Course Summary
Our medical physiology course offers you an exceptional opportunity to study the complex anatomy and detailed function of the human body in both health and disease.
We place a strong emphasis on learning all about the body’s structure and functions, with a particular focus on anatomy, histology, biochemistry and pharmacology.
We’ll give you a practical insight into the techniques and instrumentation used to investigate the human body in varying states of health and disease, such as fitness tests, chest X-rays and electrocardiograms (ECG), which measure the electrical activity of the heart.
You’ll examine life support systems and have the chance to earn a first-aid qualification. You’ll also discover what happens when body systems break down and how this can lead to disease.
You’ll have the option to take our four-year placement course, which features a year’s work experience, normally in a laboratory, after your second year. We’ve seen how such placements often lead to full-time jobs.
If you don't meet the entry requirements for a BSc degree, you have the option of taking an extended four-year version of this course. You’ll begin by taking a Bioscience foundation year which will prepare you for the BSc degree.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
In short, you’ll study the anatomy and functions of the human body in sickness and in health.
Along with all your fellow students in your first year, you’ll study physiology, biochemistry, human anatomy, cell biology and genetics to equip you with an excellent all-round grounding.
In year two, you’ll study more advanced areas of biochemistry, physiology, anatomy and histology and be introduced to pharmacology, disease processes and immunology.
At the end of that year, you’ll have the option of a year-long placement in a laboratory away from the University, either in the UK or abroad. This could be in a hospital or research institute or at a food, medical or industrial company.
In your final year, you’ll focus more on diseases of the systems of the body and be able to specialise in optional subjects such as toxicology, exercise or neuropharmacology. You’ll also complete a major research project.
HOW YOU'LL LEARN
We aim to make our course an enjoyable and compelling learning experience, throughout which you’ll be guided by experts who are as enthusiastic about their subject as they are knowledgeable.
Experts such as Course Leader Dr Mohammed Meah, who’s researching the body’s response to stress, and Dr Geoff Webb, an author of books on nutrition.
To make our course extra stimulating, we organise external visits such as a day in the dissecting room at St George’s Hospital, and we invite guest experts to speak to you. Major international company ADInstruments, for instance, gave a workshop on the methods of measuring biological data from humans.
Our close association with the professional body, The Physiological Society, opens up opportunities, too.
Some of our students have made waves by presenting their research at the Society’s meetings, while others have received grants, enabling them to attend specialist courses in ‘in vivo’ ‘in vitro’ experimentation.
Your final-year research projects will be your showcase for future employers, demonstrating your ability to generate and interpret new data on subjects such as the cause and diagnosis of diseases.
In your extensive lab studies, you’ll benefit from the superb specialised equipment at our Stratford campus, particularly relating to cardiovascular and respiratory research.
Each year you will spend up to 250 hours of timetabled learning and teaching activities. These may be lectures, workshops, seminars and individual and group tutorials. Contact hours may vary depending on each module.
The approximate percentages for this course are:
Year 1: 180 Hours – Taught Sessions, 60 Hours – Practical/IT Workshops, 960 Hours – Independent Learning
Year 2: 195 Hours – Taught Sessions, 55 Hours – Practical/IT Workshops, 950 Hours – Independent Learning
Year 3: 178 Hours – Taught Sessions, 72 Hours – Practical/IT Workshops, 950 Hours – Independent Learning
Who will teach on this course
Mohammed Meah
The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.
YOUR FUTURE CAREER
We’ve worked hard to ensure that this course will be the perfect launch-pad for your future career. Employers recognise the quality of the scientists we produce at UEL and graduates of our course have landed jobs at Hammersmith Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Royal Brompton Hospital, among others.
If you take the option of the one-year work placement, you’ll be in a good position to go on to full-time employment in the same organisation, as many of our graduates have done in the past.
The thorough grounding you’ll receive in physiology and the transferable skills you’ll learn will open up all sorts of career avenues to you, as Isaac Mwita found.
This 2012 graduate reckons the practical knowledge he acquired in investigating the workings of the human respiratory system during our course was largely responsible for securing him a job as a clinical physiologist in the lung function unit of London’s Royal Brompton Hospital.
Our students have gone into a variety of jobs in clinical physiology, medicine, radiography, physiotherapy and teaching. In addition, the industrial and pharmaceutical industries are always on the look-out for physiologists.
You might decide to study for a further degree in a related subject, either an MSc or PhD, or embark on a research career in the biological or medical fields. There’s always the possibility that, with further study, you could become a doctor or dentist.
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