西澳大学

How does your body cope with stresses such as intense exercise, blood loss and dehydration? How does your nervous system respond to the world around you? What happens to your body in stressful environments? This major provides answers to these questions and teaches you how the human body works.

The Physiology major will teach you how the human body works, from the molecular and cellular level, to tissues and organs, and explain how these interact together with the environment to produce beneficial results for the organism. You will also examine diseases, and the changes that occur at the molecular and cellular level and how these impact on whole body function. Through these investigations you will come to understand how physiologists contribute to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to combat the mechanisms of disease.

Career Pathways

A Physiology major can lead to careers in the biomedical industry and in research laboratories. There is growing demand for physiology graduates to investigate the action of genes in the body. Physiology graduates are well prepared for a range of professional careers requiring postgraduate study, such as medicine, pharmacy and clinical audiology. Opportunities exist for employment as scientists in commercial organisations or in sales associated with these types of organisations and in public science education. If you have combined your major with qualifications in the area of sport science or exercise and health, you could also find a career in health promotion and fitness.

Further Study

Honours in Physiology is a blend of coursework and research project work designed to introduce you to the world of research. It will equip you with the skills and flexibility of outlook needed to deal with rapidly changing technologies and lead into habits of critical thinking, problem analysis and public presentation, which will serve in any leadership role. The combination of formal study and practical experience offered by Honours in Physiology is suitable preparation for entry into graduate professional courses such as medicine, physiotherapy, audiology, chiropractic, nursing, teaching or forensics, especially for students interested in furthering those fields through research. The honours specialisation also provides a suitable entry-level qualification for careers in reproductive technology, science communication, biomedical research and primatology.