Courses
SOMGEN 130. Sexual Diversity and Function Across Medical Disciplines. 2 Units.
(Same as SOMGEN 230/FEMGEN 230). Focus is on development of personal and professional skills to interact with people across the diverse range of human sexuality, from childhood (pediatric) to older ages (geriatric), with consideration of gender identity, sexual orientation, sociocultural (predominantly U.S., not global) and religious values, and selected medical issues (e.g. hormonal therapy, disabilities, e.g. spinal cord injury, etc. with discussion of sexual taboos and unusual sexual practices that you might encounter in a general medical setting.
Same as: FEMGEN 230X
SOMGEN 140. Preventive Medicine. 3 Units.
(Same as CHPR 240) Features the research of faculty in the Stanford Prevention Research Center and focuses on key health issues over the life course (prenatal through childhood, young to middle-aged, older and elderly adults). Topics include chronic disease (global and U.S.) epidemiology; application of behavioral science to risk reduction; nutrition; weight management; physical activity; stopping smoking; public health; community health and community-based prevention; national prevention strategy; applying communication technology to health promotion.
SOMGEN 202. Authoring Wikipedia Medicine Articles. 3 Units.
Course focuses on how to author and edit evidence-based systematic review-style articles for Wikipedia. Topics to include: appraising importance, quality and reliability of Wikipedia medicine article, learning WikiProject Medicine style guidelines, identifying clinical questions and applying relevant evidence to answering them, using secondary literature (systematic reviews, meta-analyses, textbooks, practice guidelines) to edit a Wikipedia Medicine article, publishing Wikipedia Medicine articles in open-access journals. Enrollment limited to MD students in their 4th year.
SOMGEN 203. Literature and Writing for Military Affiliated Students. 1 Unit.
Focus is on military literature and workshopping students' writing about their military experiences. Authors include Tobais Wolff, Phil Klay and Tim O'Brien, and guest speakers include invited veteran authors such as Tobias Wolff and Karl Malantes. Dinner and course materials provided for free for all students.
SOMGEN 204. Mobile Health Without Borders. 1 Unit.
Overview of innovations in mobile health, global health, and entrepreneurship. Each class features lectures from multiple world leaders on themes, challenges, opportunities in m-health. Content delivered in hybrid in-person seminar and webinar format connecting participants from around the world in class discussions and assignments.
SOMGEN 205. Human Trafficking: Historical, Legal, and Medical Perspectives. 3 Units.
(Same as HISTORY 105C. History majors and others taking 5 units, enroll in 105C.) Interdisciplinary approach to understanding the extent and complexity of the global phenomenon of human trafficking, especially for forced prostitution and labor exploitation, focusing on human rights violations and remedies. Provides a historical context for the development and spread of human trafficking. Analyzes the current international and domestic legal and policy frameworks to combat trafficking and evaluates their practical implementation. Examines the medical, psychological, and public health issues involved. Uses problem-based learning. Students interested in service learning should consult with the instructor and will enroll in an additional course.
Same as: FEMGEN 5C, HISTORY 5C, HUMBIO 178T
SOMGEN 206. Global Medical Issues Affecting Women. 1 Unit.
This course probes the principal issues affecting women and girls medically around the world. Through interactive discussions, guest lectures, case studies, and academic readings, students become acquainted with the most critical challenges to women¿s health globally, and use selected analytical tools to assess how these may be addressed efficiently, cost-effectively, and sustainably. Topics include women¿s cancer, birth control, infertility, female genital mutilation, midwifery, obstetric fistula, breastfeeding, violence against women, and women's representation in biomedical research. The aim is to cultivate in students a nuanced appreciation of women¿s unique needs, roles, and challenges in the contemporary global health landscape.
Same as: FEMGEN 206
SOMGEN 207. Theories of Change in Global Health. 4 Units.
Open to graduate students studying in any discipline whose research work or interest engages global health. Upper-class undergraduates who have completed at least one of the prerequisite courses and who are willing to commit the preparatory time for a graduate level seminar class are welcome. The course undertakes a critical assessment of how different academic disciplines frame global health problems and recommend pathways toward improvements. Focuses on evaluating examples of both success and failure of different theories of change in specific global health implementations. Pre-requisites: Econ118, CEE265D, HUMBIO 129S, or HUMBIO 124C.
SOMGEN 208. Preparation and Practice: Law. 2 Units.
Focus is on everyday activities of patent practitioners (patent agents, patent associates, and patent partners) and applying skills learned in medical, biosciences and physical sciences graduate studies to careers in Patent Law. Topics include: applying for positions, the importance of IP protection, licensing, overview of the patent process, drafting applications and litigation. Seminar lead by leaders from Morrison and Foerster.
