Office of Education
Year Two Courses
INFECTION HOST RESPONSE (IHR)
Ian Whitehead, Ph.D.
Course Director
Email: whiteip@umndj.edu
Raphael J. Mannino, PhD
Associate Course Director
Email: manninrj@umdnj.edu
Infection and Host Response is an intensive course in which much information must be communicated in a relatively short period of time. Attendance at all lectures is highly recommended.
Students will receive basic information through lectures and small group case discussions. They will be expected to assimilate and use the information presented. On-line laboratories will emphasize the properties of infectious agents and histopathology of infectious disease.
Students participate in two types of small group case discussions. POPS (Patient-Oriented Problem Solving) cases are group-led and students will receive a grade based on their participation. Small group infectious disease cases are led by 4th year medical students. Attendance will be taken at all these sessions and preparation and participation will be graded.
The course is divided into three units. Each unit ends with a unit exam. At the end of the course, there is a comprehensive subject examination (Shelf).
Unit I covers basic immunology and inflammation (acute and chronic). You will learn about cells and tissues of the immune system, innate immunity, antigens and antibodies, immunologic methods, the major histocompatibility complex, antigen processing and presentation, T cells maturation, differentiation, and activation, complement, humoral and cell-mediated immunity, immunodeficiency diseases, tolerance, autoimmunity, and hypersensitivities.
Unit II covers bacterial morphology, physiology, growth, genetics and regulation, disinfection and antibiotics, mechanisms of pathogenesis, bacteria that cause infections of major organ systems of the body, immunity to bacteria, and the histopathology of bacterial disease.
Unit III covers structure and biology of fungi and diagnosis, symptoms and treatment of fungal infections; major protozoal and parasitic infections, the host response to these infections, their agents, geographic distribution, life cycles, pathogenesis and treatment; and the structure, replication, culture and identification of viruses, immunity to viruses, histopathology of viral disease, and diagnosis and treatment of viral infections.
DISEASE PROCESSES, PREVENTION AND THERAPEUTICS (DPPT)
Sangeeta Lamba, M.D.
Course Director
Email: lambasa@umdnj.edu
Suzanne Atkin, M.D.
Assistant Course Director
Email: atkinsh@umdnj.edu
John Bogden, M.D.
Assistant Course Director
Email: bogden@umdnj.edu
Bart Holland, Ph.D.
Assistant Course Director
Email: holland@umdnj.edu
Richard Howland, Ph.D.
Assistant Course Director
Email: howland@umdnj.edu
Kenneth Klein, M.D.
Assistant Course Director
Email: kklein@umdnj.edu
As a major component of the second year New Jersey Medical School Jubilee Curriculum, this Course consists of a new approach to what has been traditionally presented in the previous courses of Clinical and Public Health Nutrition, Clinical Preventive Medicine, Introduction to Clinical Sciences, Pathology, and Pharmacology.
The course is divided into 8 "Units". Units 1 and 2 are comprised primarily of lectures on basic concepts, methods, and ideas in pathology, pharmacology, and nutrition. Units 3-8 focus primarily on the major diseases of the various organs and organ systems, with an emphasis on pathology, clinical medicine, pharmacology, nutrition, and prevention. The basic concepts presented in Units 1 and 2 will enable the student to better understand the topics of Units 3 through 8. Because most units will be exactly 2 or 3 weeks in length, there will be some exceptions to the above organization, and a few lectures may seem to be "out of place". This is an inevitable consequence of the organization of the course into 2-3 week units. There will be an exam at the end of each unit.
BIOSTATISTICS AND EPIDEMIOLOGY (BIOSTATS)
Bart Holland, Ph.D.
Co-Course Director
Email: holland@umdnj.edu
Marian Passannante, Ph.D.
Co-Course Director
Email: passanna@umdnj.edu
Welcome to our course! Biostatistics and epidemiology provide quantitative tools to help the physician think analytically about patient treatments, clinical trials, and patterns of disease in populations. We are concerned with the uses of quantitative data and techniques because they are important in clinical decision-making. After all, websites, books, and journals telling you how to treat a certain type of patient are presenting conclusions based on the experience of other patients in similar circumstances. Yet your patient may or may not respond as others do, because there is variability from person to person. Thus it becomes important for clinicians to be aware that statistical techniques are used in quantifying outcomes, and in quantifying the variability or probability of outcomes among patients. These techniques are used in summarizing the degree of uncertainty that may be associated with published conclusions, or with the test results you receive from clinical laboratories, so you need to be familiar with them. It is also important that you understand how relationships between patterns of disease and their causal factors enable researchers to identify risk factors for disease – and even help choose the most likely diagnosis for a given patient. Certainly, at a minimum, your goal should be to achieve an understanding of each concept listed under the rubric “quantitative methods” on the USMLE content list (shown after this course description), by the end of our course. These are the concepts that practicing clinicians ought to be familiar with, according to National Board guidelines. Additional material will be presented, based on our experience with physician needs.