Parasitology in med school

As Secretary-Treasurer of the American Society of Parasitologists (ASP), I get calls regularly from people who have done a Google search for "parasite," found the ASP web site (http://asp.unl.edu), found my phone number, and called for help. In every case, these folks are convinced they are infected with a parasite. I am not a medical doctor, so usually about the only thing I can do is give them the name, phone number, and e-mail of some local parasitologists, and recommend contacting the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene via links on the ASMTH web site. From listening to these callers, however, I'm convinced they are ill, although sometimes they're calling from as far away as UK or Australia (yes, that's happened). The question in my mind is always: What in the hell is wrong with their primary care physician? Why can't the caller's local health care professionals perform the service they are supposed to be providing for society? Is it because at whatever undergraduate college these people went to, the professional advisers said "it's okay to major in sociology because the med school wants well-rounded people who can talk to patients" instead of "hey, it's a global motile community; get your hands (and mind) on as many different kinds of organisms as you can, as early as you can, and as often as you can, because if your nation persists in military adventure, you might have to actually diagnose a case of leishmaniasis or identify a mosquito"?

Essay on the Death of a Beetle

I was cleaning out my office at school and found this essay, obviously written for an Organismic Biology class (BIOS 103) a few years ago. It seemed like the kind of thing that could (should?) go on a blog. Comments welcome. - JJ

Summary comments re BIOS 101

Every semester I try to give my classes some collective feedback on the teaching experience. This document is the one for the fall, 2008, BIOS 101 (General Biology) course. - JJ

Life without American cars?

This link is to CJ's Pitch column on the potential of life without American car companies. Enjoy. - JJ

Presentations on teaching and research at Notre Dame, November 20, 2008

Here is a link to the PowerPoint shows and audio files of the two presentations made at Notre Dame on November 20, 2008. The two presentations are:

(1) Evolution of Parasite Life Cycles: Marshes, Metaphors, and Models (mainly about the trematode life cycle work of Matt Bolek and Scott Snyder, although also considering the early Fundulus zebrinus research and some recent modeling of complex life cycles.

(2) What We Teach, What They Learn, and Why Anyone Should Care (mainly about the teaching of freshman biology).

--JJ

Commentary on "Fringe" (Fox) episode involving parasites.

This link is to a story by Kate Schweitzer, from Popular Mechanics, about the science behind a "Fringe" episode.

Various presentations about parasites and other stuff

This link is to an increasing number of presentations, including PowerPoints, pdfs, and audio (*.wma format). The Cedar Point Biological Station recruiting show (*.ppt and *.wma) are up there for downloading if anyone wants them. The pictures from the CPBS show are of Field Parasitology class in multiple years.