SCHEDULE FOR MHC 360 IN SPRING OF 2020
Instructor: Harold Varmus MD   (Varmus@med.cornell.edu)

Wednesdays, 5 to 7:40 pm, Room 1301, Belfer Research Building at Weill Cornell Medicine,  East 69th Street between First and York Avenue,

Note: this syllabus will be supplemented with more details—reading lists and specific instructions for each class—a week before each session during the course.

Date                          Session        Topic/Activity Purpose and Content
Jan. 29                      1 Course introduction Preview of MHC360; discussion of HV’s memoir; getting to know each other
Feb. 5                         2 Becoming a scientist Stories and ideas that have motivated people to pursue science
Feb. 19                      3 Guest: John Weiner (Topic to be determined Columbia School of Journalism)
Feb. 26                      4 Purpose of science Why science is important and why governments and others support it
Mar. 6                      5 Credibility of science What are the failures and uncertainties of science and their consequences?
Mar. 11                  6 Equity in science Issues of gender and ethnicity in the practice and application of science
Mar. 18                  7 Science for the public How science is represented in the arts
Mar. 25                 8 Guest: Steve Hall,

NYU School of Journalism

 Topic to be determined NYU
April 1                  9 Disseminating and appraising
appraising science		 How scientist communicate and publish and how their work is evaluated
April 7                  10 Ownership of science Intellectual property and credit for discoveries in public and private sectors
April 15                            SPRING BREAK
April 22              11 Scientific communities How science is funded; changes in the demography of science
April 29              12 Controversies in science Embryo and stem cell research; vaccines; gene editing; genomics; etc
May 6                13 Student presentations
May 13             14 Student presentations & Couse celebrations (8:30pm-11:00pm)
May 20 Term paper due
May 25 Term papers returned with course grades (or P/F)

 

Course assistants: 

Kevin Ambrose, MHC  kevind.ambrose@gmail.com for assistance with classes, counseling, and access to materials for reading or viewing.
Dawn Thomas, Weill-Cornell Medicine dat2023@med.cornell.edu for scheduling classes, appointments with instructor, and management of website.