Graduate Courses and Milestones

Pathology 9420A is an asynchronous, introductory online course of pathology - the study of disease. The objectives of this course are to introduce students to general mechanisms of disease (for example, inflammation, injury, neoplasia, and immune disorder). The course will introduce descriptive vocabulary and medical terminology used to describe disease and disease processes. It will also provide details on the connection between clinical signs, symptoms, and underlying pathology. These general processes may then be discussed as they apply to specific diseases of organ systems.

Course Co-ordinator – Dr. Jina Kum

Year 2 Course – September to December

Writing a successful grant application requires creativity/originality, writing proficiency, and organizational skills. This course is designed to provide strategies for effective proposal (grant) writing. A range of topics will be presented including: Identifying funding sources, preliminary data requirements, ethics approval & issues, application components, formulating a working hypothesis, organizing the information, and preparing a budget for the project.

Course Co-ordinator – Dr. Zia Khan zkhan5@uwo.ca

All students (MSc/PhD, full-time/part-time) are required to take one statistical analysis course. We recommend the following courses offered by the Departments of Statistical Sciences, Biology, and Health Sciences. If a student has taken a course which the student and the Advisory Committee believes satisfies the requirement, a course exemption form may be submitted to the Graduate Education Committee.

Undergraduate

Undergraduate timetables are available here.  
Biology 2244A/B – Analysis & Interpretation of Biological Data – September or January
Statistical Sciences 2244A/B – Statistics for Science – September or January
Biology 2244A/B and Statistics 2244A/B are the same, cross-listed courses. 
Health Sciences 3801B – Measurement and Analysis in Health Sciences – January (PDF)

Graduate

Biophysics 9522B – Inferencing from Data Analysis – January – April
Health Sciences 9515A (Measurements & Methods) – Statistics for Health and Rehabilitation Sciences – September – December (click the HRS Methods Courses section)
For more information:  hrsinfo@uwo.ca  519-850-2440

Important Note: The Supervisor and/or the Advisory Committee may suggest additional courses for the students based on their research project. These will be required and the students will be expected to obtain a minimum average of 70%.

MSc Scientific Communication and Critical Thinking (MSCSCCT) 1 and 2 are non-course milestones that all MSc students need to complete.  MSc SCCT 1 and 2 comprise weekly attendance and participation in Pathology graduate seminar series and other seminars in the department (for example, Dr. Robert Zhong Research Seminars, Grand Rounds, Paterson Lecture, PhD Public Lectures, etc).  These knowledge exchange activities provide a forum through which Pathology trainees keep abreast of new developments in basic biomedical research and engage in informal scientific discussion.  In addition, it provides students experience in reading, interpreting, evaluating and presenting various biomedical topics taken directly from the primary literature. It is also meant to foster interactions and learn about research taking place in the department.

These milestones are required for all MSc students:

MSc students: MSCSCCT1 and MSCSCCT2

Milestone Co-ordinators – Dr. Zia Khan zkhan5@uwo.ca  Dr. Patti Kiser pkiser@uwo.ca

This graduate course covers the core concepts and foundational approaches fundamental to the multi-sectoral and collaborative discipline of One Health.  Topics covered include the history, evolution, and scope of the field, and the three foundational pillars of One Health (human health, animal health, and environmental health)

Course Co-ordinators – Dr. Stephanie Frisbee sfrisbee@uwo.ca

Key research designs and methodologic approaches fundamental to the multi-sectoral and collaborative One Health approach are presented in both lectures and in-depth case studies. Topics covered include the study design and methods, data surveillance systems, engaging stakeholders, and implementing the One Health approach into action and policy change.

Course Co-ordinators – Dr. Francisco Olea-Popelka foleapop@uwo.ca

All students (MSc/PhD, fulltime/part-time) are required to take a quantitative/qualitative research methods course. This course(s) will be selected based on the student’s proposed graduate research project.

