Alumni Profiles

Our PhD students come from a variety of educational backgrounds, and go on to explore various career paths. This page focuses on some of our recent alumni.

This interesting course examines a select number of disease that cover the physiological spectrum of molecular deficits to system malfunctions. The class is organized so that approximately two weeks are devoted to each disease with recent research articles serving as the primary template for the course content. One objective of the course is to facilitate a critical analysis of the research literature and its significance. Besides oral examinations, open-ended essays are used to evaluate student performance. One advantage of this approach is that it familiarizes students with the format followed with their subsequent comprehensive examinations.

Recipients of the Guyton Award must demonstrate a commitment to the improvement of physiology education within their home institution. In Dr. Carroll's case, he first demonstrated that he was a memorable teacher by repeatedly receiving awards from graduating classes as an Outstanding Teacher. As course director of Medical Physiology and Chairman of a Medical School Task Force for Faculty Development, he provided example, counsel and leadership to the participating faculty on how to become an effective teacher and educator within a medical school curriculum. Recipients must also demonstrate significant contributions to physiology education at local, national, and international levels. Within the Teaching Section, he has served as Councilor and as its Chair. Under his leadership, the Education Committee established an APS Archives of Teaching Resources, completed a Medical Physiology Core Learning Objectives Project that has been approved by the Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology (ACDP), finalized an APS/ACDP document on Professional Skills for Trainees, and has undertaken a survey of undergraduate physiology instruction to determine how the Society can identify and attract the "best and the brighest" to physiology graduate education. For the past 11 years he has been an Associate Editor for Advances in Physiology Education.

Dr. Carroll is a Member of the National Board of Medical Examiners and is involved with the design, resentation, and evaluation of multiple choice physiology questions. At the international level, he serves on the IUPS Teaching Commission, and attends meetings of the International Association of Medical Science educators. For IUPS, he edited a report on the "Objectives for training physiologist to teach Physiology" and was a major contributor to their "Teaching Laboratory Manual." Finally, Professor Carroll has been an invited speaker on physiology education in Hungary, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, and in Scotland.

To improve and to enhance the teaching of physiology, he believes APS must continue to recognize the importance of quality education and to provide the level of support that was available to complete the archival and ACDP projects. In addition, the Society must accept the challenges of "shaping" the national curricula and of "retaining" physiology as an integral component of high school and undergraduate education.