Page 4 - PREMEDICAL SCIENCES CURRICULUM

Introduction to the Curriculum

The current premedical sciences curriculum serves as a revised premedical sciences curriculum developed
in 2014 by Georgetown American University. The curriculum was developed to include the updated
standards, topics and courses required to provide the core prerequisite skills and knowledge needed by
students to function effectively in a medical degree program.

The Premedical Sciences program aims at preparing students for the undergraduate Doctor of Medicine
program at Georgetown American University. It comprises of natural sciences, health sciences and social
sciences courses. The syllabus for each course and exams follows the MCAT structure.

The main objectives of the program are:
1. Develop the knowledge and skills needed to enter into a medical degree program effectively
2. To provide the introduction to medical degree courses
3. To develop professional behavior and habits require of medical professionals
4. To nurture compassionate students with lifelong learning skills

Core Values

The core values of the program remain that of the university:

1. Believe in Quality
2. Be innovative
3. Bring passion
4. Build team spirit
Learning Objectives:

Competency 1

knowledge of molecular, biochemical, cellular, and systems-level mechanisms

1. Apply knowledge of biological systems and their interactions to explain how the human body
functions in health and disease.
2. Use the principles of feedback control to explain how specific homeostatic and reproductive
systems maintain the internal environment and identify
a. how perturbations in these systems may result in disease and
b. how homeostasis may be changed by disease.
3. Apply knowledge of the atomic and molecular characteristics of biological constituents to predict
normal and pathological molecular function.
4. Explain how the regulation of major biochemical energy production pathways and the
synthesis/degradation of macromolecules function to maintain health and identify major forms of
dysregulation in disease.
5. Explain the major mechanisms of intra- and intercellular communication and their role in health
and disease states.
6. Apply an understanding of the morphological and biochemical event that occur when somatic or
germ cells divide, and the mechanisms that regulate cell division and cell death, to explain normal
and abnormal growth and development.
7. Identify and describe the common and unique microscopic and three dimensional macroscopic
structures of macromolecules, cells, tissues, organs, systems, and compartments that lead to their

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