MSc Scientific Communication and Critical Thinking (MSCSCCT) 1 and 2 are non-course milestones that all MSc students need to complete.  MSc SCCT 1 and 2 comprise weekly attendance and participation in Pathology graduate seminar series and other seminars in the department (for example, Dr. Robert Zhong Research Seminars, Grand Rounds, Paterson Lecture, PhD Public Lectures, etc).  These knowledge exchange activities provide a forum through which Pathology trainees keep abreast of new developments in basic biomedical research and engage in informal scientific discussion.  In addition, it provides students experience in reading, interpreting, evaluating and presenting various biomedical topics taken directly from the primary literature. It is also meant to foster interactions and learn about research taking place in the department.

These milestones are required for all MSc students:

MSc students: MSCSCCT1 and MSCSCCT2

Milestone Co-ordinators – Dr. Zia Khan zkhan5@uwo.ca  Dr. Patti Kiser pkiser@uwo.ca

TThis is an asynchronous, introductory online course covering general pathology - an introduction to processes such as injury, inflammation & repair, immunity, and neoplasia that are common to many organ systems.
*If not taken during MSc (transfer students)

Course Co-ordinator – Dr. Jina Kum

Writing a successful grant application requires creativity/originality, writing proficiency, and organizational skills.  This course is designed to provide strategies for effective proposal (grant) writing.  A range of topics will be presented including: identifying funding sources, preliminary data requirements, Ethics approval & issues, application components, formulating a working hypothesis, organizing the information, preparing a budget for the project.

Course Co-ordinator – Dr. Zia Khan zkhan5@uwo.ca

All students (MSc/PhD, full-time/part-time) are required to take one statistical analysis course. We recommend the following courses offered by the Departments of Statistical Sciences, Biology, and Health Sciences. If a student has taken a course which the student and the Advisory Committee believes satisfies the requirement, a course exemption form may be submitted to the Graduate Education Committee.

Undergraduate

Undergraduate timetables are available here.  
Biology 2244A/B – Analysis & Interpretation of Biological Data – September or January
Statistical Sciences 2244A/B – Statistics for Science – September or January
Biology 2244A/B and Statistics 2244A/B are the same, cross-listed courses. 
Health Sciences 3801B – Measurement and Analysis in Health Sciences – January (PDF)

Graduate

Biophysics 9522B – Inferencing from Data Analysis – January – April
Health Sciences 9515A (Measurements & Methods) – Statistics for Health and Rehabilitation Sciences – September – December (click the HRS Methods Courses section)
For more information:  hrsinfo@uwo.ca  519-850-2440

Important Note: The Supervisor and/or the Advisory Committee may suggest additional courses for the students based on their research project. These will be required and the students will be expected to obtain a minimum average of 70%.

PhD Scientific Communication and Critical Thinking (SCCT) 1 through 5 are non-course milestones that all PhD students need to complete, including students transferring from the MSc program.  PhD SCCT 1 - 5 comprise weekly attendance and participation in Pathology graduate seminar series and other seminars in the department (for example, Dr. Robert Zhong Research Seminars, Grand Rounds, Paterson Lecture, PhD Public Lectures, etc).  These knowledge exchange activities provide a forum through which Pathology trainees keep abreast of new developments in basic biomedical research and engage in informal scientific discussion.  In addition, it provides students experience in reading, interpreting, evaluating and presenting various biomedical topics taken directly from the primary literature. It is also meant to foster interactions and learn about research taking place in the department.

These milestones are required for all PhD students:

MSc to PhD transfer students: MSCSCCT1, MSCSCCT2, PHDSCCT1, PHDSCCT2, PHDSCCT3

PhD students (students entering after completing a graduate degree/ MSc): PHDSCCT1, PHDSCCT2, PHDSCCT3, PHDSCCT4

Direct-entry PhD students (students entering directly after completing an undergraduate degree): PHDSCCT1, PHDSCCT2, PHDSCCT3, PHDSCCT4, PHDSCCT5

MD/PhD students: PHDSCCT1, PHDSCCT2, PHDSCCT3

Milestone Co-ordinators – Dr. Zia Khan zkhan5@uwo.ca  Dr. Patti Kiser pkiser@uwo.ca

This graduate course covers the core concepts and foundational approaches fundamental to the multi-sectoral and collaborative discipline of One Health. Topics covered include the history, evolution, and scope of the field, and the three foundational pillars of One Health (human health, animal health, and environmental health).

