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Medical anthropology can be described as the study of cultural beliefs and behaviours associated with the origin, recognition and management of health and illness in different social and cultural groups. Medical anthropology is not simply concerned with practices of healing or systems of diagnosis and treatment such as biomedicine. It deals with the more informal systems of healthcare that exist worldwide (such as self-treatment, folk healers, shamans, and alternative practitioners), as well as those associated with professional Western science-based medicine and caring practices. Additionally, medical anthropology is also concerned with issues which relate to different cultural views of the ‘self’ in health and disease, as well as shared beliefs, images and practices associated with perceptions of the human body and mind.

The need for nutrition experts, dietitians and nutrition scientists is greater than ever before. Nutrition plays a vital role in: the maintenance of health prevention and treatment of disease public health policy development athletic performance

Food and nutrition knowledge and expertise have an important role in: foodservice management food production product development consumer health education

Rapid advances in medical research, health care reform, and consumer demand have made this discipline increasingly complex. The CSB/SJU Nutrition Department offers a major and a minor in Nutrition. Within the major, there are three areas of concentration.

The courses and programs in nutrition and food sciences have emerged from and are integrated with the physical and life sciences. The science of nutrition is concerned with the ingestion and utilization of food for the purposes of survival, prevention of disease, and the promotion of positive health. Courses for non-majors, as well as majors, are offered.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine contributes to the clinical, educational and research missions of Drexel University College of Medicine by providing a solid foundation for understanding disease processes in individual patients as well as in general terms. Since our discipline uses basic science approaches to elucidate clinical disease, we are in a strategic position to provide an important educational bridge and to conduct translational research.

Department pathologists provide professional services that include rendering diagnostic interpretations and overseeing the clinical laboratories at all six adult hospitals in the Tenet Philadelphia region. In addition, the Pathology Diagnostics Laboratory (PDL) is a certified laboratory that processes anatomic pathology specimens and provides diagnostic interpretations for physician office practices and a variety of investigators. The Regional Autopsy Service provides comprehensive autopsy services to institutions and individuals that are outside of the regional Tenet hospital system. These clinical activities ensure high quality patient care and also provide access to a wide variety of patient-derived material that supports the academic mission of the department.

Representing one of the largest medical specialties, the Department of Surgery is heavily involved in student education. The Department, through its Division of Surgical Education, is active in innovative teaching techniques including computer-based simulations, problem-based learning and small-group teaching.

The Department is also dedicated to patient care. Surgeons practice the following specialities: Colorectal Surgery, General Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery and Robotics, Oncologic Surgery, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Peripheral Vascular Surgery, Trauma, and Urologic Surgery. Each division offers electives, teaching and research. Training in critical care, trauma, oncology, breast disease, and gastrointestinal and endocrine surgery is available through the Division of General Surgery.

Through the tests performed in the clinical laboratory, medical teams of pathologists, specialists, technologists and technicians work together to determine the presence, extent or absence of disease and provide data needed to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. Working with complex, precision instruments and a variety of automated and electronic equipment, these healthcare professionals also confirm the accuracy of test results and report laboratory findings to pathologists and other physicians.

Nuclear Medicine Technology combines chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer technology, and medicine in using radioactivity to diagnose and treat disease. Though there are many diagnostic techniques currently available, nuclear medicine uniquely provides information about both the structure and function of virtually every major organ system within the body. It is this ability to characterize and quantify physiologic function which separates nuclear medicine from other imaging modalities, such as x-ray. Nuclear medicine procedures are safe; they involve little or no patient discomfort and do not require the use of anesthesia.

Laboratory Medicine is divided into six major areas of study: clinical biochemistry, haematology and blood transfusion serology, histopathology, diagnostic cytology, medical microbiology, medical biotechnology and immunology. All disciplines involve the study, examination and analysis of body fluids and tissues by physical, chemical, biochemical and biological methods to provide information essential for the diagnosis and treatment of disease.