Bonny Dickinson, PhD, MS-HPEd

Dickinson, BonnyEducation

  • BS, Biology, Santa Clara University
  • MS-HPEd., Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions
  • PhD, Microbiology and Immunology, Tulane University
  • Postdoctoral Study, Gastrointestinal Cell Biology, Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
  • Postdoctoral Study, Biochemistry, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health
  • Fellowship, Harvard Macy

Research Interest

Dr. Dickinson’s scholarship is focused on teaching and learning in the basic sciences. She uses qualitative and mixed methods approaches to explore how medical students apply their basic science knowledge to the practice of medicine and how this knowledge contributes to the development of adaptive expertise and professional identity formation. She is also interested in the professional identity formation of medical science educators who teach basic science content to medical students. Dr. Dickinson develops tools and approaches to support faculty development, which culminated in the publication of an educator portfolio toolkit and an educator evaluator assessment guide for those tasked with evaluating faculty for the purpose of appointment, promotion, and tenure. The educator toolkit was designed to help faculty evaluate and present their activities across five educator domains (teaching, learner assessment, curriculum development, advising and mentoring, and educational leadership and administration).

Selected Publications

  • Joanna Veazey Brooks, PhD, MBE, Bonny L. Dickinson, PhD, MS-HPEd, Kelly M. Quesnelle, PhD, Giulia A. Bonaminio, PhD, Janine Chalk-Wilayto, PhD, Kimberly Brown Dahlman, PhD, Tracy B. Fulton, PhD, Katherine M. Hyland, PhD, Marieke Kruidering, PhD, Neil Osheroff, PhD, Rupa Lalchandani Tuan, PhD, Ming-Jung Ho, MD, DPhil. Professional Identity Formation of Basic Science Medical Educators: A Qualitative Study of Identity Supports and Threats. RIME paper; Academic Medicine, August 1, 2023.
  • Porter-Stransky, K.A., Gibson, K., VanDerKolk, K., Edwards, R.A., Graves, L.E., Smith, E., and B.L. Dickinson. How Medical Students Apply Their Biomedical Science Knowledge to Patient Care in the Family Medicine Clerkship. Medical Science Educator. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-022-01697-5
  • Dickinson, B.L. (corresponding author), Gibson, K., VanDerKolk, K. et al. “It is this very knowledge that makes us doctors”: an applied thematic analysis of how medical students perceive the relevance of biomedical science knowledge to clinical medicine. BMC Med Educ 20, 356 (2020)
  • Jayne S. Reuben, William T. Crawley, Paris Webb, Koen den Brok, Elizabeth Woodburn, Jennifer Montemayor, Sol Roberts-Lieb, Peter G. M. de Jong, and Bonny L. Dickinson (corresponding author). IAMSE Meeting Report: Student Plenary at the 24th Annual Conference of the International Association of Medical Science Educators. Accepted for publication in Medical Science Educator (Sept 2020). 
  • IAMSE Medical Science Educator and Evaluator Portfolio Toolkits (2019), updated in 2021: http://www.iamse.org/medical-science-educator-toolkits/
  • Maria Sheakley, Timothy J. Bauler, Dale Vandre, and Bonny L. Dickinson (contributed equally to first two authors). Effectiveness of Instructor-Guided Independent Learning in Comparison to Traditional Didactic Lecture in the Preclinical Medical Curriculum: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Medical Teacher. 41(7):795-801, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2019.1580355 
  • Timothy J. Bauler, Shanna Cole, Tyler Gibb, Richard Van Enk, Larry Lutwick, and Bonny L. Dickinson (primary author). HIV/AIDS: A Team-Based Learning Module for First Year Medical Students. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education. 19(2): 1587-1591, 2018. 
  •  Bonny L. Dickinson (primary author), Nicole Deming, Lisa Coplit, Kathryn N. Huggett, Kelly Quesnelle, Gary Rosenfeld, Maria Sheakley, and Stephanie Wragg. IAMSE Member Perspectives on the Recognition, Reward, and Promotion of Medical Science Educators: An IAMSE Sponsored Survey. Medical Science Educator. 28(2): 335-343, 2018.
  • Bonny L. Dickinson (primary author), Wendy Lackey, Maria Sheakley, Lisa Miller, Susan Jevert, and Brandy Shattuck. Involving a Real Patient in the Design and Implementation of Case-Based Learning to Engage Learners. Advances in Physiology Education. 42: 118-122, 2018.
  • Dickinson, B.L. (primary author), VanDerKolk, K., Bauler, T., and Cole S. Integration of Biomedical Sciences in the Family Medicine Clerkship Using Case-Based Learning. Medical Science Educator. Vol 27(4):815-820, 2017.
  • Bauler TJ, Shattuck B, Van Enk R, Lutwick L, and Dickinson BL (primary author). 2016. Design and Implementation of an Integrated Course to Teach Immunology and Infectious Disease to First Year Medical Students. Medical Science Educator. 2016 Aug; pp1-7
  • Keator CS, Dickinson BL, Lackey WL, Morris A, Quesnelle KM, Riddle DR, Sheakley ML, Vanden Heuvel GB, and Vandre DD. Explorations: A New Approach to Self-Directed Learning in a Competency-Based Curriculum. Medical Science Educator. 2016; 26(4):777-785.
  • Dickinson B (primary author), Maloney J, Johnson R, Dugan E, Jackson K, Blue W, Bridges E. AcuteInfectious Diarrhea Team-based Learning Activity. MedEdPORTAL. 2013; 9:949.
  • Bonny L. Dickinson, Chen Zhi Xiong, and Aviad Haramati. Supporting Medical Science Educators: A Matter of Self-Esteem, Identity, and Promotion Opportunities. The Asia-Pacific Scholar. Accepted for publication June 20, 2019.

Click here to see the full list of Dr. Dickinson’s work.

Grants

  • Louisiana State University School of Medicine Research Enhancement Fund (PI) $50,000
  • Louisiana State University School of Medicine Clinical/Translational Research Initiative award (PI) $75,000
  • Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America Senior Scientist Award (PI) $230,000
  • NIH NIDDK Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) $279,500 NIH NIDDK
  • Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) $86,496

Professional Involvement

  • Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Research in Medical Education (RIME) Program Planning Committee (Nov 2023-2026)
  • AAMC, ACGME, and AACOM Competency-Based Medical Education Advisory Committee as a representative of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (October 2022-July 2024; 20 months)
  • Elected President of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (Jan 1, 2022-Dec 31, 2023)
  • Elected as the Mercer University School of Medicine representative to the Society of Directors of Research in Medical Education (April 2021-Dec 2024)
  • Elected Chair of the program committee for the 2020 annual conference of the International Association of Medical Science Educators
  • Elected Chair of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) Professional Development Committee (June 2019-June 2021)
  • Elected to the International Association of Medical Science Educators Board of Directors (3-year term)
  • Bonny Dickinson (lead) and Michele Monteil. Selected as the Immunology and Inflammation core curriculum lead for the Basic Science Core Discipline Curriculum of Aquifer Sciences (formerly MedU Science). https://aquifer.org/aquifer-sciences-contributors

Contact Dr. Bonny Dickinson

dickinson_bl@mercer.edu