The International Association of Medical Science Educations (IAMSE) would like to congratulate the winner of the 2017 Master Teacher award.
Tracy B. Fulton, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California
Tracy Fulton has spent the last 23 years at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she earned her PhD and is professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics. As a grad student, while studying telomerase in yeast, she explored her love for teaching as an adult literacy tutor, an animal museum docent, a K-5 classroom helper, and a TA for dental school biochemistry. She settled on professional school education as her target path and since joining the faculty in 2000 has directed and taught in courses in the Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry, earning many teaching awards from her students and peers. In the inaugural Bridges medical curriculum, Tracy directs the REGulatioN (Renal, Endocrine, GI, Nutrition) block, and chaired two working groups to establish an assessment system that emphasizes open-ended questions. Tracy is active in IAMSE, past secretary for the Association of Biochemistry Educators (ABE), and co-chairs the NBME Test Material Development Committee for pharmacology and biochemistry. Tracy is on the leadership team for MedU Science, a project involving many IAMSE members focused on use of basic science concepts in clerkship clinical decision-making. She is working with IAMSE/ABE colleagues Janet Lindsley and Tina Cowan on an NBME task force to implement a nationally supported metabolic map as a reference on Step exams. Tracy’s involvement in IAMSE has been pivotal in her professional development; she thanks the organization’s leadership and membership for many of her most rewarding experiences, collaborations, and friendships in education.
The Master Teacher Award honors an IAMSE member who, over the course of many years, has consistently demonstrated extraordinary excellence in teaching, both at his/her institution and within IAMSE. Any teaching can be recognized, but nominations of members who have been active teachers at the annual IAMSE meetings or web seminars are particularly encouraged.
This year I will be celebrating my 10th year as a member of IAMSE. I joined the organization in 2007 when I was invited to attend the meeting in Cleveland, OH. It was there that I had the opportunity to meet so many new wonderful people. The association felt like a welcome home where dedicated educators shared their passion about teaching and training young people towards a career as health science professionals. I joined the Board of Directors as Vice-President in 2008, and I worked to strengthen the international perspective of the organization. In 2010, I was entrusted with the position of Editor-in-Chief of the association’s online peer-reviewed journal, Medical Science Educator. I still enjoy working to transform this publication into a professional and respected journal in the international medical education research literature. Within IAMSE there are many opportunities to learn from others about current best practice in education, to network with colleagues, and to have inspiring discussions at the annual meeting. Whether you are an educator in the basic or clinical health sciences, in medicine, nursing, PA or otherwise, from the US or from elsewhere in the world, I feel we all should be members of IAMSE and participate in this wonderful family of educators!