2020-38

Motion Introduced by:  Curriculum and Academic Programs Committee

Date of First Reading:  February 3, 2020

Date of Second Reading: March 2, 2020

Title of Motion: Request from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences – School of Life Sciences – for the establishment of a graduate certificate – Evolutionary Medicine

Action Requested: This curricular proposal has received all college, school, unit and university administrative approvals, and is being presented to the Senate for review and voting decision.   

Rationale: Evolutionary Medicine is the application of the principles of evolution to the fields of medicine, public health, and other health professions. Inherently interdisciplinary in nature, Evolutionary Medicine integrates basic science – and provides a firm understanding of the core concepts of evolutionary thinking and analysis, and places disease in the context of changing environments, exposures, and the encompassing ecology of life in which an individual is embedded.

This certificate will give students foundational training in evolutionary medicine and how it is applied to the health of human populations, and then will allow students to specialize further through their electives in the direction of their primary academic interests. These interests could include, but are not limited to: population genomics, maternal and child health, mental health, cancer, microbiome, aging, anthropology, biology, public health, global health, and medicine.