Linguae Biologiae: Biomedical Terminology and its Real World Applications

Interdisciplinary studies between Linguistics and STEM are lacking in current educational institutions, leading to the preconception that they are separate, unrelated fields. Medical fields in particular, however, utilize extensive jargon and terminology based on Greek and Latin roots. Understanding these roots can provide a more widespread understanding of the human body and conditions affecting it, which is relevant to every person at some point in their life. Currently, biomedical terminology courses are advertised and reserved almost exclusively for students in biomedical fields. Therefore, despite its practical relevance, instruction of this topic is largely inaccessible for the general population, which encompasses people who have not experienced secondary education, cannot pursue medical treatment, do not speak English as a first language, and more. Many of these people are left to find information and resources on their own, but do not have the tools to do so safely and efficiently. This project argues that integrating Biomedical Terminology at both the high school and 100/200 level in university will assist in providing a wider number of people the skills to utilize reliable medical resources around them.