PATH 200 — A new course from the Faculty of Medicine coming in September 2026!
Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:00 – 3:30 pm
PATH 200 introduces pathology and laboratory medicine concepts in simple terms, and seeks to debunk myths and misconceptions surrounding these disciplines. It provides students with a holistic understanding of the roles played by pathology and laboratory medicine in understanding, preventing, and treating disease. The course will include weekly in-person lectures, interactive in-class and online learning activities, student discussions, tutorials (once a week), and case studies. Each topic will be introduced using a short TV or movie clip depicting myths and misconceptions about pathology and laboratory medicine, that will be used to engage students in discussions. Instructors for PATH 200 will include Faculty members, lecturers, teaching assistants, and guest speakers from the Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
Planned Course Topics
Course Learning Activities and Materials
This course contains synchronous and asynchronous learning activities and will be delivered in a blended learning format. Students will complete pre-class readings and submit answers to problem sets before each lecture class. Engaging class activities will include clickers/slido, case studies, quizzes, polls, and student discussions, pathology meme and media critique, mini-investigations using virtual autopsy tools, analysis of film/media pathology scenes such as Grey’s Anatomy versus real pathology.
Students will use a variety of learning materials including:
- Articles from journal newsletters (e.g. Nature Briefing), videos (TED Talks, Khan Academy pathology series), podcasts (e.g. This Podcast will kill you, Sawbones, CMAJ), addressing misconceptions.
- Curated myth-busting readings.
- Copies of lecture slides and weekly reading materials will be made available via UBC Canvas.
Course Evaluation
Course evaluation will be based on a variety of assessments types, including in-class activities and participation, weekly pre-class quizzes, assignments, and exams.
Course Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Identify common myths and misconceptions about pathology and laboratory medicine.
- Discern the role of pathology and laboratory medicine within the medical system, public health, and society.
- Analyze the impact of media, culture, and historical misconceptions on public understanding of disease mechanism, diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment.