Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Cape Town

Hi All!
For those that don't already know, I'll be spending my Spring quarter this year studying in Cape Town, South Africa. I'll be heading out on March 31st and not coming back until a ways into August. I'll be taking classes through a Stanford program during the Spring and then doing a community-based research project during the summer. If you'd like to know more about the program go to: http://bosp.stanford.edu/capetown/index.html

Can't wait to live here:

Monday, January 7, 2013

Winter Quarter Classes


HUMBIO 129S: Global Public Health

The class is an introduction to the fields of international public health and global medicine. It focuses on resource poor areas of the world and explores major global health problems and their relation to policy, economic development and human rights. The course is intended for students interested in global health, development studies, or international relations, and provides opportunities for in-depth discussion and interaction with experts in the field.


HUMBIO 153: Parasites and Pestilence: Infectious Public Health Challenges

Parasitic and other pestilence of public health importance. Pathogenesis, clinical syndromes, complex life cycles, and the interplay among environment, vectors, hosts, and reservoirs in historical context. Public health policy initiatives aimed at halting disease transmission. World Health Organization tropical disease targets including river blindness, sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, mycobacterial disease (tuberculosis and leprosy), malaria, toxoplasmosis, dracunculiais, and intestinal helminthes. Guest lecturers with expertise in disease control. 


BIO 44X: Core Molecular Biology Laboratory

Investigate yeast strains that are engineered to express the human protein, p53, and use modern molecular methods to identify the functional consequences of p53 mutations isolated from tumor cells. Learn about the protein¿s role as a tumor suppressor through lectures and by reading and discussing a journal article. Use molecular visualization programs to examine the structure of wild type and mutant p53 proteins. Formulate a testable hypothesis and assay the ability of mutant p53 to direct expression of several reporter genes. During guided reflection, formulate further analyses to determine whether mutant p53 is present in the cell, can bind to DNA, and/or can enter the nucleus. Lab experiments, team oral presentation, individual comprehensive written laboratory report.


HUMBIO 128: Community Health Psychology (PSYCH 101)

Social ecological perspective on health emphasizing how individual health behavior is shaped by social forces. Topics include: biobehavioral factors in health; health behavior change; community health promotion; and psychological aspects of illness, patient care, and chronic disease management.