New fellowship offers unique teaching opportunity in Anatomy

A fellowship program at the Campbell med school provides graduate students with an immersive teaching experience in gross anatomy.

The current fellow, Ben Witt, is taking part this summer in the program, which is gaining interest among graduate students. The med school, which received applications from throughout the country, hopes to expand the program in coming years.

The Graduate Anatomy Instruction Training (GAIT) fellowship allows trainees to gain hands-on experience assisting with cadaver-based gross anatomy instruction for Physical Therapy students in its current iteration of the program, though the structure and instructional focus may evolve in future years.

Fellows participate in workshops, produce independent dissections, develop teaching materials, receive mentorship from Anatomy faculty and design an event intended to engage a community audience.

The current eight-week paid summer traineeship - running from mid-May through mid-July - provides an immersive gross anatomy teaching experience for a graduate student in North Carolina, though program dates may vary in future years.

As part of the fellowship requirements, fellows will present during the 2027 Science for All Summit at University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill.

Current funding for the program is provided through the Science for All Summit, a Morehead Planetarium initiative, though additional future funding sources are being explored.

Campbell students taking Anatomy often seek more one-on-one help from faculty instructors, so department faculty, including Assistant Anatomy Professors Drs. Alexa Kelly and Maxx Toler, decided to establish a training opportunity.

Graduate students, who are studying in related programs throughout the country, may not always get the chance to teach Anatomy, though it may be a part of their curriculum.

"It can be a pathway to a career for them," says Dr. David Green, Anatomy chair. "We have a great lab, obviously, and we have lots of opportunities to teach, because we have the medical students all year round, we have the (Physical Therapy) students over the summer and we have PA students in the fall.

"(Potential fellows) have a background in Anatomy," Green continues, "but they don't have the opportunity to teach it, and that's really critical when they go out on the job market."

Witt, a University of Iowa graduate, is studying anatomical variation within species at N.C. State University, home to a College of Veterinary Medicine.

"I'm especially interested in different cat species, both living and extinct, and what that can tell us about the ecology of different types of animals," Witt says.

The Anatomy fellowship includes a $1,500 stipend to assist with summer travel or potential relocation expenses, and preferred candidates are All-But-Dissertation Ph.D. students in anthropology, anatomy, biology or a related field, who are interested in developing teaching expertise in the anatomical sciences. Priority will be given to students without access to cadaver labs at their home institutions.

Witt describes his experience so far at Campbell as "fantastic."

"I've gotten to meet a lot of great students," Witt says. "I'm learning as an anatomy educator - a little bit more advanced anatomy and how it goes from an education standpoint."

Witt is currently serving as a teaching assistant at N.C. State. Teaching is a passion he hopes to pursue.

"It's something I really enjoy, that I take it very seriously," he adds.

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