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Neuroscience

September 23, 2024-October 25, 2024

Course Director
Bill Yates, PhD
Professor, Otolaryngology, Neuroscience
byates@pitt.edu

Course Director
Alexis Franks, MD, FAAP
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
alf181@pitt.edu

Course Description

The goals of this course are to develop foundational understanding of the principal structural and functional components of the central nervous system and their vascular supply, and to apply these neuroanatomical and neurophysiological concepts to interpret the etiologies and classical presentations of core neurologic disorders. 

Course topics include the systems of movement, sensation, learning, language, and cognition, and how they are impacted by specific types of disease or abnormal processes.  The course also introduces imaging and other techniques important to the study of brain function and diagnosis of pathophysiology.

Course Objectives

  1. Display a thorough understanding of functional neuroanatomy. This implies knowledge of the anatomical structures composing the nervous system and their physiological inter-relationships. Students' understanding will be sufficiently profound to enable localization of pathological processes to specific subdivisions or regions of the nervous system upon being presented with neurological findings.
  2. Recognize how disease affects function. Skills will include ability to: 1) characterize the vascular supply of major anatomical subdivisions of the CNS, particularly as related to functional neuroanatomy; 2) recall the pathophysiology and gross pathology of common disease processes and describe their usual course; 3) illustrate how neural disorders may result from systemic illness.
  3. Be able to describe electrophysiological, biochemical and molecular bases of neuronal communication, and relate these concepts to the neuropharmacological manipulation of brain function. Emphasis will be on CNS systems, especially sensory and motor disorders and degenerative diseases.
  4. Demonstrate familiarity with current methods for diagnosis and management of neural disorders. This will include proficiency at recognizing structural and functional abnormalities that can be visualized with conventional imaging techniques and understanding specific circumstances when particular methods are most appropriately employed. Students will be able to predict the outcome of individual treatment options and describe potential long-term effects of nervous system damage or disease.

Educational Methods​

  • Case-based learning
  • Small group workshops
  • Patient presentations
  • Self-study
  • Review sessions
  • Weekly assessments (Formative, Summative)

Assessment

Assessment for this course is based on a cumulative, graded Summative exam.

Requests for excused absences should be submitted via Elentra. Unexcused absences may result in grading penalties as outlined in the Policy on Absence and Attendance.