Last updated 3/8/00

YEAR 1 MEDICAL STUDENT NEUROANATOMY/NEUROPHYSIOLOGY

     This is an intensive 7 week course (please see schedule below) in Human Neuroanatomy  and Neurophysiology taught within the first year Medical Student Neurosciences class. The course consists of lectures in neuroanatomy and basic neurophysiology, plus two hour laboratory sessions that complement the majority of the lectures.   Clinical Correlation lectures are also offered by clinician specialists in particular subject areas.

     The object of this course is to provide students with a conceptualization of how the normal central nervous system functions and integrates with the other systems of the body. Neuroanatomy primarily involves training in basic anatomical skills. The first of these is the development and acquisition of a spatial concept of the important, and ultimately clinically relevant, elements of the nervous system. This includes investigation of the location of important elements of the nervous system, their relationships to one another and their connectivity, and emphasizes their individual functional roles in nervous system operation. The second is the skill necessary to recognize nervous system malfunction, and to provide the vocabulary necessary to allow professional communication (including both written and oral presentations of research topics) related to nervous system disease. In order to acquire these skills, lectures, videotapes, and films are used. Textual material is presented in the form of a detailed syllabus, atlases, and exercise books. Reinforcement is provided through laboratory work with whole human brains, stained microscope slides of key sections through human brain and spinal cord, models, 35 mm slides, videodiscs and computer programs, radiographs, including CAT scans, MRI images, and photographs of histochemical localization within the brain. Neuroanatomy actively involves the integration of structural with physiological and biochemical concepts, as well as correlations with selected clinical cases. In addition, within the neuroanatomy classes themselves, functional, neurochemical, or clinical correlations are frequently made. An effort is made to integrate didactic material with case-study presentations that are problem-oriented. Finally, consideration and integration is made with other organ systems of the body that bear directly on the normal function of the nervous system, as well as a consideration of those systems which come under nervous or neuroendocrine control.

Course Director:

       Judy A. Garner, Ph.D. , Associate Professor, Cell and Neurobiology, 442-1279, jgarner@hsc.usc.edu  

Contributing Faculty, Neuroanatomy lectures and laboratories:

       Roscoe Atkinson, M.D., Assistant Professor, Pathology, 442-2736, ratkinso@hsc.usc.edu

       Robert Cabelli, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Cell and Neurobiology, 442-6640, cabelli@hsc.usc.edu       

      Wendy Gilmore, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Neurology; Cell and Neurobiology, 442-1054, wgilmore@zygote.hsc.usc.edu

       Judy A. Garner, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cell and Neurobiology, 442-1279, jgarner@hsc.usc.edu  

       Charles Haun, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cell and Neurobiology,  442-1854, chaun@hsc.usc.edu

Contributing Faculty, Physiology lectures:

      Robert Chow, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Physiology and Biophysics, rchow@hsc.usc.edu

      Robert Farley, Ph.D.,Professor, Physiology and Biophysics, 442-1240, rfarley@hsc.usc.edu

      Hans-Jürgen Fülle, M.D., Assistant Professor, Cell and Neurobiology, 442-6630, fulle@hsc.usc.edu

      Judy Garner, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cell and Neurobiology, 442-1279, jgarner@hsc.usc.edu     

      Federico Kalinec, Ph.D.Chief, Section on Cell Structure and Function, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, House Ear Institute

                   fkalinec@hei.org

      Dennis O'Leary, M.D., Professor, Otolaryngology, 442-2618, doleary@hsc.usc.edu

Teaching Assistants:   

      Albert Chong, Year IV Medical Student, achong@hsc.usc.edu

      Shampa De, Craniofacial Biology Graduate Student sde@hsc.usc.edu

      Brian Roehmholdt, MD/PhD Student (Year IV), roehmhol@hsc.usc.edu

      Peter Thompson, Cell and Neurobiology, Year II M.S. Student pthompso@hsc.usc.eduText:     

Texts: RECOMMENDED not REQUIRED!!!

            Young, P.A.  and Young P.H., Basic Clinical Neuroanatomy,Williams and Wilkins, 1997

            Nolte, J. The Human Brain (3rd edition) Mosby Year Book, 1993  (Not available to buy but can be purchased from upperclassmen.)

            Nolte, J. The Human Brain (4th edition) Mosby Year Book, 1999 (Available to buy at the Bookstore)

ATLASES: One is required: Either of these is very HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

            Haines, D.E. Neuroanatomy: an atlas of structures, sections and systems., (4th edition) Williams and Wilkins 1995

            Watson, C. Basic Human Neuroanatomy, an introductory atlas (5th edition). Little Brown and Co., 1995

NEUROANATOMY REVIEW: For review and reference at the end of the course or for later:

            Nolte, J. The Human Brain Study Guide (4th edition)  Mosby Year Book (1999)

2000 Schedule: Please note: Schedule is NOT a standard semester schedule.

For graphical display (modified from the original by Year II Med Student Betty Shen!) of the entire Year I Neuroscience Schedule click the following:

Week 1 Schedule

Week 2 Schedule

Week 3 Schedule

Week 4 Schedule

Week 5 Schedule

Week 6 Schedule

Week 7 Schedule: Examination Week