The Person in Medicine
Overview
“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”, (Sir William Osler). However, adopting a patient-focused perspective necessitates an adequate understanding of how personal life histories, intra-individual and inter-personal characteristics of the person, and the wider social and ecological environment intersect to shape health over the life course. This transdisciplinary CPD course will incorporate insights and perspectives from sociology, psychology, epidemiology, and clinical medicine to develop a more elaborated and informed understanding of the person in medicine. At the end of the course, attendees will be equipped with an understanding of:
- The key theoretical perspectives that have been advanced to explain the relation of social conditions / exposures with later life health.
- How person characteristics shape health and disease outcomes and patients’ interactions and responsiveness to treatment regimens.
- How wider social and environmental exposures shape health and wellbeing from the ‘womb to the tomb’ and provide an important counterbalance to individual-centric explanations of disease.
Topics
The course is divided into 3 parts.
Part 1: Genetic and environmental contributions to health and disease. This section of the course will cover life course models of chronic disease development and the social determinants of health.
Part 2: The role of human agency in health and disease. This section of the course will address the role of the person as an active participant in shaping their health trajectory over the life course. We will discuss the relevance of intra-personal characteristics such as personality, coping, and control in the disease development and healthy ageing.
Part 3: Social and environmental influences on health and disease: Individuals are part of broader societies and communities. This section of the course will expound upon broader social and ecological influences on health and disease including social networks.
Who is this Course For?
This has been specifically designed and tailored for clinicians and allied healthcare professionals who interact regularly with their patients within healthcare settings. The symptomatology that the patient presents with is often the final manifestation of a long chain of events that led to the disease state. The symptomatology that patients present with are often the visible endpoint of a much longer chain of biological, environmental, and social events that have contributed to the development of disease. Environmental factors account for almost 70% of the differences in non-communicable disease (NCD) risk and longevity, but the heavy demands of medical training means that the wider social and environmental contributors to these differences are less well understood. The life-course approach offers a valuable lens for clinical practice. It recognises long-term effects on chronic disease risk of physical and social exposures during gestation, childhood, adolescence, and later adult life, helping to illuminate the pathways through which social exposures crystallise as morbidity and mortality in later life. Understanding these upstream influences can help professionals in the healthcare world better holistically appreciate how social and environmental exposures crystallise into the morbidity and mortality patterns in later life that are seen in clinical care.
Who Teaches the Course?
- Prof Cathal McCrory, Professor in Life Course Development and Ageing (TCD), Co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Longitudinal Studies on Ageing and the Life Course
- Regius Professor Rose Anne Kenny, Professor of Medical Gerontology (TCD, SJH), Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Longitudinal Studies on Ageing and the Life Course
Time, Date, and Place
All Sessions: Online. Lecture recordings will be made available for a period of 8 weeks after the conclusion of the course.
Session 1: Tuesday the 16th September 2025, 6pm-8pm
Session 2: Tuesday the 23rd September 2025, 6pm-8pm
Session 3: Tuesday the 30th September 2025, 6pm-8pm
Course Fees
€495 with access to CPD funding
€295 with no access to CPD funding
Apply/Enrol
Registrations for this course will open soon. To register your interest, please contact Kristal MacNamara MedCPD@tcd.ie
We will contact you directly once the registration link is open
Get in Touch/ Email
Prof Cathal McCrory mccrorc@tcd.ie for academic queries
Ms Kristal MacNamara MedCPD@tcd.ie for administrative queries