History of  Medicine

Aims and scope of the course

The basic purpose of the course is to explore the history of Western medicine and its main branches from antiquity to the early 19th century, through a series of lectures that draw in the larger social and cultural context of each period under study. The next important aim is to investigate how medicine, health and illness are perceived and also to encourage an understanding of how anatomical and pathological concepts of the body structure have shaped medicine. And last but not least study the biographies of the most outstanding persons, discoverers and inventors in the history of science should be uniquely interesting adventure from the humanistic point of view.

The course consists of the classical lectures and seminars based on the brief (approx.15 min.) presentations prepared and performed by the Students (3 topics for a person). The method of assessment is the multiple choice test; 2 items in semester.

Recommended books for everybody who wants to know more:

- R. Porter; Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine, Cambridge University Press, 2001

- R. Gordon; The Alarming History of Medicine, St. Martin's Griffin NY, 1993