What Makes a Person Qualified to Teach Physiology?

What Makes a Person Qualified to Teach Physiology?

By Dee U. Silverthorn, PhD, FAPS

What makes a person qualified to teach physiology? Seems like a simple answer: being trained as a physiologist. But that's where things get murky. Is someone with a master's degree in veterinary physiology or a PhD in marine science (which is what I have) qualified to teach human physiology? If all we look at is the graduate degree and graduate coursework, the answer is no. And does having content expertise make a person qualified to teach, especially in today's changing climate focused on interactive, evidence-based teaching? 

The question of faculty credentials for teaching physiology or combined anatomy/physiology (A&P) courses has been plaguing our community for the past 20 years, especially when our institutions are up for accreditation. In its 2012 "Principles of Accreditation," the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) told institutional credentialing faculty to give "primary consideration to the highest earned degree in the discipline," with a minimum of 18 graduate credit hours. 

This stipulation hit people teaching combined A&P classes particularly hard. How many people with degrees in physiology took anatomy courses and vice versa? It also disqualified people with degrees in biomedical sciences, a graduate program that has replaced physiology degrees at many institutions, as well as people with clinical degrees such as MSN, MD or DVM. And, honestly, if your graduate degree dates from the 1980s or before, how closely does the science you teach today resemble the science you learned in graduate school? 

The Human Anatomy & Physiology Society (HAPS) addressed faculty qualifications for teaching A&P in 2005 and 2013 position statements (www.hapsweb.org/page/Accreditation_2020). The 2013 document included three appendices to help instructors document their qualifications, especially those that were acquired outside standard coursework, such as being a teaching assistant in a student laboratory or practicing as a clinician for years. The documents were widely used and sparked enough discussion that in 2018, SACSCOC published an updated "Principles of Accreditation," with revised faculty qualifications that include non-degree–related training and documentation of teaching excellence.

What does this mean for those of us who teach or hope to teach? Here are some ways to convince a visiting accreditation committee that you are qualified to teach:

• Keep a copy of your graduate and undergraduate transcripts to document course titles and credit hours for your degrees. 
• While you are still in training, do what you can to get pedagogical expertise and teaching experience and document them in as much detail as possible. 
• If possible, take an anatomy course or become a teaching assistant in an anatomy student laboratory to bolster your credentials for teaching A&P. Volunteer if necessary. 
• Keep all evidence of teaching effectiveness, including student and peer evaluations and emails from students, starting in graduate school.
• Finally, take advantage of opportunities offered by APS. The Teaching Section welcomes anyone with an interest in physiology education at any level. 

Dee U. Silverthorn, PhD, FAPS, is a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Physiology in the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of the best-selling textbook "Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach."

This article was originally published in the May 2020 issue of The Physiologist Magazine.