Novel Modules to Teach Evolutionary Medicine: an Australian and a Swiss Experience

Abstract

Objectives Evolutionary medicine is a growing field focusing on the evolutionary basis of human diseases and their changes through time. The introduction of concepts of long-and shortterm evolution into the medical curricula is essential to acknowledge the variability of human biology. Methods Three courses of the EM taught at the University of Zurich and the University of Adelaide are presented by giving their general descriptions, full curricula, and the results of anonymized student evaluations. Results The presented courses meet a growing need and were positively received by the students. Most importantly, they seem to stimulate critical thinking about issues relating to health and evolution. Conclusions The incorporation of these topics into curricula will allow future practitioners of health-related professions to apply principles of human evolution and its forces in their work.

Evolutionary Medicine: The Ongoing Evolution of Human Physiology and Metabolism

“…As can be observed from the preceding discussion, evolution influences all aspects of human physiology and pathophysiology and can inform the developments of treatments that are rooted in mechanistic understandings of disease etiology (FIGURE 1). It is vitally important that medical curricula emphasize the evolutionary context of human physiology (29). In the future, we can anticipate improvements in molecular techniques that will better enable researchers in the field of evolutionary medicine to decipher ancient DNA and RNA, and such next-generation sequencing techniques will permit more thorough exploration of the genetic basis for ongoing evolution of physiological processes.…”

Core principles of evolutionary medicine

“…Motivated to help increase the integration of human health into evolution education, Antolin et al [ 31 ] provided biomedical examples that exemplify evolutionary concepts that can be integrated into classrooms. Other articles have provided descriptive accounts of courses in evolution and medicine as guides to help others design their own courses [ 32 , 33 ] and several textbooks have recently been published on evolutionary medicine [ 34–36 ]. This prior work provides a platform that helps to initiate our attempt to create a consensus view of core principles for the field of evolutionary medicine.…”

The importance of Evolutionary Medicine in developing countries

“…Students in the program reported that they would recommend the course and gave high ratings to their perceived gains in understanding, averaging a 4.7 out of 5. Similar study modules in the UK, Switzerland and Australia were equally well-received and the students strongly appreciated the relevance to medicine [ 16 , 17 ].…”