Rate My Professor Stu Chambers

Stu Chambers is the Lead Tutor for Early Professional Experience (EPE) Year 2 and a Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Otago's Dunedin campus. He operates within the Early Learning in Medicine (ELM) programme, contributing to the Medical Education Unit. His role involves guiding second-year medical students in developing essential clinical skills, professional behaviours, and competencies through structured tutoring and experiential learning activities. Chambers supports the faculty's commitment to innovative medical training, as evidenced by his listing in official Dunedin staff contacts under the Teaching Fellows section alongside other educators focused on clinical skills and integrated case-based learning.

Chambers has actively contributed to scholarship in medical education. In 2020, he co-authored with Althea Gamble Blakey the article "Friendly, but not 'friends': Understanding and describing teacher–student relationship for productive and safe small group work" in Focus on Health Professional Education: A Multi-Professional Journal (Volume 21, Issue 1, pp. 57-76). This study employed a grounded theory approach as part of a larger action research project, analysing qualitative data from interviews with six medical teachers, classroom observations, video-recordings, reflective journals, and group discussions. Key findings emphasised the optimal teacher-student dynamic as 'friendly but not friends,' balancing educational productivity with safety by mitigating risks such as student mistreatment. Previously, in 2015, Chambers collaborated with Hamish Wilson on "How Do Junior Medical Students Learn about the Doctor Patient Relationship?" published in the International Journal of Whole Person Care (Volume 2, Issue 2). This work investigated pedagogical strategies for teaching relational skills to early medical learners within the University of Otago's curriculum. Additionally, Chambers leads efforts in a Health Research Council Health Delivery Research Activation Grant project on cognitive bias modification towards marginalised populations, developing self-administered training modules targeting biases against groups including Pasifika, Chinese, Rainbow community, elderly individuals, and people with disabilities to enhance equity in healthcare delivery. He is also recognised as the founder of Brightfield Therapeutics.