Being a medical student is not a requirement to take health related classes at the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The third annual Mini Medical School begins Thursday and meets from 7-9 p.m. every Thursday evening from Sept. 26 through Oct. 31 in Fee Hall.
The purpose of the event is to learn about improving one’s health. The cost for all six sessions is $25.
The course offers current information from the College of Osteopathic Medicine faculty. Each session presents a different speaker from various departments within the university.
The scheduled professors are Peter Gulick, David Strobl, Carla Guggenheim, Shirley Harding and David Neff.
The sessions will cover basic anatomy, physiology and pathology.
“We started this program because we felt a need for this type of health education for people,” program coordinator Patricia Grauer said. “It not only teaches people how to get healthy and stay healthy, but how their bodies work and why it is important for people to have knowledge on health issues.”
The topics vary each week, with the first two sessions covering cancer-fighting nutrition.
“This two-week session is helpful because it gives the community knowledge of what’s going on in research, prevention and treatments for cancer,” Gulick said. “In the classes, I will also be discussing recent issues such as alternative therapies and why they may or may not be useful.”
The Oct. 10 session will focus on heart disease and stroke with updates on risk factors and improved techniques for diagnosis and treatment.
The Oct. 17 session will be an introduction to keeping the immune system healthy against diseases such as rheumatic fever, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis with a focus on bacteria.
The Oct. 24 session will discuss healthy eating, including food pesticides, preparation, additives and genetic modifications.
The last class on Oct. 31 will focus on the aging process and explore what happens to cells, organs and tissues over time and how to slow the impact of aging.
“The information is taught at a level folks can understand without previously having taken any classes,” Grauer said.
MSU’s Evening College, part of the lifelong education program, hosts the classes.
The Mini Medical School is offered in cooperation with MSU’s “Healthy U,” the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society’s Great Lakes Division.
For more information, contact Pat Grauer at (517)353-0616. To register for classes, contact the Evening College at (517)355-4562 or visit www.msualum.com.
