From Hipocrates to Personalized Medicine: Healthcare Adapted to Societal Changes

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will provide an historical perspective between medical practice and Biomedical Science and human societies, and will look at how these two areas feed into each other, leading to an increased lifespan of all human populations as well as to the eradication and irruption of new diseases. The course begins with medical practice through the ages and progresses to cover the current medical challenges of a global world and how scientific discoveries since the second half of the 20th Century have shaped medicine.

We will address the technical, ethical, and socio-economic challenges of today’s societies, which have shaped their evolution, including the current COVID-19 pandemic and the different approaches adopted by different countries. The rise of genetic and regenerative medicine, and the possibility of treating patients on a personalized basis, represent a new challenge, which will force dramatic changes in how we conceive the broader aspects of medicine, from biomedical research to the regulatory matters and economic aspects of healthcare (biotechnological companies, Big Pharma).