledge of pathophysiology to formulate a diagnosis with due consideration of differential diagnoses.
Plastination Training in Guben, Germany - MCHA509 (4)
Students would travel to learn plastination techniques from world experts at the Plastinarium in Guben, Germany. In conjunction, students would prepare dissections for plastination. This course requires an additional fee.
Independent Study - MCHA511 (2)
Curriculum Development (online) - MCHA509 (3)
This course teaches a systematic curriculum development approach. Application of principles to medical and health professions education is expected. Educators and curriculum leaders will gain knowledge, skills, and experiences in multiple facets of curriculum development including curricula planning, design, development, implementation, evaluation, and improvement/revision. Learners will also explore the benefits and challenges related to the collaborative nature of curriculum development through practical examples and application of curricular planning models.
Principles of Environmental Health - MPHE613 (3)
An introduction to the chemical, physical and biological factors affecting human health and disease. Emphasis is on the skills to detect environmental factors in health problems and to determine methods of control to prevent disease and maximize environmental quality. This course includes lectures, readings and required assignments.
Principles of Epidemiology - MPHE614 (3)
An introduction to epidemiology as a body of knowledge and a method for analyzing community health problems. The course emphasizes how to measure and describe the health of populations, the natural history of diseases in population groups, standardization of rates, sources of data, study designs, measurements of risk, evaluation of screening tests, causal inferences and outbreak investigation. This course includes lectures, reading and individual and group assignments.
Or other electives with the Course Director's approval.
