Our double degree allows school leavers who have achieved exceptional results to commence a three-year undergraduate science degree followed by the four-year Doctor of Medicine (MD). With a deeper understanding of the scientific fundamentals that underpin medicine, you will be better prepared for any career in medicine from specialisation to research and teaching. As a Bachelor of Science student you will be taught by the best and most dedicated scientific thinkers, including members of the Australian Academy of Science, Australian Research Council Fellows and many staff members who have won prestigious prizes such as the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science and Eureka Prizes. You will learn in world-class facilities, including the multi-million-dollar Sydney Nanoscience Hub building and the Charles Perkins Centre for diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. The Doctor of Medicine is fully accredited by the Australian Medical Council. Graduates are eligible for provisional registration as interns in any Australian state or territory, and in New Zealand.
The immune system is an integrated network of cells and specialised organs that can respond to external and internal pathogens that threaten normal physiological status. It can be mobilised in a highly regulated manner to protect humans from infections and cancer while simultaneously being the underlying mechanism of major acute and chronic pathologies. The Immunology and Pathology major examines how it is that our immune system can be both the cause and the cure of disease in humans and animals. This is important, as an understanding of immunological and pathological mechanisms allows us to think about how our immune system can be manipulated to prevent and treat disease. This major draws together studies in immunology, pathology, anatomy, histopathology (advanced imaging technologies), microbiology, biology, biochemistry, and physiology. Studies in immunology and pathology are important because they are leading to advances in clinical medicine and clinical science, and the development of new treatments for disease including drugs, vaccines and immuno-therapies. In addition, immunopathological techniques are widely used in biology, histopathology, endocrinology, microbiology, cell and molecular biology, neurobiology and genetics.
Graduates with a major in this area may proceed to honours and postgraduate study or they may find employment as immunologists or pathologists in hospitals, in public and industry research laboratories specialising in immunology, cell biology and biotechnology, and in other biomedical sciences such as pathology, biochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology and molecular biology.