Over the years, I have conducted research on the muscle spindle with emphasis on functional morphology and ultrastructure in normal and diseased muscle. I have also studied fiber type changes in muscular dystrophy, innervation patterns in skeletal muscle, and have an interest in high-resolution scanning electron microscopy. Since stepping down as Head of Anatomy, I have phased out my grant-funded research laboratory and shifted my academic focus to medical education, returning full-time to my long-standing interest in microscopic anatomy (histology) and tissue/cell biology. As Director of Histology for the past 30 years, I have coordinated the departmental Histology Teaching Program directed to medical/dental students, undergraduate science students, and graduate students.
Our medical/dental undergraduate curriculum underwent a pedagogic transformation ten years ago from a traditional lecture-based model to a new hybrid educational approach - incorporating elements of student-centered, self-directed, problem-based learning with traditional methods. From the outset, I have helped implement our new curriculum, as it relates to the anatomical sciences and histology. Histology is now integrated fully into the first two years of the new curriculum and within the various Systems-based Blocks of the program.
To increase the number of physicians in British Columbia, we have doubled the size of our medical class, and are in the fourth year of a ‘distributed’ program with partner sites in Victoria (i.e., Island Medical Program) and Prince George (i.e., Northern Medical Program). To accommodate these changes, I spearheaded an innovative plan to shift from a microscope focus in histology to creating a virtual histology website that could be accessed by students and faculty across the province. Our new website is innovative and interactive. As a password-protected site that is part of MEDICOL, it contains a Virtual Slidebox (of over 500 original slides) and an EM Magnifier (of more than 150 electron micrographs). The virtual slides and EMs are digitized, moveable, variable magnification images that can be easily manipulated on the computer screen. The website also contains interactive histology quizzes, and an archive of hundreds of many other, high-quality light and electron microscopic images.
Mentoring and role modeling are important parts of my educational mission. Over the years, I have supervised many graduate students, and I continue to mentor many young faculty members in our department. As an example, three former Ph.D. students currently hold permanent positions at other institutions in North America, and all have won notable awards for their teaching and/or research.
It is a privilege to teach and facilitate student learning in this era of curricular reform and dramatic explosion in knowledge base in tissue/cell biology. As we continue further expansion and remote distribution of our medical undergraduate program across the province, I am thrilled to be able to combine my interests in microscopy and microanatomy to develop other web-based instructional tools and multimedia learning programs for medical/dental students. Digital imaging has opened new dimensions in teaching and research, and my Histology Website with its interactive Virtual Slidebox and EM Magnifier remains an integral part of this revolution in visualization.
My overall educational mission is to motivate student learners, expand their knowledge and enrich their concept of structure and function on many levels, awaken their interest in human form, and provide information that is ultimately useful in their future professional careers. I am especially honoured to be recipient of a Killam University Teaching Prize, two Medical Undergraduate Society Awards for Teaching Excellence, a Faculty of Medicine 50th Anniversary Gold Medal and to have been selected as an Honorary UBC Medical Alumnus. |
|
