Robert “Jason” Walker joined the University of Georgia School of Medicine as assistant dean for pre-clerkship curriculum on Oct. 1. Walker comes to the School of Medicine after serving as assistant dean for transformational learning and an associate professor of physiology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“Coming to UGA offers something rare. It offers the chance to help shape a curriculum as it takes form, with an amazing team, at a flagship institution already serving the state with excellence. I am happy and appreciative to be a part of this community,” said Walker.
In his new role, Walker will oversee all components of the School of Medicine’s pre-clerkship curriculum, ensuring students receive rigorous, innovative training that prepares them for clinical clerkships and future practice.
“Walker brings extensive experience in refining and evaluating curriculum standards for undergraduate medical education,” said Dr. Shelley Nuss, dean of the School of Medicine. “His learner-centered, collaborative approach to pre-clerkship education will be an incredible asset to our students and our program.”
Walker said the pre-clinical curriculum is critical because it lays the foundation for students’ clinical training and future practice as physicians.
“The habits our students build with us in these first two years will follow them into every patient room,” said Walker. “In a few years, a resident somewhere in Georgia will catch something subtle at 3 a.m. because of a habit that took root during their first two years with us. They won’t remember the curriculum map or the committee that designed it. They’ll just know how to think. That’s the standard worth building toward, and I’m excited to build it with this team.”
Walker is also prepared to design a curriculum that will educate doctors prepared to address the lingering physician shortage.
“When a first-year student learns renal physiology through the case of a farmworker managing heat exposure in August, or studies cardiovascular disease through a patient who drives ninety minutes to the nearest cardiologist, the science stops being abstract. It becomes tied to a place and a person,” said Walker. “When we build the curriculum around those people, our graduates leave ready to meet Georgia where it actually is. If we get it right, the impact won’t stay inside our classrooms. It will show up in shorter drives to care, earlier diagnoses, and communities that finally have a doctor who chose to stay.”
Walker received his Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from Alcorn State University in 2005 and his Master of Science in cellular, molecular, and systemic physiology from Southern Illinois University in 2007. He earned his PhD in neuroscience from the University of Tennessee in 2012.