which discipline will give me most information about cancer?

December 26, 2009 1:49 PM

I want to learn about cancer. Which discipline should I take courses in?

I want to get into psychosocial oncology, and am currently applying to clinical psychology PhD programs. However, my background is mostly in social sciences, so I do not have the medical, biological and sciency info at all. I would like to learn more about what cancer is, treatments, regimens, etc. Ideally, I want to start taking courses at either college or university level. Which discipline should I look at? Chemistry? Biology? epidemiology? what would be most helpful?

It would be most logical to take courses in psychosocial oncology, but apparently it is such a specialized field that courses are usually at a graduate level, and very far and in between...

posted by esolo to Education (8 answers total)

My alma mater had a Community Health department that was basically public health for undergrads; maybe other schools have something similar? It was a really common second major for pre-meds, because it involved science (causes and treatments of diseases) alongside policy/social work sorts of things.
posted by oinopaponton at 2:23 PM on December 26, 2009

If you want to dvelve a little in the mechanisms behind cancer, take an introductory genetics course, and then one focused on oncogenesis. It'll teach you about cancer at it's most fundamental level, and is just mind-blowing. (Disclaimer: I'm a fundamental biology masters student, a big bio nerd, and I just took such a class.)
posted by snoogles at 2:28 PM on December 26, 2009

The American Psychosocial Oncology Society has a Cancer 101 continuing ed program.
posted by ishotjr at 2:51 PM on December 26, 2009

How Cancer Works is a pretty short book written for undergraduates and layman that give a simple overview of the all types of cancer. I haven't read this book yet, but judging by the other books by the same author, it should be readable and painless.
posted by Pantalaimon at 3:24 PM on December 26, 2009

I'd take a series of intro courses in biology & chemistry if you haven't already then cell biology, biochemistry, organic chemistry etc. It's a lot of classes because they all build on each other.
posted by fshgrl at 4:23 PM on December 26, 2009

If I had to pick one class, I'd go with Cell Biology. Physiology and Immunology would also give a lot of good info on what cancer is, but none of these will really get into treatments- maybe Molecular Medicine for that. However, if you haven't had a basic, in-depth biology course, you should do that first. That Cancer 101 link and How Cancer Works sound like the best places to start for someone with a non-science background. You might also want to look into courses that are geared towards non-sciences with titles like Human Health and Disease. If you live near any universities, call up/email the chair of the Biological Sciences department and explain what you're looking for- he/she should be able to steer you in the right direction, course-wise.
posted by emd3737 at 8:07 PM on December 26, 2009

Best answer: If you really want to understand what we know about cancer, and perhaps more importantly, what the new ideas about cancer in the next decade will be, you'll need the basic set of coursework that looks something like:

Intro bio (genetics/cell bio)
Intro biochem (biological macromolecules and related reactions)
Molecular biology
Cell bio (especially the nitty gritty of signal transduction)
Immunology (less important but highly relevant to many aspects including therapy)

Epidemiology is important because it addresses one of the primary data sources for models of carcinogenesis and genetics/environment interactions.

These are all classes that fit nicely within a traditional biology department. Except for the intro classes, they will generally be offered as graduate/advanced undergraduate classes.
posted by rxrfrx at 8:59 PM on December 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: that helps a lot, everyone! Thanks so much...
posted by esolo at 6:43 PM on December 27, 2009