Doctor’s ’revolutionary’ lecture style proves tonic for young medical minds
HIS students say he’s revolutionised the teaching of emergency medicine with his creative approach to explaining challenging medical concepts.
Townsville emergency specialist Dr Zafar Smith has been recognised for his exceptional teaching at James Cook University, with the Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) awarding him their National Teaching Award for Excellence. The award came a little more than a year since Dr Smith took to the lecture theatre but it’s the newly minted lecturer’s expertise in his field that has won over his students.
As well as being a lecturer, Dr Smith is an Emergency Specialist at The Townsville Hospital and works part-time in the Emergency Departments at Mount Isa and Townsville’s Mater Hospital.
The AMSA National Teaching Award for Excellence in Teaching is Dr Smith’s first award but it’s come early in his teaching career, having only started lecturing in 2017.
“My first lecture was in September 2017 when I took over from the previous lecturer for three months doing the Introduction to Emergency Medicine module for the third-year students,” Dr Smith said.
“Then I started lecturing again in July 2018 and have been lecturing since then.”
Dr Smith was nominated by his students who described his style as “completely revolutionising Emergency Department teaching” and he said he was thankful to them for the honour.
“I was totally shocked and surprised because it is an Australia-wide nomination process, and so I did not think at all that I would get the award,” he said.
“The thing I love about teaching is trying to work out creative ways to teach difficult medical concepts.
“I enjoy breaking things down into bite-sized chunks that are easily digestible for young, keen minds.”