*If not taken during MSc (transfer students)

Course Co-ordinators – Dr. Stephanie Frisbee sfrisbee@uwo.ca

Key research designs and methodologic approaches fundamental to the multi-sectoral and collaborative discipline of One Health are presented in both lectures and in-depth case studies.  Topics covered include the study design and methods, data surveillance systems, engaging stakeholders, and implementing the One Health approach into action and policy change.

*If not taken during MSc (transfer students)

Course Co-ordinators – Dr. Francisco Olea-Popelka foleapop@uwo.ca

All students (MSc/PhD, fulltime/part-time) are required to take a quantitative/qualitative research methods course. This course(s) will be selected based on the student’s proposed graduate research project.

PhD Scientific Communication and Critical Thinking (SCCT) 1 through 5 are non-course milestones that all PhD students need to complete, including students transferring from the MSc program.  PhD SCCT 1 - 5 comprise weekly attendance and participation in Pathology graduate seminar series and other seminars in the department (for example, Dr. Robert Zhong Research Seminars, Grand Rounds, Paterson Lecture, PhD Public Lectures, etc).  These knowledge exchange activities provide a forum through which Pathology trainees keep abreast of new developments in basic biomedical research and engage in informal scientific discussion.  In addition, it provides students experience in reading, interpreting, evaluating and presenting various biomedical topics taken directly from the primary literature. It is also meant to foster interactions and learn about research taking place in the department.

These milestones are required for all PhD students:

MSc to PhD transfer students: MSCSCCT1, MSCSCCT2, PHDSCCT1, PHDSCCT2, PHDSCCT3

PhD students (students entering after completing a graduate degree/ MSc): PHDSCCT1, PHDSCCT2, PHDSCCT3, PHDSCCT4

Direct-entry PhD students (students entering directly after completing an undergraduate degree): PHDSCCT1, PHDSCCT2, PHDSCCT3, PHDSCCT4, PHDSCCT5

MD/PhD students: PHDSCCT1, PHDSCCT2, PHDSCCT3

Milestone Co-ordinators – Dr. Zia Khan zkhan5@uwo.ca  Dr. Patti Kiser pkiser@uwo.ca

Maximum Enrollment: 20 students

*This course is cross-listed with Biology 9919B

This course will train students to process biological data sets by developing basic ‘command-line’ and script-based computing skills. Topics covered may include the UNIX file system, basic UNIX commands, running programs and building pipelines, abstraction and control flow in Python, regular expressions, and data exploration and visualization in R.

The objectives of this course are to provide students with diverse backgrounds in biology or the biomedical sciences and no prior experience with programming with a basic foundation in
“applied bioinformatics”, e.g., processing data sets with open-source programs through a command line interface.

Course Co-ordinators – Dr. Vera Tai vtai4@uwo.ca  Dr. Art Poon apoon@uwo.ca

Pathology 9587L is a multidisciplinary course exploring advanced concepts in the pathogenesis of human diseases. Students will learn to critically evaluate scientific literature and emerging themes in select topics and present these concepts to peers. Students will emphasize new developments and will give an overall view of general mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis.

There are two main objectives of this course. The first objective is to provide students with an overview of the fundamental principles that underlie select human diseases. This will be accomplished through an in-depth examination of original research articles on the selected topic. The second objective is to provide students with critical thinking skills and the tools for communicating scientific ideas. The course is designed to encourage students to learn how to research, discuss and evaluate current information, and form cogent arguments and opinions about scientific topics. Students may also use this course to round out their education in areas not covered in depth by graduate courses offered by Pathology and Laboratory Medicine or by other graduate programs at Western University. 

Course Co-ordinator – Dr. Zia Khan zkhan5@uwo.ca