Evolution and medicine - The central role of anatomy

Abstract

In medicine, there is an increasing number of publications that deal with or at least consider an evolutionary background. In zoology or comparative anatomy, work on evolutionary developments is taking on an ever-greater role in parallel. The pre-clinical (or pre-medical) phase in medical studies would be able to form a bridge between these related and yet so distant subjects but is currently completely evolution-free. This means that there is no consideration of the evolution of the healthy human being as a prerequisite for a systematic study of the evolutionary background in medicine. In this work the view is expressed that anatomy should be given a central, framework-giving and integrating role, which should urgently be actively pursued.

Keywords: Comparative anatomy; Education; Evolution; Evolutionary medicine.