The Department of physiology , in the school of Medicine, was established in 1984 to provide the medical and paramedical students with basic and clinical concepts on the function of the various body systems through lectures, Lab practicals and small group discussions. The Department  offers several undergraduate and postgraduates courses in all systems of physiology and related fields. The department staff grew over the years from two assistant professors in 1984 to become currently nine faculty members, four full professors, four associate professors, one assistant professor and one part time teaching assistant. In addition, there are three full time lab technicians.  

The Department participates in teaching physiology to undergraduate study program of medicine by offering general and advance physiology courses for the medical students and other medical disciplines i.e. dental, Pharm. D. pharmacy, nursing and allied health sciences students. In addition, the staff members in the department participate in teaching the physiology part of various systems during the second and third year of the program in the School of Medicine.

In the academic year 2003/2004, the department developed a Master (MSc.) Program in physiology and the first graduate with an MSc  was in 2005. At present the department has 8 postgraduate Students. The students in MSc program can earn the degree through either a thesis or comprehensive exam, which requires 25 credit hours of course work in addition to 9 credit hours for a research project, alternatively, student may obtain the degree after completion of 34 credit hour of course work and passing a comprehensive exam.

The faculty members in the department conduct research work in various areas related to cardiovascular, respiratory, GI and other related topics. 
 

The department faculty are actively involved in teaching medical students integrated curriculum as well as teaching undergraduate and graduate students in the school of Pharmacy , Dentistry , Nursing , Allied Health and Biomedical engineering.

The research efforts of the department are focused in a broad theme of cellular and systemic physiology.

Specific areas of research include. membrane transport, circulatory and cardiac physiology, respiratory physiology muscle physiology, neurophysiology, Endocrinology and reproduction . The department is currently working a long with other basic medical sciences departments , to layout a graduate program leading to the master degree in basic medical sciences.