Evolutionary Medicine

1 Course Unit

Evolutionary medicine is the application of modern evolutionary theory to studies of health and disease in humans. In taking this approach, the course will explore the role that disease played in human evolution. We will examine both infectious and non-infectious diseases, and assess the way in which populations and disease organisms have co- evolved. Related issues to be examined are the nature of the virulence and pathogenicity of infectious agents, and their efforts to subvert the immune system's responses to infection. We will also explore the evolved responses that enable individuals to protect, heal and recuperate themselves from infections and injuries, such as fever and sickness behavior, and the fitness enhancing aspects of these processes. Finally, we will study how past adaptations of early humans to their environments now affects modern humans, who have very different diets, life expectancy, activity patterns, and hygiene than their ancestors. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit