Neuroscience

Nancy L. Hayes, Ph.D., Course Director

Neuroscience is a required course for first-year medical students at RWJMS. It is also cross-listed in the graduate catalogs of both Rutgers University and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Typical enrollment is approximately 160 students. Usually, there are over 150 medical students and 4-6 graduate students. The graduate students are primarily from the joint UMDNJ/RU Graduate Program in Neuroscience. The Neuroscience Course is taught in the spring semester including lectures, brain dissection laboratories, large group discussions, patient presentations, and small group problem solving Clinical Case Conferences. There are 3 exams, the first of which is half written and half laboratory practical exam.

The Course is team-taught by members if the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology. In addition to the Neuroscience Course teaching faculty listed below, we have had guest lecturers from various departments within RWJMS as well as Rutgers University and other institutions.

As a core component of the first year medical curriculum, the objectives of the Neuroscience Course are first, to teach students the basic neuroanatomy and function of the human central nervous system, and second, to prepare them to understand and exploit new knowledge, technologies, and therapies as they are developed. We emphasize both basic science and clinical problem solving skills by including "textbook" problem sets on many aspects of the course material and Clinical Case Conferences which challenge students with real clinical scenarios. Patient presentations, films, and the essentials of the basic neurological examination of a patient are used to emphasize and re-emphasize the basic principles of neuroscience and their clinical relevance. The objectives are communicated to the students both explicitly (i.e. written and oral) and by example (i.e. patient presentation, discovery through problem solving). In addition, prior to the first patient demonstration, the appropriate behaviors (e.g., questions that might not be appropriate to ask, etc.) are discussed with the students.

The Neuroscience Course Teaching Faculty

Nancy L. Hayes, Ph.D.,Course Director
Research Interests: Genetic regulation of proliferation and neurogenesis in the CNS of developing and adult mice. Development of the cerebral cortex in normal and mutant mice; regulation of neuron number.

Janet Alder, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms and trophic regulation of neuronal communication.

David Crockett, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Spinal cord and brainstem functions; spinal cord injury.

Emanuel DiCicco-Bloom, M.D.
Research Interests: Regulation of cell proliferation during the development of the CNS.

Michael Matise, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Molecular control of neural patterning and differentiation.

Richard S. Nowakowski, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Development of the cerebral cortex in normal and mutant mice; regulation of neuron number.

Dale Woodbury, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Stem cell plasticity.

Last updated September 3, 2008