SOMGEN 210A. EMPOWERING EMERGING SCIENTISTS I. 1 Unit.
First half of a two-quarter sequence. A practical guide for career development, which includes training on career direction, communication, and the development and leveraging of relationships, all skills that are also easily translatable to many areas of life. Through conversations, self-analysis, and writing exercises, each participant designs a fulfilling and impactful vision for their career and life as a whole. Participants learn a practical, step-by-step process for living a more inspired and productive life.
SOMGEN 210B. EMPOWERING EMERGING SCIENTISTS II. 1 Unit.
Second half of a two-quarter sequence. A practical guide for career development, which includes training on career direction, communication, and the development and leveraging of relationships, all skills that are also easily translatable to many areas of life. Through conversations, self-analysis, and writing exercises, each participant designs a fulfilling and impactful vision for their career and life as a whole. Participants learn a practical, step-by-step process for living a more inspired and productive life. Prerequisite: SOMGEN 210A.
SOMGEN 212. Humanities and Arts in Medicine for Clinical Students. 3 Units.
Designed for clinical students in their final year of medical school, this clerkship combines classroom sessions, fieldtrips, and workshops in the arts and humanities to facilitate reflection on health, illness, healthcare and medical training. Utilizing disciplines such as film studies, architecture, creative writing, visual and performing arts, medical anthropology, history, literature and ethics, students will explore the culture of medicine, the human condition, and the context of medicine in society. Each student will design, research and present a project which examines and interprets a particular intersection of the arts/humanities and medicine of the student¿s choice.
SOMGEN 213. The Art of Observation: Enhancing Clinical Skills Through Visual Analysis. 1 Unit.
Offers medical students the opportunity to enhance their observational and descriptive abilities by analyzing works of art in the Stanford museums. Working with the Cantor Arts Center staff and Stanford Art History PhD candidates, students spend time in each session actively looking at and describing works in the gallery. Discussion with medical school faculty follows, providing a clinical correlate to the gallery session. Classes interrogate a different theme of medical observation and clinical practice and includes opportunities for an applied clinical session in the hospital with course-affiliated physicians.
SOMGEN 214. Conversations in Social Medicine. 1 Unit.
Draws on disciplines of medical anthropology, medical sociology, medical humanities, philosophy, and ethics to explore the field of social medicine. Focus is on consideration of medicine as both a biological and social event: how assumptions we have about the body and disease are socially constructed, how medicine exists in rituals and structures, and how considering medicine from this perspective can help us be better doctors. Topics include: organ transplantation, knowledge production, mental illness, and language in medicine.
SOMGEN 227. Career Exploration Opportunities (CEO) Internship Development. 1 Unit.
Restricted to graduate students (year 3 and onward) and postdocs in Stanford Biosciences program. Focus is on career exploration and securing internship opportunities. Covers career exploration tools and exercises to help students and postdocs clarify academic and professional priorities, and empower them to take charge of their careers through hands-on internship experiences fitting their skills, interests, and values. Topics include identifying and planning for career of choice, targeting employers, securing an offer and pathways to on-the-job success. Guest speakers include company representatives and recruiters.
SOMGEN 227A. Career Exploration Opportunities (CEO) Internship Program Practicum. 1 Unit.
Restricted to graduate students (year 3 and onward) and postdocs in the Stanford Biosciences program who have completed SOMGEN 227. Focus is on internship progress and future career goals. Topics include update on progress of internship goals, planning for future career goals and return to academic research, internship activities, culture and mentorship.
SOMGEN 230. Sexual Function and Diversity in Medical Disciplines. 2 Units.
(Same as SOMGEN 130/FEMGEN 230X; undergraduates who wish to fulfill the GER requirement should enroll in SOMGEN 130/FEMGEN 230X.) Goal is the development of personal and professional skills to interact with people across the diverse range of human sexuality, including sexual orientation and gender identity, age (pediatric to geriatric), sociocultural & religious values, medical issues (e.g. hormonal therapy, disabilities, such as spinal cord injury, etc). Features guest speakers representing a range of sexualities, including asexuality, polyamory and kink, as well as medical professionals and researchers specializing in a diversity of sexuality topics. Attendance (in-class feedback) requirements. Enrollment for 3 units requires attendance at two sessions per week and in-class presentation requirements; enrollment for 2 units requires attendance at two sessions per week.
Same as: FEMGEN 230
SOMGEN 237. Health and Medical Impact of Sexual Assault across the Lifecourse. 1-3 Unit.
An overview of the acute and chronic physical and psychological health impact of sexual abuse through the perspective of survivors of childhood, adolescent, young and middle adult, and elder abuse, including special populations such as pregnant women, military and veterans, prison inmates, individuals with mental or physical impairments. Also addresses: race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other demographic and societal factors, including issues specific to college culture. Professionals with expertise in sexual assault present behavioral and prevention efforts such as bystander intervention training, medical screening, counseling and other interventions to manage the emotional trauma of abuse. Undergraduates must enroll for 3 units. Medical and graduate students may enroll for 1 to 3 units.
