Rate My Professor Tony Zaharic

Tony Zaharic serves as Associate Dean and Director of the Centre for Early Learning in Medicine (CELM) at the Otago Medical School within the Faculty of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin. He also holds the position of Associate Dean for Medical Admissions in the Division of Health Sciences. A biochemist with an MSc from the University of Otago, Zaharic previously worked as Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, Division of Health Sciences. He has been involved with the Early Learning in Medicine programme since 2011. Zaharic is recognized for his exceptional teaching, characterized by storytelling, creative analogies to simplify complex concepts, and integration of planning, design, assessment, and evaluation to create stimulating learning environments. His achievements include the Otago University Students' Association Best Teacher Award in 2007, 2009, and 2010, and the Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching from the 2011 AKO Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards. He consistently receives exceptionally high learner evaluations across lectures, laboratories, and tutorials.

Zaharic's research specializes in medical education, encompassing co-teaching biochemistry and clinical sciences in integrated dental and medical curricula, student perceptions of evaluation and research requests, and academic integrity in assessments such as OSCEs. Notable publications include 'Enhancing the student learning experience: Co-teaching biochemistry and clinical sciences within the integrated dental and medical curricula' (2023, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, with Zhao et al.), 'How much is too much? Medical students' perceptions of evaluation and research requests, and suggestions for practice' (2024, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, with Tater et al.), 'Is it OK if I cheat? Implementation of, and student response to, mandatory declaration of academic integrity in OSCEs' (2024, Medical Teacher, with Perera), and contributions to 'Training a medical workforce to meet the needs of diverse minority communities' (2017, with Sopoaga et al.). His work has strengthened pedagogical practices and educational research in health sciences at the University of Otago.