University of Health Sciences Lahore offers Postgraduate courses in Basic Medical Sciences leading to MPhil and PhD degrees. The curriculum in Anatomy is designed to train the participants to meet with the major goals of the courses.

At the end of the courses its participants;

(a) Are confident and independent researchers.

(b) Have developed sufficient communication skills and other attributes needed for being a good teacher.

(c) Are able to provide a strong leadership in the fields of Research and Medical Education.

It is hoped that this will go a long way to foster Medical Education of relatively high quality, with strong hand-on experience and necessary skills to initiate and carry out research of internationally acceptable standard. In this respect, UHS is establishing contacts with renowned foreign Universities (such as the University of Texas, USA and Universities of Manchester, Middlesex and University of Liverpool in U.K) for mutually beneficial cooperation in terms of faculty/ students exchange for Teaching and Research activities.

Programs:

The Department of Anatomy is offering MPhil and PhD Programs in Anatomy.

MPhil Program

The MPhil program is full time, in house training course with lectures, tutorials, demonstrations, journal club meetings, presentations and participation in seminars. The candidates are subjected to continuous formative evaluation and their progress and attendance is regularly monitored. The services of national and international examiners are utilized for final evaluation of the candidates and their research works.

The MPhil course work covers all segments of the subject i.e.

• Gross Anatomy
• Microscopic Anatomy (Histology)
• Neuroanatomy
• Embryology (Developmental Anatomy)

General Description

o The subject is taught by interactive lectures with full participation of the students.

o The course in Microscopic Anatomy is designed to impart an in-depth information to the students on general and systemic Histology with emphasis on fine structure of tissues and organs and their relationship to the functions.

o The course in Embryology deals with general and special Embryology with particular emphasis on growth and differentiation of blastomeres in different lineage and directions of development. It also deals with detailed study of normal process of organogenesis and its deviation which results in producing different types of congenital abnormalities. The details of the factors, genetic and environmental, which conduce development of congenital abnormalities, are also studied in details. A conceptual understanding of regulating gene is also given.

o The course in Gross, Systemic and Regional Anatomy, is studied in depth with conceptual understanding, particular emphasis is laid on its relevant application in clinical fields.

o Neuroanatomy covers the detailed morphological characteristics of Forebrain, Midbrain, Hind brain and Spinal Cord; these are studied in different sectional profiles. Recognition of different components and their functions are also streamlined in detail, including Autonomic Nervous System. Mechanism of control of different functional modalities through Neurotransmitter is also studied.

o The course work on Major subjects of anatomy is reinforced by students opting for relevant Learning/ Teaching Modules from among the list of the elective Minors; the choice of their selection shall be directly related to the Research Work.

o Theoretical courses are reinforced by practical classes relevant to the lectures which precede these; the lectures are interactive with the aim that the students learned the subject with active participation and develop proficiency of oral communication and expertise in preparing lecture presentation. To ensure full and active participation of the students, they are given the assignment of preparing lecture presentation and task is assigned at the last moment with the aim to foster the trainees into competent teachers of all segments of the program.

o During the 1^st five or six month of the program, the students are directed to intensively undertake literature search in order to discover their research interests and complete writing their synopses; this is then submitted for usual approval from Advance Studies & Research Board.

o It is desired that the research design is doable within the stipulated period of time given to them; the students may be required to run the pilot project to identify the problem areas of their research projects in order to run the main work smoothly.

o The students are regularly subjected to formative in house test in all segments of the courses and upon receiving the results the students are counseled by their respective teacher so that they can identify the gaps of information and bridge these in light of the instructions given by their respective teachers; this also applies to both the minor subjects taught in different years.

o Thesis is completed before the end of 2^nd year of the courses and is submitted for evaluation to assessors, one from outside the Pakistan and two from within the country. Upon approval of the work by the assessors, the student is required to correct the thesis to comply with the observation of the evaluators before it is submitted to the panel of examiners. The date of defense of the thesis before public and panel of examiners comprising two internal examiners.

PhD Program

At the end of the MPhil program, the bright and deserving candidate may later opt to join the PhD program after following the usual procedure prescribed for admission to the course by the Higher Education Commission. After qualifying GRE examination, the candidates undergo and complete 18 credit hours course work and clear it. The PhD students also undertake extensive literature search to select the topic of research which should, prima facie, be worth equal to the standard of the program. The work is evaluated after its completion by a team of highly qualified and reputed researchers in the field; these include at least two examiners from technically advanced countries and a comparable number from within Pakistan; the candidates are considered to be successful only on successfully defending the work before a panel of examiners and subsequent approval by the Senate of the University of Health Sciences.