Rate My Professor Karen D'Souza

Karen D'Souza is an Associate Professor in Medical Education (Education-focused) in the Faculty of Health's School of Medicine at Deakin University. She earned her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) with Honours from the University of Melbourne between 1990 and 1997. With extensive experience spanning over 17 years at Deakin University, she previously served as Lead of Clinical Curriculum from 2007 to 2017. In her current roles, she is the Doctor of Medicine (MD) Course Director, Student Progression and Welfare Lead, Coordinator for Years 3 and 4 of the MD program, Chair of the School's OSCE Committee, and Clinical Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator. These positions underscore her commitment to enhancing medical training through structured curriculum development and student support.

D'Souza's academic interests center on medical education, with a specialization in assessment methodologies, including Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), simulation-based training, and examiners' decision-making processes. She has played a pivotal role in cross-institutional collaborations across Australian medical schools to benchmark clinical competencies and standardize OSCE practices. Notable publications include "A snapshot of current Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) practice at Australian medical schools" (Medical Teacher, 2019), "Examiners’ decision-making processes in observation-based clinical examinations" (Medical Education, 2021), "A collaborative comparison of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) standard setting methods at Australian medical schools" (Medical Teacher, 2017), "Improving assessment practice through cross-institutional collaboration: An exercise on the use of OSCEs" (Medical Teacher, 2016), and earlier clinical work such as "Abnormal septal motion affects early diastolic velocities at the septal and lateral mitral annulus, and impacts on estimation of the pulmonary capillary wedge pressure" (Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, 2005). Her contributions have advanced equitable medical education, including research demonstrating that rural-origin students match metropolitan peers in academic performance once admitted to medical courses. Through leadership in committees and innovative teaching approaches, D'Souza continues to shape high-quality clinical training standards in Australia.