Immunology Fundamentals
- HMX
Group Enrollment Option A program that is a popular choice for organizations and institutions to purchase in bulk.
Get an in-depth look at how the body fights disease – and how new therapies can help.
- Online; Instructor-Paced
Lessons are released weekly and remain available until the course ends.
$1,025
Multi-course bundle pricing is also available. The student price for an individual course is $800 and cannot be combined with course bundles.
Certificate
There are two certification levels, based on participant scores: Certificate of Achievement; Certificate of Completion
10 Weeks, 4-6 Hours/Week
Most people can expect to spend around 40 hours total, but this depends on your baseline knowledge and how carefully you take notes.
On This Page
Overview
Microbial life forms are an ever-present, extremely dangerous threat to our survival, against which the immune system must constantly defend. Expanding knowledge of the immune system has led to recent medical advances, and an understanding of the basic concepts of immunology is now essential for anyone interested in health care.
In this foundational HMX course, you will learn about the processes that enable our immune systems to respond to evolving threats, and learn about new, immunology-based disease treatments. Real-world applications will help you explore concepts, providing relevance and integration of key principles.
Learning Objectives
- Understand how the innate and adaptive immune systems function to protect the body from disease
- Learn what happens when the immune system breaks down, leading to immunodeficiency and autoimmunity
- See how key immunology concepts are linked to the treatment of disease, including through new therapies that harness the power of the immune system
Participant Types
Pre-med students; Current medical students; Health care professionals working in R&D, product management and strategy, sales, and marketing
About the Course
HMX online courses bring complex material to life through engaging biomedical visualizations, clinical applications, and true-to-life scenarios paired with lectures from Harvard Medical School faculty and leading experts.
Who Should Apply
This foundational course is appropriate for pre-med and current medical students interested in building their foundational knowledge of medical science, as well as professionals in health care and related fields who need a fundamental understanding of immunology – including those working in R&D, product management, strategy, sales, marketing, and other roles.
Course Format
Most people can expect to spend around 40-60 hours total, but this depends on your baseline knowledge, how carefully you take notes, and how seriously you take the assessments. Lessons from the courses are released weekly and remain available until the courses end, so you can work at your own pace. The course wraps up with a final exam administered the final two days of the session.
Group Enrollments
HMX courses are ideal for organizations looking to train teams or larger groups. Group pricing is available, making it a cost-effective investment in team development.
Faculty
HMX courses are led by Harvard Medical School faculty, working in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team of experts in biomedical visualization, assessment, and the science of learning to create a unique learning experience that will stay with you.
Andrew Lichtman
MD, PhD
- Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School
- Pathologist, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Shiv Pillai
MD, PhD
- Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School
Jules Dienstag, MD, Carl W. Walter Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School / Gastroenterologist, Massachusetts General Hospital
Keith Flaherty, MD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School / Hematologist/ Oncologist, Massachusetts General Hospital
Joseph Merola, MD, MMSc, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School / Dermatologist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
David Sloane, MD, Instructor, Harvard Medical School / Allergist and Immunologist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
HMX Faculty Perspectives
Why do you think it’s important for health care professionals to learn immunology?
"The immune system protects us from infections and cancer in a very exquisitely precise way. Most human diseases result from some loss of this precision. Sometimes the immune system is overwhelmed by an infection or a tumor. On other occasions the immune system aberrantly or over-exuberantly responds to innocuous environmental molecules or microbes – or to self-structures – and this results in a loss of immune regulation that results in disease. Understanding immunology has allowed the prevention of infections by the use of vaccines, has helped the medical world develop the ability to transfuse blood making modern surgery possible, has allowed transplantation to become a reality, and has led to rational treatments for allergies and autoimmune diseases, and what are likely the first real cures for cancer." -Shiv Pillai, MD, PhD
From Our Learners
Hear from HMX students as they share their experiences learning online with Harvard Medical School.
"[This course] helped me to better understand the basic sciences; studying it in advance is a great help to medical students."
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