F5 - Morphomics as a Mode of Establishing Curricular Cross-Talk between Anatomy and the Other Basic Medical Sciences

Dr. Noel Boaz, Ross University School of Medicine

We now live in a Genomics Age. One of the most recent  ‘omics fields is “morphomics” (Altenberg 2005), defined succinctly as the study of gene-macrostructural interactions. This new field holds tremendous opportunities for curricular integration of Anatomy with other medical basic sciences and with clinical medicine. Many curricula are now systems-based and our session will focus initially on the cardiovascular system. After a brief introduction to the central theorem of morphomics and its application to  the cardiovascular system, participants will self-select into one of four interest groups dealing with PBL case development, systems-based curricular development, curricular integration across disciplines, and clinical correlations. At the end of the working group sessions, each group will summarize its discussions for the entire group. A desired outcome of the session will be the formation of an IAMSE Morphomics Interest Group in order to identify: 1) the most effective subject areas to seek integration with other basic medical sciences, 2) good clinical examples of gene-morphological interactions, and 3) general themes underlying morphomics that need to be learned by medical students.