“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”
- T. Dobzhansky

 

Welcome to the home page of Evolutionary Biology and Human Disease, an interdisciplinary course offered through the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Initiative.

This course will use the problems of medicine and public health as a framework for teaching the principles of evolutionary biology. It will engage undergraduates in critical thinking about disease origins and causation from the novel viewpoint of Darwinian medicine, using principles of evolutionary biology including natural selection, adaptation, phylogenetic analysis, and general scientific hypothesis testing. The course will involve lectures, group participation in discussion sections, computer lab exercises, and at least one field trip.

The faculty instructors for the course are Randolph Nesse (Psychiatry and Psychology) and Alan Weder (Medicine). More information about the instructors, including office hours and contact information, can be found on the instructors page.

Lectures are held Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00 pm  -  5:30 pm at 1210 Chemistry Building.