Author Description

Patrick Eggena is a Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He has been the director of the Physiology Course for first year medical students for twenty-five years. During this time he has received the Excellence in Teaching Award on twelve occasions from the Mount Sinai medical students. He is also the recipient of the Harold Lamport Award of the New York Academy of Sciences for Excellence in Research and Teaching in Physiology. One of the great challenges to instructors of basic science courses in medical schools is to help students learn an enormous amount of information in a short period of time. Instructors in physiology have a both difficult and enviable task. Their task is difficult because of the ever-increasing mass and complexity of the material available to be taught. Their task is enviable, however, because physiology, the study of function, is immediately and obviously relevant to students as they set their sights on attempting to understand disordered function. Hence in many ways physiology stands at the gateway to a rational understanding of disease mechanisms. Professor Eggena has captured the essence of this challenge and its opportunities. Each of the 29 chapters in this textbook starts with a case presentation of a patient who has a specific clinical problem. To his credit Professor Eggena has chosen classic medical problems that are easily recognized (by the experienced clinician) and which illustrate critical physiological points. The main purpose of presenting the case is to introduce the student to material in such a context as to convince him or her that the physiological lessons to follow are, in fact, relevant to patient care.