BIOE 174 Evolutionary Medicine

Evolutionary processes and organismal evolutionary history have a profound impact in shaping the ways species develop disease susceptibility. As part of this class, students use evolution to critically evaluate human health, and explore how natural selection can shape behaviors and physiological responses. Uses concepts like trade-offs to understand how the evolution of mechanisms that were favorable under a set of conditions might seem damaging once those conditions are no longer present in modern societies. Course also extends these concepts to examine the evolution of disease susceptibility in other animals and plants providing a new tool to understand the world around us.