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<Second Year: Comprehensive Basic Medical Sciences>

During the second year, students study basic medical sciences in a comprehensive manner through the Basic Life Science course consisting of parts I to IV, which are the fundamentals to the second year curriculum. Contents of the courses are integrated coverages of elementary topics from the traditional disciplines of basic medical sciences. The purpose of the course is to provide the vocabulary knowledge and common body of biomedical concepts for the subsequent PBL program in the third and fourth year. Courses are chiefly presented in lectures and laboratories. A part of the course is provided in the PBL format, particularly topics related to pharmacology and microbiology.
Other required courses are Medical English, History of Medicine, Medical Statistics, and Behavioral Science. Electives continue as previously in the first year.

* Small Groups : Students participate in small groups of 6 or 7 students where they study individually guided by a tutor or a preceptor

Basic Medical Science I primarily focuses on the normal human structure. This course covers topics from the fields of gross anatomy, microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues, and radiology. Regional anatomy is studied through dissection of the human body while radiographic demonstrations relate gross anatomy to clinical applications. Individual study of histological sections using a light microscope gives further understanding of the human structure.

Basic Medical Science II introduces students to the normal human functions. Topics covered in this course includes those from the areas of physiology, neurophysiology, molecular biology, biochemistry and enzymology. The topics aim toward understanding how the normal human functions are related to the human structure at the levels of subcellular, cellular, tissue and organ components. The body of the knowledge provided in this course is comprehensive, but necessarily superficial.

Basic Medical Science III is organized around rather complex themes including genetics, differentiation and development of the organs, defense mechanisms and immune responses, and drug actions. Students are required to relate their knowledge learned from the foregoing courses to normal human bodies.

Basic Medical Science IV provides students with an understanding on the causes and effects of diseases in pathology along with the host-parasite relationship in microbiology and parasitology. Emphasized are the principles of general pathology, pathophysiologic mechanisms, basic aspects of microbiology and immunologic mechanisms in infectious diseases. A part of the course is provided in the PBL format.