Teaching students pathophysiology in Faculty of Arts and Sciences

University of Toronto is a comprehensive university with 17 Faculties and Schools. Most of undergraduate students (over 50 000) are studying in Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Health related occupation has becoming one of the largest industries worldwide. A Human Biology Program has been established at the University of Toronto,through which over 3 000 undergraduate students in Faculty of Arts and Sciences have been trained by Departments in Faculty of Medicine. One of such courses is translational medicine. Three professors from Faculty of Medicine are invited. One gives pathophysiological background of infection,inflammation,cytokine biology and cell death. One gives information about ischemia-reperfusion associated acute lung injury during transplantation and development of molecular therapies. The last professor discusses the application of novel therapies in organ transplantation. Through these courses,students learn how the cellular and molecular mechanisms discovered through basic research are translated towards clinical practice. There are several features of this course. First,the class is small,around 25 students,to encourage the interaction between the professors and students. Second,each professor is encouraged to have one post-doctoral fellow or senior PhD student to give a lecture. This will give these trainees opportunities to gain teaching experience. Moreover,student participation is very important. Every three students will be grouped to select a scientific paper,and to present it in the class as a journal club. Each presentation is 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes discussion. Students in this course are highly motivated and many of them are willing to be medical professionals or medical related researchers. Over the last decade,many Chinese universities have been merged with a medical university or developed their own medical school. To promote interaction between Faculty of Medicine and other faculties are important step for trans-disciplinary education. Pathophysiology is in the ideal position for this type of collaboration.

University of Toronto is a comprehensive university with 17 Faculties and Schools. Most of undergraduate students （over 50 000） are studying in Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Health related occupation has becoming one of the largest industries worldwide. A Human Biology Program has been established at the University of Toronto, through which over 3 000 undergraduate students in Faculty of Arts and Sciences have been trained by Departments in Faculty of Medicine.