Rate My Professor Alfie Gamble Blakey

Dr Alfie Gamble Blakey, also known as Althea (Alfie) Gamble Blakey, is a Senior Professional Practice Fellow and Associate Dean (Student Affairs - ELM) in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Otago. She earned her PhD, Master of Health Sciences with Distinction (2011), Bachelor of Health Sciences, Postgraduate Diploma in Tertiary Teaching (Otago), Certificate in Counselling, and ALCM. Originally arriving in New Zealand in the mid-1990s, she spent ten years working in Radiation Oncology at Southern District Health Board. Since 2010, she has taught on the University of Otago's MB ChB programme and contributed to the Higher Education Development Centre, focusing on staff development processes for small group teaching.

Dr Blakey's research centres on medical education, with interests in clinical teaching, fostering student thinking, teacher and student values, small group dynamics, and professional development for medical and clinical educators. Her publications include 'Supporting bystanders and other staff exposed to negative workplace behaviour: Developing and testing the IMO intervention framework in the clinical workplace' (Advances in Medical Education & Practice, 2023, co-authored with Anderson, Smith-Han, Collins, Berryman, and Wilkinson); 'Perspectives on expertise in teaching about transgender healthcare: A focus group study with health professional programme teaching staff and transgender community members' (International Journal of Transgender Health, 2022, with Treharne et al.); ''Of Course They're Bloody Scared!' Managing Medical Student Fear to Better Cultivate Thinking' (Medical Science Educator, 2018, with Golding); 'They cared about us students: learning from exemplar clinical teachers' (BMC Medical Education, 2019, with Smith-Han et al.); and 'It's probably the teacher! A strategic framework for clinical teaching observation and feedback' (Medical Teacher, 2019, with Smith-Han et al.). She has delivered workshops and presentations on topics such as negative workplace behaviours, bullying, and discrimination at conferences including the NZIMRT Annual National Conference (2023) and NZNO Women's Health College Conference (2021). Recognized for excellence, she received the Faculty of Medicine Medical Education Scholarship, a 99/100 teaching evaluation score, and was named a top teacher by the Otago University Students' Association in 2018.