Promoting innovation in anatomical education through interdisciplinary collaboration

Anatomists play a vital role in training future medical professionals. They are also at the forefront of developing innovative training techniques in imparting anatomical knowledge. Anatomists must juggle multiple roles of innovator, expert, administrator, and educator. Yet, anatomists rarely receive specific training in the learning sciences. We propose a solution focused model to developing interdisciplinary collaborations between anatomists and researchers within the learning sciences. This model is based on the collaboration between the Departments of Neurobiology & Anatomy and Educational Psychology at the University of Utah. Through this endeavor, we indentified academic and financial resources, and negotiated terms of collaboration. Such cooperation utilizes each discipline's unique strength and has resulted in more robust research and improved educational techniques in the laboratory. We feel this educational research model can be utilized by other anatomy training programs. Grant Funding Source : Frank L. Christensen Fellowship