About Medical Science

Someone had asked me to write something about Medical Science, which is the course I'm taking, and also, to give some information regarding Neuroscience, which is the area I'm planning to specialise in in my third year Insya-Allah. University of Birmingham's Medical Science is unique to the BioMedSci course offered in other Unis because in your first two years, you are exposed to different scientific areas of medicine just to give you a broad feel and in your third year, you are allowed to do your own bit of research and specialise in your desired field. Before I go on further, let me tell you why I took this course in the first place. I initially wanted to be a chemical engineer because I love chemistry so much during O level. At A Level, I took Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Psychology - and my love for chemistry... gradually faded if I can put it that way. I struggled with Chemistry during A Level to be honest, and I grew to love Psychology, in fact I got an A for Psychology. But the problem is, I don't want to be a psychologist. Don't ask me why, I just don't. But I was (still am) fascinated in how the brain works, so I tried to find a course which is related to psychology and neurology. I stumbled across "Neuroscience" (or rather my elder sister recommended it to me because it sounds 'cool'). I applied to University of Sussex and Bristol for Neuroscience and to Loughborough and UCL for Mech. Eng.. and just before the deadline, i also applied to Birmingham for Medical Science although I was least interested in entering UB. Bristol and UCL rejected me, so I was left with three choices. It was a real headache in the end cause I didn't know whether to choose Mech Eng. (more job opportunities) or Neurosci (I love but very minimal career prospect). At the end, I was convinced to choose Neurosci.. another headache: Sussex or Birm? Sussex - no bruneians.. Birm - not exactly neurosci and the course requires basic Bio. Guess what did I choose? Haha. Enough of that, let's get on with the course.

From "http://www.undergraduate.bham.ac.uk/coursefinder/medicine/medical-sci.shtml":

"The course is very broad in the first two years. All modules are compulsory, providing a strong foundation for specialisation in the third year. You gain an excellent understanding of how the human body functions in health and what goes wrong in disease. Modules in the first year include the Cardiovascular and Respiratory System, Digestive System, and Pharmacology, all of which are taught on the basis of linking structure to function, ranging from the system to the cell and molecular level.

In the second year, some modules provide more advanced knowledge of topics introduced previously, such as neuroscience and cardiovascular science, and others introduce different body systems, such as the immune, endocrine and reproductive systems.We place a strong emphasis on developing analytical skills (through problem-solving exercises) as well as IT and communication skills.

You specialise by choosing two modules from a wide spectrum of options, in which you explore the latest ideas and research findings, guided by experts in your subject areas. Modules include Cellular Pathology, Molecular Genetics, Cancer Pathogenesis, Molecular Medicine, Neuropharmacology, Neuroscience, Virology and Oncology, and many more. You are also exposed to advanced research techniques, which prepare you for a full-time research project in the spring term."

My first year unofficially ends this week (lectures and stuff), and only end-of-year exams to look forward to (or probably not) come May. This year alone I have 10 modules: Intro to BMedSci 1 (IBS), IBS 2 [more towards biology], Cellular Processes [more towards chemistry], Digestive System, Molecules and Movement [muscles basically], Cardio/Respiratory, Pharmacology [drugs, gila confusing], ICT skills [computer and presentation skills], Infection [Bacteria and Virus] and Neuroscience 1. Neuroscience module this year was good, basically covered nerves, why and how the electrical signal transmitted, neuromuscular junction, neurotransmitter and receptors, etc. etc. Truth to be told, this year I found Cardio/Respiratory to be the easiest and Infection to be the most interesting. Hope that'll change though. As I've said before, I'm interested in psychology but I don't think this course will touch on the psychological side of neurology. It's a science course after all, LOL. Ah well, at least I've got a psychologist friend here in Birmingham --> tu c Lisyah, he talks about psychology sometimes in his blog, which proves to be a good read everytime. Any more queries, just tag me.

The books I have: Neuroscience, Biology of the Cell, Histology, Genome, Microbiology, Physiology, Genome ANalysis
Some of the stuff we study in Histology/Anatomy class. That's the microscopic picture of the cell (histology of the skin to be exact).

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