Course Identification

It is recommended (but not mandatory) taking the core course called “Cancer: Genome, Micro-environment and Immunology” in the first semester.

The focus of the course will be clinical aspects of some of the more common types of cancer. A panel of top Israeli and foreign speakers will each lecture about their field of expertise, namely a specific type of cancer. We will allocate 2 hours to each lecturer. The first 45-50 minutes will provide the facts and current mainstay, such as historical notes, disease course, epidemiology, etiology, pathology, cellular and immunohistochemical basis, subtypes and classifications, mutations and genetics, molecular mechanisms and major drugs and treatments currently available. The second part (50 minutes; after a break), will address open questions of current research, including experimental drugs, response and resistance to drugs, roles (if any) of stem cells, availability of animal models, landmark publications, and more. The list of clinical indications includes lung and breast cancer, hematopoietic cancer, such as leukemia and lymphoma, liver, colon and rectum, and prostate cancer.

Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to:

1. Use the vocabulary and fundamentals of all major types of human cancer.
2. Demonstrate familiarity with the molecular, genetic and epidemiological facts along with the principles underlying diagnosis and prognosis of each disease.
3. Outline an overview of current treatment modalities and the major drugs available for treatment of each disease,
4. Demonstrate a broad perspective of cancer therapy and the current major activities in each disease indication.

Principles & practice of oncology; Editors Vincent T. DeVita, Theodore S. Lawrence and Steven A. Rosenberg.