arguably the single most important Teaching Company lecture series

Thirty-two lectures, each forty-five minutes long

Understanding the Human Body: An Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology


Professor Anthony A. Goodman
Montana State University

Dr. Goodman received his B.A. degree from Harvard College and his M.D. from Cornell Medical College. He trained as a surgical intern and resident at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor and completed his surgical training and chief residency at the Harvard Surgical Service of Boston City Hospital, New England Deaconess Hospital, Lahey Clinic, and Cambridge City Hospital.


At present, Dr. Goodman is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Montana State University, and Adjunct Professor in the W.W.A.M.I. Medical Sciences Program at Montana State University, where he teaches gross anatomy.




This series of lectures will focus on the structure and function of the human body, its anatomy and physiology. The study of anatomy
alone, without reference to both the normal and abnormal function of the human body, has little meaning. However, when studied in the context of the exquisite and intricate relationships of anatomy to those normal processes that keep us alive and allow us to reproduce and evolve, the subject becomes a gripping page-turner.

Human gross anatomy is the study of the structure that can be seen by the unaided eye. Microscopic anatomy, called histology, is the study of those structures too small to be seen without the help of a microscope. Together, they make up the study of the structure of the human body. Gross anatomy is the single most time-consuming course for the 1st-year medical student, who
spends months in the laboratory dissecting an embalmed human cadaver.