Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM)
 
At PCOM, I work with medical students pursuing their Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.), as well as allied health professionals pursing advanced degrees in Physical Therapy and Physicians Assistants, and with graduate students pursuing Masters Degrees in Biomedical Sciences. My lectures discuss clinically relevant anatomy, including radiological, of the human head, neck, thorax, abdomen, and pelvis, taking into account both the developmental and evolutionary history of the human body. I continue to use hands-on, problem based learning with students in the laboratory setting, to guide students through anatomical dissections and knowledge. I designed new laboratories for the Clinical and Basic Neurosciences course which paired basic scientists and clinicians together to facilitate learning real-time clinically relevant anatomy as it relates to neurological deficits. For several years I directed the Angus Gordon Cathie collection at PCOM and the plastination lab  for our anatomical research and teaching.ew

 

Inclusive, Accessible Learning: Between 2018 and 2021, I transformed the Biomedical Sciences Anatomy program by ​creating a degree program to enhance engagement and promote inclusiveness. While enrollments increased, so did my student outcomes improve. Students retention increased by 10% increase and course grades improved by 3%. Skills adopted in the included self-guided and peer teaching in the curriculum. With a focus on special dissections students gained growth opportunities in professionalism and content knowledge. This lead to the development of a new Masters Degree in Medical Education. Training future medical educators and enhancing the learning experience.

 

The course which was 100% in person was transformed into 100% distance learning as part of the adjustment to the COVID-19 pandemic. My graduate students and I knew how to deliver in person should the ability arise, so together we researched best practices in distance learning, worked with members of the American Association of Anatomists and the library for content specific resources, led multiple meetings with colleagues in our additional campus in Georgia. The first in-sequence course in Medical Education is Integrated Anatomical Skills: Design thinking in Human Anatomy. In this course, I put a human centered approach to an iterative course re-design. While 2020 presented several challenges, I was met with several strengths in our new approach and co-opted the successes into a 2021 hybrid course. As part of the 2021 redesign, we shifted our focus to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion directly in the curriculum. The result was in implementation of Brave Spaces, linked to regional anatomy, which fostered discussion about health inequities encountered by historically marginalized populations of people. 

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Ohio University

As a postdoc and instructor, I taught a variety of medical students pursuing advanced medical degrees and clinical professions at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. Through the use of hands-on, problem based learning, students are guided through anatomical dissections. For more about OU-HCOM and the osteopathic philosophy, visit their website at www.oucom.ohio.edu.

I also co-led a seminar for graduate students in Biological Sciences about methods in morphological phylogenetic systematics. We covered the fundamentals of character construction and analysis in addition to advanced methods of cladistic analysis and phylogeny reconstruction.


UT Austin

I designed and organized the laboratory component of the Digital Methods in Morphology course at the University of Texas at Austin. I also had the chance to guest lecture on several occasions. Students learned to gather, analyze, and interpret 3-dimensional data acquired using high-resolution and microfocus computed tomography. Projects and topics varied from crinoids, to birds, to crocodile-like animals, to ancient humans. By the end of the course, students produced instructive, 3D models to illustrate the anatomy of their study organism. Models such as these are currently part of a theater exhibit at the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin Texas. I also was the teaching assistant for the course “Life Through Time” which examined Earth’s HIstory with particular emphasis placed on the evolution of multicellular non-vertebrates and vertebrates preserved in the fossil record.