Department of Cell Biology
The final change for the department came in July 1993, when a new Department of Cell Biology was formed out of the departments of Anatomy and Cellular Biology and Cellular and Molecular Physiology; members of the two departments were given the choice to join either Cell Biology or Neurobiology. First-year students at the Medical School today are given instruction in the “Introduction to the Profession” fall block which incorporates the study of the human body and the molecular and cellular basis of medicine. The course consists of lectures, histological laboratory exercises, problem-solving tutorials, and clinical instruction with patients and attending physicians, but still gross anatomy has a place, giving students at Harvard “the opportunity to acquire practical skills in recognizing, dissecting, and differentiating key anatomical structures and important anatomical relationships. Many laboratory dissections are based on clinical or surgical procedures.”