Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine - Infectious Diseases

The University of Sydney

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.Infectious diseases occur as a result of interactions between microbial pathogens and their hosts. The Infectious Diseases major is a multidisciplinary pathway of study that emphasises how infectious agents interact with human hosts at the molecular, cellular, individual patient and community levels to cause disease. This major begins with developing an understanding of the relevance of infectious diseases within the concept of ‘One Health’ in which the multifactorial interrelationships between human, animal and environmental health are critical. Central is the context of microbes: bacteria, viruses, fungi and protists being beneficial for good health as well as effective causative agents of disease. The structural and functional cellular and molecular mechanisms that enable establishment and progression of infectious diseases are covered with a particular focus on pathogens: microbial virulence mechanisms their capacity to evade the human response to injury and infection their ability to cause tissue damage their resistance to antimicrobial therapy and the development of new tools to control infectious agents. This progresses to explore patterns of incidence and the epidemiology of outbreaks of infectious diseases within communities.

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