Anatomy
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Cole, Maria S..
A decent professor and a great section director (did a good job directing renal). She has a good sense of humor and likes cats/pets a lot. Dr. Cole teaches a few different subjects, such as anatomy (cardiopulm section), embryology (all sections), and histology (here and there). Her notes don't have a lot of pictures and are pretty dense. Sometimes I have to struggle a bit to follow them. I use BRS Embryology, which she tends to follow fairly closely (pay attention to the questions contained within the volume), and Rapid Review Anatomy/Embryology as adjuncts to the notes and lecture.
I don't think she enjoys teaching embryology a whole lot, but seems happy to teach anatomy. This isn't surprising given her background. She is a large animal anatomist, as far as I remember. I think embryology was thrust upon her. Furthermore, the way our school does embryology makes it more confusing, in my opinion, because it's a bit disjointed due to the system-based nature of the curriculum. I think it would be better to simply follow the developmental timeline. This is unfortunate to some extent. Just do your best to supplement her lectures with a review book, so that you can follow it. Try to keep track of what is happening and when it is happening.
Dr. May is one of my favorite professors. She's fairly new, but doing a good job despite that. She teaches primarly anatomy (cardiopulm) and histology (all sections). Dr. May loves to repeat key points over and over again. Sometimes she makes silly and funny associations with these key points. The bottom line is that you will be entertained and you will remember these key points even at the end of the section. All in all, I'd say that she is a very effective teacher. She puts a lot of color pictures in her presentations and notes. Make sure to go over them and all the other histo pictures that she recommends looking at. They tend to show up in exams. Also, I think she and Dr. Cole put out a histo review occasionally. Make sure to review these pictures.
By the way, I think both Dr. Cole and Dr. May did a good job with cardiopulm anatomy. By the time I took the practical, I really knew my stuff, thanks in part to their teaching style.
Unknown. We haven't had him yet. He teaches primarily neuroanatomy, so I'll be learning from him for my first section, second year.
I think Dr. Thomas is a consumate anatomist. She is incredibly knowledgeable and skilled in her subject. She can pimp you and dissect all at the same time, and while you are busting your brain trying to think of the answer to her questions, she has blunt dissected something like half the cadavar. Of course I am exaggerating a bit, but that's how I felt each time she came by our tank. She is really interested in teaching and helping students. Dr. Thomas really stresses anatomical relationships and clinical correlates, so make sure to know them.
I found her notes a bit hard to follow, for various reasons. However, I was able to supplement with Rapid Review Anatomy. I don't like our textbook, by Moore and Dalley, so I didn't review it that much. I found it dry and dense and sometimes disjointed. I would, however, recommend reading the "blue boxes," for the clinical correlates.
She taught anatomy in the GI and Renal sections, but assists throughout.
Dr. B. Wright, the husband of Dr. K. Wright, is fairly new to the department. His interest is primarily with primate anatomy, as far as I remember. He was one of our anatomy professors for the Musculoskeletal section. Dr. B. Wright taught us lower limb anatomy. He likes to emphasize gait and anatomy by compartments. His notes were pretty good and I used Moore & Dalley, as well as BRS Gross Anatomy to supplement. Pay attention to his lectures and key points. Make sure to really review the Anatomy Lab Checklist; don't neglect anything from it. The Musculoskeletal anatomy practical killed like 1/4 of the class. It was hard. I barely passed.
Dr. K. Wright, the wife of B. Wright, is also into primate anatomy. She taught the anatomy of the upper limb, back, and chest, during musculoskeletal. Her notes are pretty good. You will learn the infamous brachial plexus from her. I seem to remember going over lots of stuff related to clinical correlates of the plexus and the rotator cuff. Remember to go over injuries to the shoulder, arm, and forearm, and remember your anatomical "snuff box" and FOOSH injuries. I don't know why that came to mind, but I think it's important for the MSK section. Again, I supplemented with BRS Gross Anatomy and Moore & Dalley. As with B. Wright, make sure you go over the Anatomy Lab Checklist with a fine tooth comb and learn the brachial plexus and the muscles of the shoulder, arm, and forearm really well.
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I think the anatomy department is pretty strong over all. Everything is pretty well taught and structured. I definitely learned a lot from these individuals. I'm a little worried about my competency in Embryology, however. Perhaps it'll be a subject I place a bit more emphasis on during board review.
