Introduction to Clinical Medicine

Learning Objective:

1. To introduce students to the physiology and medicine underlying major human diseases likely to become research targets in biomedical engineering and medical device development and to encourage students to upgrade research target selection to projects that promise to improve patient care, with a major emphasis on pathophysiology and disease mechanisms. The information and intellectual approach offered will help students recognize needs for engineering solutions to current challenges in medicine.
2. To preview the intellectual content of medical school, including rigor and level of detail, for students considering medicine or medical research as a career, emphasizing the key "11-points" necessary for practical understanding of any disease: definition of the condition, causes, functional abnormalities, structural abnormalities, early signs, history and physical findings, differential diagnosis, special studies (lab, imaging, etc.), treatment strategy, specific steps of treatment, and follow up, as well as current clinical needs for innovation and research opportunities for the future