Same as: FEMGEN 237
SOMGEN 239. Preparation and Practice: Biotechnology Business and Finance. 2 Units.
Combines guest lectures with case study and hands-on projects to examine the necessary skills and and practical steps to create a business from biotechnology invention. Students interface with current CEOs, expert practitioners, and investment professionals to gain practical insight ito the mechanics and practices of the biotechnology industry and the variety of roles and responsibilities available to them.
SOMGEN 257. Challenging Sex and Gender Dichotomies in Medicine. 1 Unit.
Explores and challenges the traditional physiological bases for distinguishing human males from females, as well as the psychosocial factors that play a role in experiencing and expressing gender and sexuality. Topics include the influence of sociocultural (gender) norms and behaviors on human biology, the interactions of sex and gender on medical outcomes, the importance of understanding the spectrum of sex, gender, and sexuality in clinical practice.
Same as: FEMGEN 124, FEMGEN 224
SOMGEN 272. Narrative Ethics and Medicine. 3-5 Units.
In this course, we will read seminal contributions to the theory and practice of narrative ethics and narrative medicine, with a number of central questions in mind: how, for instance, does literature aid in the understanding of clinical experience? what are the connections between ethics, literary rewriting, and clinical review? in what ways has medicine remained a form of art, and why should providers of care be asked to read fiction, drama, or poetry? We will select theory from physicians (Rita Charon, Arthur Kleinman), recipients of care (Arthur Frank, Susan Sontag, Harriet McBryde), literary critics (WC Booth, JH Miller, Elaine Scarry), and philosophers on narrative (Martha Nussbaum, Judith Butler). We will also select literary readings from practitioners of literature and medicine, which may include Anton Chekhov, William Carlos Williams, Richard Selzer, Oliver Sacks, Perri Klass, Anne Fadiman, Margaret Edson, Jean-Dominique Bauby, and Abraham Verghese. Our seminar discussion and analysis will therefore focus on a history of attempts in the field to re-examine clinical cases, with literary attention as a central mode of ethical practice and care.
Same as: COMPLIT 372B
SOMGEN 275. Leadership and Strategies for Health Care Delivery Innovation. 1-2 Unit.
Focus is on developing and leading innovations that will improve the value of health care. Particular attention dedicated to examining how leaders have overcome barriers to change and other management challenges on the journey towards achieving higher value care. Seminar topics include large integrated healthcare delivery systems, cutting edge care delivery strategy and processes, the role of entrepreneurship and venture capital, impact of health care reform, design thinking, and personal leadership journeys. Faculty consist of nationally-recognized leaders from these fields. The course is open to any member of the Stanford community aspiring to lead, innovate, and achieve high value healthcare delivery including graduate students, undergraduates, and postdoctoral candidates, as well as medical center residents and clinical fellows. May be repeated for credit.
SOMGEN 282. The Startup Garage: Design. 4 Units.
(Same as STRAMGT 356) The Startup Garage is an experiential lab course that focuses on the design, testing and launch of a new venture. Multidisciplinary student teams work through an iterative process of understanding user needs, creating a point of view statement, ideating and prototyping new product and services and their business models, and communicating the user need, product, service and business models to end-users, partners, and investors. In the autumn quarter, teams will: identify and validate a compelling user need and develop very preliminary prototypes for a new product or service and business models. Students form teams, conduct field work and iterate on the combination of business model -- product -- market. Teams will present their first prototypes (business model - product - market) at the end of the quarter to a panel of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors and faculty.
Same as: CHEMENG 482
SOMGEN 284. The Startup Garage: Testing and Launch. 4 Units.
This is the second quarter of the two-quarter series. In this quarter, student teams expand the field work they started in the fall quarter. They get out of the building to talk to potential customers, partners, distributors, and investors to test and refine their business model, product/service and market. This quarter the teams will be expected to develop and test a minimally viable product, iterate, and focus on validated lessons on: the market opportunity, user need and behavior, user interactions with the product or service, business unit economics, sale and distribution models, partnerships, value proposition, and funding strategies. Teams will interact with customers, partners, distributors, investors and mentors with the end goal of developing and delivering a funding pitch to a panel of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors and faculty.
Same as: CHEMENG 484
SOMGEN 299. SPRC Education Program Internship. 1 Unit.
Internship with Stanford Prevention Research Center Education Programs with focus on program administration and development. SPRC education programs include Women and Sex Differences in Medicine (WSDM), Health 4 All (H4A), and Community Health and Prevention Research (CHPR).
