Barbara E. Goodman, PhD, FAPS

I am a scientist, educator, and professor in the Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences of Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota (USD). For the last 19 years, I have also been the program director for South Dakota Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (a National Institutes of Health grant that partners a research institution, like USD, with predominantly undergraduate institutions to enhance biomedical research throughout South Dakota). My current scholarship is studying how students learn physiology better. As a physiology educator, I use evidence-based teaching with my students (four solo classes of either undergraduate or graduate students) and learn about how to enhance student learning. Sometimes I try out new pedagogies in my classes and I also conduct publishable educational research with my students.

APS has long provided educational resources to its members and is working on a strategic plan to develop a new Center for Physiological Education. As a former chair of the Educators Committee, the Teaching Section and the Communications Committee, I have been steeped in how to communicate science to nonscientists and how to excite students about science and physiology. I currently serve as editor-in-chief of the APS education journal Advances in Physiology Education,so much of my service time is spent working with APS on education and communication initiatives. Three of my classes are team-based, student-centered learning opportunities with human physiology experiments and case studies. My fourth class is discussion-based on the fundamentals of teaching for future educators.  Students are very engaged and learn from each other, so I rarely use lectures in my classes.

Judging from my delayed retirement, I have not yet found what I would like to do instead. I am very organized and love the variety of my work. I love to help students get turned on to physiology and how the body works. I love working with school children to excite them about science. I strongly encourage future professional students to participate in undergraduate research. Outside of science, my husband and I have been able to go on some exciting and educational cruises (pre-COVID) and are looking forward to more in the future. During COVID, I have read a plethora of books on my Kindle. I have a Golden retriever named Orion and a calico cat named Cassiopeia who are best friends and the dog is my walking buddy.