Topic was legacy of ancient medicine, super interesting to learn about as a mcdb major. There are a lot of readings but they're interesting (personally I thought the readings were more interesting than lectures). Lectures could get a little boring. Weekly reflections on the reading that he gave feedback on. Midterm and final paper on a topic of your choice. Personally I really liked how we could explore any topic we wanted in these papers, and how he was always quick to respond and give feedback.

Alain Touwaide will forever be in the top 5 greatest professors of my college career. Not only is he the most knowledgeable person on his subject, possibly in the entire world, but he knows how to translate the purpose of his class during lectures. This class is not about memorizing and regurgitating topics that will later be graded on a test. This class is about learning important historical medical concepts, how they came about, and why we must recognize these events and question their existence. Then you take this knowledge to create your own papers that are based on your own creative ideas regarding the history of medicine. The topics for the papers do not need to be on what he has taught you, but his teaching helps students understand how to rationalize medical history, understand its growth, and how it can be incorporated into the current era rather than ignoring it. Anyone who is looking to work in a medical field, or work with medicine in general, should be required to take this class or learn from Alain. Learning medical history for modern medicine is synonymous with learning history to understand our current social climate. Without this knowledge a medical curriculum is incomplete. This class has forever changed how I view medical practices, humans in general, and the many faults that embedded within modern medicine. In addition to a great class, he is just a great person who will respond quickly to emails, help students who are struggling to understand concepts, and do his best to get students to engage with the topics. He is very personable and will even sit down to have a coffee and talk about anything that interests you with the class to further engage the students, and he holds an end of term dinner for the students, which speaks to how much he cares for his students. If you are interested enough he will also push for you to work with him on future projects that will aid your life experience. I can never recommend Alain Touwaide enough as a professor. He is arguably one of the most important professors to learn under.

he is understanding. class could let a little boring but it is easy. he is very detailed and specific. always accommodates students for office hours and is quick to answering emails. class has regular weekly reports on readings and two exam papers.