UW News

January 25, 2007

UW Medicine presents 7th annual Mini-Medical School Feb. 6 -March 13

By Tracey Compton
News & Community Relations


Have you absorbed enough ER and Grey’s Anatomy to know the difference between anaphylactic shock and a heart attack? Or perhaps you’d like to know what’s behind all those food contamination scares of late or how high intensity focused ultrasound and stimulation is causing a stir. If so, then you should consider the UW Mini-Medical School. Mini Medical School will take place from 7 – 9 p.m., on Tuesdays Feb. 6 through March 13 in Hogness Auditorium, Health Sciences Center.



This February marks the seventh annual community event geared toward the naturally curious and health-oriented. It has attracted participants 16 to 90 years old in years past, all anxious for taste of the level of knowledge medical students receive as part of their curriculum.


“It’s not something you learn intellectually as much as you embrace with your whole being,” Dr. Terry Mengert, professor of medicine in the Division of Emergency Medicine, said of learning to be a doctor. He and Dr. Michael Ryan, associate professor of medicine, are this year’s Mini-Medical School hosts. Ryan is also section head of Nephrology at Harborview Medical Center.


The six-week lecture series features some of today’s most pressing health topics from some of the leading researchers in the field. For example, Dr. Teresa Brentnall, a groundbreaking researcher who recently found the gene associated with familial pancreatic cancer, will be one of the researchers leading the class on innovations and discoveries in medicine. She is is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Mini-Med School culminates with its own graduation ceremony complete with certificates and a presentation by Dean of the School of Medicine, Dr. Paul Ramsey.


This year’s curriculum includes:


Feb. 6 — Your Medical School Journey: Training in Medical Professionalism


Feb. 13 — Understanding a Chronic Killer: Kidney Disease


Feb. 20 — Unwired: When the Brain’s Circuits Fail


Feb. 27 — Preserving Limbs and Surviving Limb Loss: Resuming an Active & Productive Life


March 6 — Who’s Protecting Public Health?


March 13 — Innovations and Discoveries in Medicine


For more information and to register, visit http://www.uwmedicine.org/Global/NewsAndEvents/minimed/  or call 206-685-9420. Donations to UW Medicine are being accepted in lieu of a registration fee.