Carin Wittnich, DVM, MSc

Sustained Excellence and Innovation in Life Sciences Education
Undergraduate Teaching Awards in Life Sciences

Biography

Carin Wittnich is a Professor in the Departments of Physiology and Surgery and Founding Director of the Cardiovascular Sciences Collaborative Specialization, an inter-Faculty and inter-departmental graduate training initiative. She has been actively engaged in research supervision and teaching of both undergraduate and graduate students for over 30 years, during which she has created a number of innovative courses both at the graduate and undergraduate level. Recognition for her educational efforts have included the Order of Ontario (2001); Queen's Jubilee Medal (Golden 2002, Diamond 2012); Northrop Frye Award (Individual 1996, Divisional 2004); Faculty of Medicine - Sustained Contribution to Excellence & Mentorship in Graduate Teaching (2005), Excellence in Undergraduate Life Science Teaching (2008) and Undergraduate Laboratory teaching (2013); Department of Physiology's Excellence in Course design (2008) for PSL378 and Excellence in Teaching (2012) and Innovative Course design (2012) for PSL 379 and Undergraduate Small Class Teaching (2016) and Innovative course design and Excellence in Teaching Performance (2017). Her unique teaching approach over the years has been to use applied experiential learning to enhance classroom teaching with a focus on comparative adaptive physiology in response to changing environments in real life situations.

Quote from the Winner

My teaching philosophy is directed toward ensuring each student’s success and challenge them just enough so that they develop their full potential. As teachers, sharing our passion for the subject matter helps motivate the learner as does integrating applied active experiential learning into every aspect of the curriculum. I hope in some small way this has benefitted the students I have had the pleasure to interact with over the years.