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Letter: Science is practical

Re: “Health sci is the best sci,” Thursday, Oct. 14

To the Editor:

The editorial is a narrow-minded and inaccurate depiction of the quality of students and education in the science program at Western. The Faculty of Science is home to over 4,000 students in the BMSc and BSc programs, many of whom are planning for a future not only in the healthcare sector but also in academia and industry.

Denigrating research is a dangerous way to undermine the basic principles of science. Students in a science degree gain objective thinking, systematic curiosity, and the ability to process complex details, all of which are applicable to any career in “the real world”. In a world where vaccine fear–mongering has led to the re-emergence of eradicated diseases, scientific literacy should be a priority for all of us.

Although we both agree that understanding the social determinants of health is fundamental to the practice of medicine, there is no doubt that the major difference between the quality of health care in the early 20th century and today has been the innovation of medical science. The discovery of insulin as a treatment for diabetes dramatically improved the well-being of diabetic patients — an objective that could not have been met without insight into “small biological processes.”

While it is valuable to assess the psychological, economic, emotional and political context of disease, the reality is that our capacity to heal is rooted in an understanding of the mechanisms that drive human systems. This knowledge empowers a medical trainee to be able to articulate, for example, why a patient with gout should limit his intake of red meat and alcohol. I invite you to sit in on a third-year Human Physiology class to witness how students learn about all aspects of body function through teaching methods that drive integrated thinking and problem solving.

The assertion that science students are “hunched in a Taylor cubicle or in the lab” is misguided and false. I encourage you to discover for yourself how Science students are active Western community members, forming a core part of many clubs, councils, soph teams and Greek life on campus. I hope that you have the opportunity to learn from the population of promising and open-minded students we have here at the Faculty of Science, all of whom are equally secure in their decision to pursue a degree in Science.

—Sabrina Nurmohamed
Science III/Science Students’ Council President

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