{"id":1983,"date":"2026-09-15T14:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/?p=1983"},"modified":"2026-09-15T14:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:44:12","slug":"from-exam-room-to-classroom-dr-al-minas-ms-cem-anatomy-and-physiology-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/from-exam-room-to-classroom-dr-al-minas-ms-cem-anatomy-and-physiology-course\/","title":{"rendered":"From Exam Room to Classroom: Dr. Al Mina\u2019s MS-CEM Anatomy and Physiology Course"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ask Dr. Al Mina<\/a> what the M.S. in Community Engaged Medicine<\/a>\u2019s Anatomy and Physiology course is about, and he will tell you it\u2019s not solely about memorization. The most important aspect is to understand the language first, then use it to understand how the whole body works.<\/p>\n

How he teaches<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Terminology is the first subject in the course. Mina spends the first day of class discussing root words and medical language, the foundation students will lean on for the rest of the course. Root words provide guidance for students. Once a student recognizes a root word, an unfamiliar term can become easier to distinguish and simpler to identify within the body.<\/p>\n

From there, memorization remains important for mastering anatomical terminology, including the names of bones and muscles. But, Mina pushes students toward something bigger: understanding how an organ system functions first before trying to decipher the smaller details.<\/p>\n

Mina brings real-world examples into the classroom to reinforce his lessons. Drawing on years of practicing family medicine, he brings actual situations into lectures, connecting textbook material to real decisions made by physicians. For students looking toward medical school, that context turns abstract systems into something they can picture in practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cClinical scenarios are a good tool to keep them interested, engaged and hopefully help them understand a little better,\u201d Mina said.<\/p>\n

The MS-CEM lens<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Anatomy and physiology look different inside community-engaged medicine.\u00a0 Mina makes sure that students understand that there are other factors at play when talking about patients.<\/p>\n

When his course covers who is at risk for a given condition, he talks about the environmental and social factors that play into disease processes. He asks students to consider where a patient lives, what resources they can reach and what factors shape their health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere you are and your life situation does play a role in your health. It\u2019s something else they need to be aware of as they go through this process,\u201d Mina said.<\/p>\n

That shift in mindset reflects the mission of MS-CEM itself. Students in the program are training to treat patients as a whole individual, not just a case. Comprehending function matters, but so does discerning why a patient might struggle to access care.<\/p>\n

Mina sees this as essential preparation. While medical knowledge is critical, recognizing patients\u2019 circumstances is also significant. Physicians who know about available resources can meet their patients where they are. He wants his students to walk out of his course with that awareness already in place. As he notes, understanding the resources that are available is one of the most helpful aspects of the program.<\/p>\n

The student experience<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Labs are where the course comes alive for students. Mina likes using hands-on models to reinforce the content.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is definitely something to seeing it, holding it and visualizing it,\u201d he mentioned.<\/p>\n

His advice for students entering the course is to ask questions early and often. The cohorts form close bonds quickly, and students should lean on each other rather than struggle alone. Additionally, faculty are accessible and want to help their students succeed.<\/p>\n

Mina also notes that those in the program can find what they\u2019re passionate about, where their skills are and what speaks to them.<\/p>\n

From practice to teaching<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Mina did not set out to teach anatomy and physiology. After attending medical school at MUSC, he completed a family medicine residency in Memphis, where he also taught medical students and residents. When he and his wife returned to her native Greenville, he opened a private practice in Travelers Rest. He had always thought about teaching, which landed him in roles at Erskine and later at Furman as a visiting associate professor.<\/p>\n

Mina credits his clinical years for shaping how he teaches now. Real patient scenarios, the kind he encountered daily in practice, give students actual context that can\u2019t be found in a textbook alone. That blend of physician and professor still drives how he runs every class.<\/p>\n

A foundation for what comes next<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Mina hopes students leave his course with a better understanding of the human body. He wants them to get past the memorization to understand how the body works as a whole. For those bound for medical school, he hopes they leave with confidence that they can handle the work ahead. Whatever path his students take, he believes the language they learned on day one will stay with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ask Dr. Al Mina what the M.S. in Community Engaged Medicine\u2019s Anatomy and Physiology course is about, and he will tell you it\u2019s not solely about memorization. The most important […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":445,"featured_media":1984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[224,223,42,133],"class_list":["post-1983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-engaged-medicine","tag-community-engaged-medicine","tag-furman-innovation-lab","tag-furman-university","tag-graduate-studies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1983"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1988,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983\/revisions\/1988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}