Raise your hand if you equate academia with benchwork & soul-crushing grant writing! I made the same mistake to the point of ignoring my love for teaching and science communication.
I stumbled into becoming a medical educator. But you can be intentional about it. My goal with this talk is for PhD students and postdocs to discover the day-to-day life of a medical educator, potential growth and steps to break into this fulfilling career path.
When faced with real-life scenarios, will your student learners make an informed decision? And what if you, as an educator could train them to do that?
Enter “branching scenarios”. This talk will show my fellow educators, what branching scenarios are, why students enjoy them, and how to design and create compelling ones for sessions in classroom or for pre-recorded lectures
Let's be honest—having two instructors in the same room doesn't magically create integrated teaching, no matter how much we'd love it to be that simple!
True horizontal integration happens when disciplines are interspersed with each other, unraveling various perspectives for your learner. The goal of this talk is to provide you with a framework to create whole integrated sessions that can become greater than the sum of the individual parts.
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Sharing My Journey…
In 2013, I hiked Angels Landing at Zion National Park. I felt accomplished after reaching the summit!
Until I joined my graduate program in 2014. The emotional and mental demands were overwhelming at times, initially marked by struggles with an abusive mentor (which I escaped!) and later balancing graduate work with raising infants. Imagine navigating all this as an international student. Phew!
Despite these challenges, I persevered, unknowingly shaping the person I would become.
Until I joined my graduate program in 2014. The emotional and mental demands were overwhelming at times, initially marked by struggles with an abusive mentor (which I escaped!) and later balancing graduate work with raising infants. Imagine navigating all this as an international student. Phew!
Despite these challenges, I persevered, unknowingly shaping the person I would become.
Later on in my postdoc, I found benchwork to be mundane and unenjoyable. So I steered clear of academia and opted for a role in the medical writing industry. But my drive for creativity and innovation brought me back to the ivory tower, this time as an educator.
My career has not been a straight path! I have gone from earning a Ph.D. to working in science communication and eventually settling down in a medical educator role (which I love!).
My goal is to share the strategies that helped shape my career path with as many graduate students, PhDs, and postdocs as possible.
Perhaps, these live in the paradox of being cliche and yet, unique to my journey (only!). However, I truly believe in the power of repetition of words to keep one’s spirit alive.
My goal is to share the strategies that helped shape my career path with as many graduate students, PhDs, and postdocs as possible.
Perhaps, these live in the paradox of being cliche and yet, unique to my journey (only!). However, I truly believe in the power of repetition of words to keep one’s spirit alive.
So, how about you hear it from me, at least once?
Email me: anaikowl@gmail.com
Email me: anaikowl@gmail.com
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Dr. Akshata Naik’s past speaking engagements
TALKS:
- From pipettes to pedagogy: Journey Of a Life Science Graduate. University of Mumbai, INDIA, 2024.
- Self-directed learning (SDL) strategies that lead to success of medical students in their M1 and M2 years, Community Outreach Research and Engagement (CORE), 2022. Co-presented with my colleague, Dr. Kyeorda Kemp.
WORKSHOPS:
- Bridging Biochemistry: Concept integration framework for co-teaching preclinical disciplines using active learning and asynchronous lecture modalities, Association of Biochemistry Educators, 2025. Co-conducted with my colleague, Dr. Jane Newman
- Implementing Team Based Learning for Integration of Basic Medical Sciences. Team-Based Learning Collaborative, 2025. Co-conducted with my colleague, Dr. Jane Newman
- Fundamentals Of Writing Effective Multiple-Choice Questions. Team Based Learning Collaborative, 2023