Newly Approved GMS Courses
GMS GE 706: Deconstructing Systemic Bias: Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins (Spring '23)
GE 706 is a 2-credit course open to Master’s and PhD students. Held on Tuesdays from 1 to 3 p.m., this course will be graded pass/fail. The course instructor is Shoumita Dasgupta, PhD, Professor of Medicine and an Assistant Dean of Admissions with a demonstrated history of working in a diverse and inclusive higher education environment.
This course will help students explore the relationship between race, ethnicity, ancestry, sex, gender, ability status, and identity. Students will also gain understanding of the fundamentals of human population variation at the genetic level and will demonstrate how this information has been misused in the form of “scientific racism.” These principles will be used to examine the impact of underrepresentation in scientific studies and cases in which scientific racism and bias have caused harm to marginalized groups. To integrate this knowledge, students will debunk misapplication of these concepts in examples of racism and other forms of bias where biological principles are misrepresented.
GMS OH 710 Applied Histology (Spring '23)
OH 710 is a credit course open to Oral Health Sciences students. Students in other programs are eligible to enroll with approval of instructor. The course has a non-standard schedule. The course focuses on the histology (normal human microscopic anatomy) of cells and tissues with regular correlations to common human disease pathology in a traditional lecture and discussion format. Students learn to identify tissues and organ systems and gain a greater understanding of functionality in the normal state, to better understand how this function changes in a disease state. Specifically, students learn cell histologic methods and how morphology impacts function and disease in various cells and tissues including blood cells and vessels, the epithelium, connective tissue, brain, the immune system, lungs, the skeletal system, the gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidney and the heart. Instructor: Duffy – Department Pathology
GMS FC721 Statistical Reasoning for the Basic Biomedical Sciences (Spring '23)
FC721 is the newly revamped Statistical Reasoning for the Basic Biomedical Sciences course. It is a 4-credit class held on Tuesday and Thursdays from 4:00-6:00PM. It is only open to doctoral students. It is a newly revamped course now being taught by Dr. Zhang, from the new Data Science Core here on the Medical Campus. Learn more here.
Chao Zhang, PhD is interested in methodology development for single cell data analysis using deep learning methods to bring together data from genomics, imaging and clinical information for cancer diagnosis and prognosis.
Chao Zhang, PhD
Assistant Professor in Computational Biomedicine
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
71 E. Concord St., K Building – Conte, K402
Boston, MA 02118
Office (617) 358-8535
chz2009@bu.edu| adsc@bu.edu
GMS MS 600: Introduction to Leadership (Spring '22)
Introduction to Leadership is a newly revamped 2-credit class held on Wednesday evenings from 5:00-7:00PM. The seminar course is an interactive and discussion-based course that will explore concepts such as courage, vulnerability, connection, empathy, values, curiosity and confidence. Students will learn about ways of responding to conflict and will address both receiving and giving feedback. The course will encourage students to utilize a great deal of self-reflection in order to develop their own unique leadership philosophy and leadership styles. See Flyer
Newly taught by
Laurie Craigen, PhD, LMHC-MA, NCC, CCMHC
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry
2021 New Courses
GMS MS 750: Fundamentals of Biostatistics Using R (Fall ’21)
The goal of this course is to provide students a fundamental knowledge of Biostatistics and practical experience in coding using the R software. This course familiarizes students with the basic concepts of Biostatistics, with the goal of understanding the study design and the appropriate statistical methods that are appropriate to use to evaluate their research hypotheses as well as different tools for data reporting. This course will be taught by a trained Biostatistician with extensive expertise in study design and data analysis.
The course is enhanced by including dedicated sessions in R so students can learn the basics of coding with the R software, providing them with hands-on experience and the opportunity to apply the theoretical concepts they were taught in previous sessions so they are able to conduct their own research.
GMS BN 780: Stress & Trauma (Spring ’21)
This course provides an overview of theory and research on stress and trauma, with attention to biological, psychological, and social factors. Special emphasis placed on gender issues, developmental factors, psychopathology, and physical health.
GMS FC 715: Translational Genetics & Genomics (Spring ’21)
Modern human genetics has evolved at a tremendous pace, with the promise of an affordable complete genome sequence for every individual just around the corner. While the raw information has increased exponentially, its translation to patient care has not kept pace. We will discuss exciting recent advances in human genetics and genomics, with illustrative examples of their translation into improvements in diagnosis and treatment of patients. We will also discuss ethical and societal challenges of this rapidly evolving field. Our course is aimed at first or second year Ph.D. students, and will be taught by faculty in a variety of departments through traditional lectures and discussion sections. Students will be evaluated on their ability to explain the translational research process and demonstrate how individual research findings build on one another to move a field forward to ultimately impact patient care.
GMS FC 717: Physiology of Specialized Cells (Spring ’21)
This course is one of the elective course modules (Module V) of the Foundations in Biomedical Sciences curriculum. Knowledge of cellular and molecular physiology is critical to understanding the higher order of functioning of tissues, organs, and organs systems. The objective of the course is to discuss the specialized adaptations of cells that help them to function in their respective tissues and organs. This course will also provide a framework to bridge the gap between the biochemistry and the molecular and cellular biology that students have acquired in the core modules (I through IV) and organ physiology and pharmacology that will be addressed in the second year.
GMS GC 712: Genetic Counseling Fieldwork II (Spring ’21)
The clinical and non-clinical fieldwork will provide student interaction with a wide array of genetic specialists. Direct patient contact in prenatal, pediatric, adult, cancer, and specialty genetics clinics will allow students to acquire cases for ABGC certification.
GMS MH 715: Professional Orientation and Ethics (Spring ’21)
This course provides an orientation to the clinical mental health counseling profession, including the history and foundations of clinical mental health counseling, developing a professional identity, review of the settings and systems where clinical mental health counselors provide services, emergency preparedness, models of clinical supervision, professional organizations and licensure, clinical mental health counselor advocacy, preparations for practicum and internship training, and self-care strategies. This course will also cover the ethics of professional counseling, including confidentiality and informed consent, competence and use of supervision, and boundary-setting. The American Counseling Association and American Mental Health Counselors Association Codes of Ethics, as well as legal requirements, will be reviewed.
GMS MH 803: Advanced Ethics and Ethical Decision-Making (Spring ’21)
This course provides an advanced review of professional ethics governing the field of clinical mental health counseling, to include ethical decision-making, confidentiality and informed consent, competence and supervision, malpractice, self-care, and medical ethics. The course includes a careful review of the American Counseling Association and American Mental Health Counselors Association Codes of Ethics. The emphasis of the course is on critical thinking and application of ethical principles to ethical dilemmas commonly encountered in the field of clinical mental health counseling.
GMS MH 901: Orientation to Professional Counseling (Spring ’21)
Course description will be provided soon.