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Announcing a new open textbook: Microbiology, Pharmacology, and Immunology for Pre-Clinical Students
The Open Education Initiative at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce the release of Microbiology, Pharmacology, and Immunology for Pre-Clinical Students (2025), adapted by Jennifer L. Cleveland; Andrew P. Binks; and Renée J. LeClair.
Microbiology, Pharmacology, and Immunology for Pre-Clinical Students is a peer-reviewed open textbook designed to fill a gap in undergraduate medical education (UME) and support medical school pre-clerkship education. It covers the areas of immunology, microbiology, systems-based infections, and global mechanisms of treatment. It is aligned to USMLE® (United States Medical Licensing Examination) and modified from OpenStax Microbiology.
The organization of this resource is driven by curricular structure to enhance integrated, multidisciplinary content delivery. This specific resource is intended to be used in various ways, mainly as a student quick-reference guide. The sections are not intended to be all-inclusive, but are primers for applied content delivery. The resource is organized into small chapters that can be used to support student preparation in any arrangement. Similarly, clinical context is only briefly discussed (or purposefully omitted) in order to allow the user to apply the basic content presented here in the clinical context used by their specific curricular structure. As cases and clinical correlates change regularly, it is beneficial to have flexible, short resources that can be applied to many scenarios.
The book is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0).
Instructors reviewing, adopting, or adapting this textbook are asked to please help us understand your use of the material by filling out this form https://bit.ly/interest-preclinical.
Table of Contents
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- Host Defenses, Immunodeficiencies, and Autoimmune Disorders
- Basic Microbiology
- Systemic Infections of the Skin
- Systemic Infections of the Oral Cavity and GI
- Systemic Infections of the Respiratory Tract
- Systemic Infections of the Circulatory and Lymphatic Systems
- Systemic Infections of the Urinary System
- Systemic Infections of the Nervous System
- Foundations of Disease Management
- Appendix A: Bacteriology Resource
- Appendix B: Quick References—Medically Important Bacteria
How to Access the Book
Interactive, accessible, online version: https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/micropharmimmuno
PDF, epub, and other versions: https://doi.org/10.21061/micropharmimmuno, or order a paperback, full-color copy.
ISBN (print) 978-1-962841-02-3
ISBN (PDF) 978-1-962841-04-7
ISBN (epub) 978-1-962841-03-0
ISBN (Pressbooks) 978-1-962841-05-4
The book is also listed in the Open Textbook Library, OER Commons, VIVA Open, and Merlot.
Adapted by
Jennifer L. Cleveland is an assistant professor in the Department of Basic Science at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. She received a PharmD and MBA degree from Shenandoah University and has practiced in a variety of settings including hospitals, home healthcare, and independent pharmacy. She began her journey in clinical education at Jefferson College of Health Sciences, where she was instructor of clinical pharmacotherapeutics for physician assistant students for nine years. In 2017, she transitioned to Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine where her role includes teaching pharmacology to first- and second-year medical students, codirecting the problem-based learning curriculum, integrating pharmacology within clinical science, and facilitating small group sessions in the Health Systems Science and Interprofessional Practice program. With her background in clinical pharmacy and board-certification as a pharmacotherapy specialist, she brings a unique blend of expertise in her role as a medical educator.
Andrew P. Binks is a cardiopulmonary physiologist who gained his BSc (Hons) in Physiological Sciences at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and a MSc in Human and Applied Physiology from King’s College, London. He returned to Newcastle to complete his PhD and study the underlying physiological mechanisms of dyspnea, the cardinal symptom of cardiopulmonary disease. He continued investigating dyspnea at Harvard School of Public Health as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a research scientist. After seven years at Harvard, Andrew took his first faculty position at the University of New England where he taught cardiovascular and pulmonary physiology to health professionals and medical students. He continued to teach heart and lung physiology after moving to the University of South Carolina’s Medical School in Greenville where he also directed the school’s heart and lung pathophysiology courses. Andrew currently teaches heart and lung physiology and pathophysiology at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, directs the heart and lung pathophysiology course, and has previously served as the departmental director of faculty development.
Renée J. LeClair is an Associate Professor in the Department of Basic Science Education at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. Her role is to engage activities that support the departmental mission of developing an integrated medical experience using evidence-based delivery grounded in the science of learning. She received a PhD at Rice University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in vascular biology. She became involved in medical education, curricular renovation, and implementation of innovative teaching methods during her first faculty appointment, at the University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine. In 2013, she moved to University of South Carolina, School of Medicine, Greenville. The opportunities afforded by joining a new program and serving as the Chair of the Curriculum committee provided a blank slate for creative curricular development and close involvement with the accreditation process. During her tenure she developed and directed a team-taught, student-centered undergraduate medical course that integrated the scientific and clinical sciences to assess the six-core competencies of medical education.
Attribution
This open textbook would not be possible without the generous contributions of authors who shared their content for adaptation under an open license.
- Figures within the text are sourced from a variety of Public Domain, OpenStax-created, and other openly-licensed sources.
- We thank the authors of OpenStax Microbiology by Nina Parker et al, which is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license, much of which was reworded and reorganized.
Suggested citation
Cleveland, Jennifer L., Binks, Andrew P., and LeClair, Renée J. (2025). Microbiology, Pharmacology, and Immunology for Pre- Clinical Students. Roanoke: Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.21061/micropharmimmuno. Licensed with CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses
Editorial Team
Managing Editor: Kindred Grey, Virginia Tech Publishing
Managing Editor; Acquisitions and Developmental Editor: Anita Walz, Open Education Initiative
This work is published by the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in association with the Open Education Initiative and Virginia Tech Publishing.
Accessibility
Virginia Tech is committed to making its publications accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The Open Education Initiative is committed to continuous improvement regarding accessibility. The text, images, headings, and links in the PDF and HTML versions of this text are tagged structurally and include alternative text, which allows for machine readability. Please contact publishing@vt.edu if you are a person with a disability and have suggestions to make this book more accessible.
License
Unless otherwise noted, this work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license which allows adaptation and redistribution with attribution for uses which are not primarily commercial. See the license terms and recommended practices for attribution for additional information.
