Rate My Professor Andrew Pearson

Associate Professor Andrew Pearson serves in the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences at Griffith University, part of Griffith Health, where he holds the position of Program Director for the Bachelor of Medical Science. His academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Behavioural Science (BBehSc), Bachelor of Science with Honours (BSc Hons), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), and Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (GradCertHighEd). Throughout his career at Griffith University on the Gold Coast campus, Pearson has progressed from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and now Associate Professor, with prior roles as First Year Coordinator in the School of Medical Science. He specializes in teaching general and organic chemistry to first-year health students, emphasizing innovative pedagogical approaches to support student success.

Pearson's research encompasses higher education in health sciences, focusing on student transition, flipped classrooms, assessment design, employability, and retention strategies. His most cited work is 'Flipped classroom experiences: student preferences and flip strategy in a higher education context' (2017, 419 citations). Other significant publications include 'Understanding the early transition needs of diverse commencing university students in a health faculty: informing effective intervention practices' (2016, 134 citations), 'Analysis of MCQ and distractor use in a large first year Health Faculty Foundation Program: assessing the effects of changing from five to four options' (2018, 29 citations), 'Identification of at-risk students and strategies to improve academic success in first year health programs. A Practice Report' (2013, 14 citations), and 'The value of employability-focused assessment: Student perceptions of career readiness' (2024, 10 citations). Earlier contributions cover biochemical structural studies, such as 'Crystal Structure of P450cin in a Complex with Its Substrate, 1,8-Cineole' (2004, 68 citations), organic synthesis for heparanase probes ('Towards the synthesis of aryl glucuronides as potential heparanase probes', 2005, 40 citations), and medicinal chemistry ('Investigation into the feasibility of thioditaloside as a novel scaffold for galectin-3-specific inhibitors', 2013, 49 citations). These works demonstrate his influence in both pedagogy and chemical biology.

In 2015, Pearson was awarded a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning by the Australian Awards for University Teaching, recognizing his scaffolding of first-year health student transitions. He has advanced employability through e-portfolios, career planning tasks, and high school-university STEM partnerships, contributing to improved student outcomes and program leadership.