This subject is Ok. I thought the metabolic syndrome block was well taught, Stem cells was taught well. I thought the last 2 blocks were a bit of a mess. Especially the respiratory health block, Gary Anderson’s slides were a mess. The lecture slides for mental health were really long. The assignments were good. The write for your audience is in 3 parts. The first part is writing a page long piece on metabolic syndrome to a scientific audience, critiquing an infographic, and making an infographic for a lay audience. The second assignment is a debate (Stem cell debate) on invitrogametogenesis (IVG) , there is a for and against side. The next assignment is a marking 3 sample graphical assignments, this is a free 5 percent. The next assignment is creating a graphical assignment. All the assignments are marked by your tutor, on my first session with my tutor he said he marked really easy, but that wasn’t the case. For example on the stem cell debate he took off marks because my tutor group didn’t talk about public policy, I heard other groups hardly talked about public policy and got full marks. The Extended Answer Questions on the MST and the Exam were challenging, they had a lot of integration.

I actually really enjoyed this subject. It was a lot more manageable and enjoyable compared to M2M. My advice, create really good notes throughout the semester from the lectures, as in the exam we were able to bring in printed notes. My notes were quite detailed on each lecture. I think this is the best way to write your notes for the exam as summaries would have lacked some of the details needed to answer some of the questions.

A very different core subject in the Biomed course which focused on integrative understanding rather than attention to fine details. The learning blocks were metabolic syndrome, stem cells & tissue engineering, respiratory health & disease, and mental health. These topics were quite interesting and were tackled not just from the biology/clinical perspective, but also from a public/global health, social & ethical perspective.

This subject is unlike any of the other Biomed cores, and while the opinions about it vary, I thought it was a refreshing change from all the content heavy subjects we have done thus far. There is little emphasis placed on learning each and every one of the small details in lectures, but rather the idea is to take away a big picture view of each topic: metabolic syndrome, stem cells/bioengineering, respiratory diseases, and mental health. This was a little confusing at times, as some lectures were incredibly detailed and it was hard to know what to focus study on. However as it turned out, the MCQs (in the MST, and final exam) were very well written, as they assessed detail, but not random bits of information or a seemingly meaningless dot point on a singular lecture slide. The mental health block was a new addition this year, and while some if it was a little bit repetitive and dry (very different material to what we were used to, lots of sociology/population health content, it was was taught quite well overall. Integration is a key focus in this subject, as you are expected to draw links between lectures to create an overall picture of an issue, that you could describe in-depth in written answers. The assignments are easy to do well on, provided you engage with the topics before starting. Overall, this subject was well coordinated and Rosa will make it a fantastic experience for the cohort.

I think this subject has changed a lot since the last review (2016) and probably for the better. The subject focusses mainly on graduate skill building (eg writing, peer review, debating), and you will always have some sort of assignment or task to be working on alongside lectures. This juggling act is quite challenging. I found the lectures (on the whole) to be pretty interesting and you're given a holistic appreciation for disease, disorder and health across four topic areas (metabolic syndrome, stem cells and tissues, respiratory health, mental health). This subject has a big emphasis on public/social health, more so than M2M, which is actually very refreshing. I should also add that lecture content seems have changed depending on lecturer availability and feedback so some parts of those notes above for purchase may not be relevant to the course anymore or when you take FIB. Looking back on it, I got a lot out of the subject in terms of skills, and if you can too if you go into it with an open mind and ready to apply yourself and work hard.

A very difficult subject to follow if you rely on the lectures to guide you. I found it a lot easier to do well by practising questions and engaging with the material outside of the lecture notes.

If you can be bothered learning all the content yourself, this is a very interesting subject. as it is, it is hectic, confusing and poorly coordinated. I did a whole lot of independent studying for this subject, and I think it was the best way to power through it