Professor: Lysaght, Hawrot Course format: Lecture w/section	Number of respondents: 41 Total Enrollment: 46
Class Composition: Froshs: 13 Sophs: 11 Jrs: 7 Srs: 14 Concs: 19 Non-Concs: 18 Don't Know: 4

Instructor Average: 1.39 Course Average: 1.50

“Biotechnology in Medicine” introduces class members to current technological advances dominating the medicine field. It also examines how drugs and biotechnological devices benefit society. Topics include pharmaceutical development, organ replacement, tissue engineering, therapeutic cloning, regenerative medicine, and ethical issues. There are no official prerequisites for this course although some students felt that a basic biology background is useful to have.

The class is taught by two different instructors, Professors Lysaght and Hawrot. Professor Lysaght received positive reviews from the students. They said he gave clear lectures, was enthusiastic about the material, and was receptive to questions in and out of class. Many noted that he made effective use of Power Point slides to guide the students through the ideas and was a great discussion leader during sections. Through these sections, he made a point to know every student in the course. Professor Hawrot was described as very knowledgeable in the subject area that he covered, although he was less dynamic and was slightly less organized in his teaching. Overall, survey respondents were happy with both of the instructors.

The assigned readings were all described as informative and useful. Students enjoyed both the novels: “Dark Remedy” and “The Billion Dollar Molecule.” The course load consisted of three non-cumulative exams, one oral presentation, one paper and weekly discussion sections. The exams were very detail-oriented and required good memorization skills, which discouraged some.

On average, reviewers spent three to six hours per week on the course. Students generally wrote enthusiastic reviews about the class and highly recommended it to anyone who may not want to take the advanced courses on the topics, but are still interested in an overview of the latest technological developments in the biomedical field.

View BI/0017 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.