Many educators have argued long for the inclusion of evolutionary biology in health education. But despite decades of research illustrating the relevance of evolutionary biology in understanding health and disease, evolutionary medicine has yet to be incorporated in most health curricula. Arguably the biggest obstacle has been in determining where and when in the education process that it should be introduced: in pre-medical undergraduate courses, as part of standard curricula in medical/veterinary/public health schools, as continuing medical education credits, or others. Our current project aims to 1) assess in detail the level of education in evolutionary biology that current physicians/veterinarians/nurses/public health practitioners have and current students in these disciplines are receiving, and 2) assess opinions of physicians/veterinarians/nurses/public health practitioners and students in these disciplines on when and where training in evolutionary medicine would be most appropriate.
Laboratory for Evolutionary Medicine 