In Physiology you study how animals function; how they move, digest, excrete, reproduce, circulate their blood, breathe and survive in different surroundings; and how their nervous systems detect, interpret and learn. At Otago there is particular emphasis on how the human body functions. The study of individual organs, their cells and membranes incorporates the related disciplines of , Biophysics and Molecular Biology.

Medical, dental, veterinary and agricultural sciences depend on a sound background in Physiology, as do the vocational training courses for , , , , and .

The present explosion of advances in the health sciences in which Physiology plays a central unifying, integrative role, reflects the increasing excitement in the discovery of unsuspected new ideas and processes.