Department of Physiology / Pathology

By Maricarmen Colón Díaz, PhD, Chair of the Department

On behalf of the faculty and staff of the Department of Physiology/Pathology, I would like to welcome you to the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine. This site is designed to introduce visitors and students to our Department’s research and teaching mission. It also serves as a major route of communication between the students, faculty members and administrative staff.

The Department of Physiology/ Pathology plays an important role within the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine and collaborates in many of its courses. Our department has sought out and embraced modern teaching methods to ensure the students have the most fulfilling learning experience.

Physiology is a subject regarding how the body works. The Medical Physiology curriculum provides a comprehensive array of topics focusing on the body’s cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, musculoskeletal, nervous, endocrine and gastrointestinal systems. Some of the topics include hands on laboratory activities and provide real applications that make learning exciting. Our Physiology course 175/176 also emphasizes basic concepts of normal human functions and includes integrative activities that provide the basis for clinical applications as well as Community-Based activities.

The Pathophysiology course 213/214 offer by the department is an organ based course and addresses the morphological changes that occur due to illnesses and the mechanisms of disease. Emphasis is places on microscopic and macroscopic pathology and pathogenesis occurring in each organ system. These courses are coordinated with Clinical Diagnosis 290 and 292, Microbiology 260 and Pharmacology and Therapeutics 273. Pathophysiology I offer and introductory section that covers all aspects of the cell’s normal function, including cell death. In addition, topics in immunopathology, genetics, inflammation, fluids and electrolytes, acid and bases, and cancer are also covered in this section. Also, cardiovascular, hematopoietic, pulmonary, renal, reproductive organs. Pathophysiology II continues on the study of pathophysiological changes of all the organ systems including endocrine, digestive, musculoskeletal, special senses, neurological and central nervous systems in alignment with the other second year classes.

Current research interests of the faculty include a variety of areas associated with the reproductive system, epigenetics, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. The diverse expertise and research interest of our faculty ensures that students will have ample exposures to a wide range of topics during their medical training.

As part of the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine efforts to strengthen its research activities and improve scholarly productivity among faculty and students, we have established a collaborative research with several institutions in Puerto Rico which includes: University of Puerto Rico in Humacao, Ponce Health Sciences among others. This collaborative efforts will help our faculty and school to consolidate and increase our research productivity.

Our Department strongly believes that the training received by our students will prepare them for positions in hospital, academia, health administration or any other clinical or healthcare organization. Our students have an incredible exposure not only to medical relevant topics but also to research and community work that prepare them to become the next generation of our nations physicians.

We hope that our site provides the answers to all of your questions about our department and its mission. Please feel free to contact us if would like any additional information.

Maricarmen Colón Díaz, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of the Department

Faculty