Medicine and Surgery

The course introduces students to the history of human diseases. Medical thinking and practices were introduced and evolved in response to historically and geographically defined health challenges. The clinical conditions we call diseases, along with the strategies for treating them and improving health, are the result of evolutionary dynamics, in the Darwinian sense. Students will learn that human phenotypic traits are trade-offs and are therefore not perfect or optimized: anatomy and physiology predispose us, on a genetic basis, to be more or less at risk for specific diseases. We will then explain which environmental factors have shaped our biology and predispositions, focusing in particular on the impact of infectious diseases after the Neolithic transition. In the context of the history of disease, the most significant medical ideas and strategies introduced by therapists and doctors will be mentioned periodically. Here is a list of the topics covered: - Introduction to Darwinian or evolutionary medicine - Demographic and health transitions - Factors that have shaped the biology of Homo sapiens - Natural history of infectious diseases - How the history of disease can contribute to understanding current health challenges

G. Corbellini, Storia e teorie della salute e delle malattie, Carocci, Roma, 2014. Slides and materials specifically prepared for individual lessons