Human Biology

The Department of Human Biology brings together several medical scientific and clinical academic disciplines, divided into six Divisions, namely:

• Division of Biomedical Engineering
• Division of Cell Biology
• Division of Clinical Anatomy and Biological Anthropology
• Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine
• Division of Human Nutrition
• Division of Physiological Sciences

Undergraduate Teaching

The department's undergraduate teaching contributes to the

• MBChB programme (in Years 1-3 and the Intervention Programme)
• Health and Rehabilitation (1st and 2nd year Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Communication Science students)
• Faculty of Science (years 2 and 3 of the BSc programme majoring in Human Anatomy and Physiology)
• Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (a one-semester introductory course to medical engineering).

Postgraduate Programmes

Human Biology has the largest cohort of postgraduate students in the Faculty of Health Sciences, participating in a wide range of programmes in niche areas such as:

• applied anatomy
• biokinetics
• biological anthropology
• biomedical engineering
• cell biology
• exercise science
• health care technology management
• nutrition and dietetics
• physiology
• sports and exercise medicine
• sport management (offered together with the Faculty of Commerce)
• sports physiotherapy (offered together with the Division of Physiotherapy in the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences)

Facilities & Programmes

We host a number of facilities and programmes unique to the University of Cape Town

• Confocal & Light Microscopy Imaging Facility specialising in advanced fluorescence image acquisition and image analysis
• M. R. Drennan Museum an important hub of teaching and learning in all of our programmes
• Body Donor Programme for training and research
• Histology laboratories for the preparation of tissues and slides for teaching and for research is widely used by several research programmes within the department, Faculty & other Faculties of UCT and external institutions.