Posted on 03/02/2011 11:01:36 AM PST by Niuhuru
I would like to get information on the best possible courses to take. I also wanted to know if I indeed needed to take Medical Terminology to get a degree in Virology. If there are any virologists who would like to tutor me, that would be good too
My Lab Rat two cents... Having a strong medical terminology background would be crucial to virology. Medical terminology will be important if you are reading scholarly information regarding the clinical presentation of viruses. I suppose if you are simply working in the academic world, you could live without it. However, if you are using this in any way with other medical professionals you will want to use terminology that would clearly identify all aspects. The term, running a fever is not generally accepted in medical annotations, but febrile has well defined criteria. I suppose your degree would be best defined by what you will be applying it to. Microbiology is a great start and a little more general in scope and application. Plus Micro Rocks!
I’d take the medical terminology. You will need it anyway. It will also be the easiest course in a virology curriculum you will take. Chemistry, organic, and biochemistry, calculus, analytical chemistry and physics will be difficult and predecessors to the core microbiological courses. Medical bacteriology, medical virology, and mycology will be the courses for the degree in micro but the prep courses will be the hardest IMO.
Most degrees in Virology require a minimum of Masters level work. Not aware of any bachelor degree programs that offer majors in virology. Your basic biology bachelors degree will expose you (pardon the pun) to courses in immunology and maybe virology - depending on the school, of course. I got a bachelors degree in biology (in a pevious life) and had an opportunity to work in research in the Infectious Disease department at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and then biotech work at the Virus Research Institute in Cambridge, MA. If you want to work in virology you don’t necessarily need a specific degree in it.
The American Society for Virology’s “Ten Frequently Asked Questions about Training in Virology”:
You don’t need a course in Medical Terminology. You need to take rigorous undergrad and grad courses in bio sciences and chem.
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