Since my first teaching experience as a teaching assistant during graduate school, I have had a passion for teaching science. I was involved in science and medical education for 6 years before I decided to return to school to become a clinical educator. I am now a first year medical student at Harvard Medical School where I continue to be involved in medical education.

My previous experience in teaching and education includes:

• teaching MCAT preparation courses for Kaplan;
• teaching Human Physiology at San Diego City College; 
• medical writing and curriculum development for CME in psychiatry at Neurosciences Education Instute 

 

Education

 

Harvard Medical School

          M.D. Candidate (2012)

 

University of California, San Diego

          M.S. in Neuroscience (2002)

          Honors: Howard Hughes Pre-doctoral Fellowship

 

  Duke University 

          B.S. in Biology;  Minor: Psychology  (2000)

   Honors: Cum Laude, Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society, EPA-Duke Training Grant, Howard Hughes

                 Undergraduate Research Fellowship

 

Relevant Experience

 

                  Adjunct Professor, San Diego City College, San Diego, CA                                

                        Jan.- May 2008

                              Taught Human Physiology lecture and lab course

                              Created course syllabus, lectures, and exams

 

                  Kaplan MCAT Teacher, San Diego Kaplan Center, La Jolla, CA                          

                        May 2007- July 2008

                               Taught college-level biology, physics, general and organic chemistry,

                                  and verbal reasoning skills

                 

                  Scientific Writer, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA

Sept. 2005- Aug. 2007 

                              Responsible for writing research grants and editing all lab publications

                              Designed and developed lab website (www.scripps.edu/mb/chun)

 

                  Associate Medical Writer, Neuroscience Education Institute, Carlsbad, CA

Nov. 2004- Sept. 2005

      Edited and Co-wrote Illustrated Insights in Sleep: Excessive Sleepiness

      Worked with a small team on educational design for a new medical book series

      Responsible for writing articles, presentations, and other learning materials on sleep medicine

 

                  Graduate Research, University of California, San Diego, CA

Sept. 2000- Nov. 2004

       Performed independent research in neuroscience, cell biology and genetics

       Assisted in writing grants, scientific papers, peer-reviews, and abstracts

                 

                  Salk Mobile Science Lab Volunteer, The Salk Institute, La Jolla                                     

                        Sept. 2002- May 2008

            Conducted a hands-on workshop in basic genetics for middle school children

 

                  Teaching Assistant, University of California, San Diego                                            

                        Jan. 2002- Mar. 2002

      Taught a weekly section for an undergraduate course in cognitive neuroscience

 

Undergraduate Research Trainee, Neurotoxicology Division, Environmental Protection Agency, NC    

      Jan. 1997- May 2000 

Conducted an independent project to study the development of learning

Spearheaded a collaborative study of the effect of environmentally-induced brain damage

 

Publications  

(Please note my maiden name was Paczkowski and my name from a previous marriage was Higgins)

 

·          Paczkowski, C. “Mind Matters: An Exploration of the Placebo Effect in Treating 

Depression (Part I & II).” PsychEd Up. 2008, Sept- Oct; 4(9-10): 2-3.

·          Paczkowski, C. “Calming Stimulants: Unraveling the paradox of ADHD.” 

PsychEd Up. June; 2007, in press.

·         Paczkowski, C, Chun, J. “Genomic disorders and gene expression in the 

developing CNS”, The New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, edited by Larry Squire 

et al. 2008, in press.

·         Stahl, S.M. (Ed. C.M. Higgins). Illustrated Insights in Sleep: Excessive Sleepiness. 

2005, NEI Press, Carlsbad, CA. 

·         Higgins C. “Thomas Edison’s Legacy: Dealing with sleep problems in shift workers.”

 PsychEd Up. 2005, Sept; 1(9):2-3.

·         Higgins C. “The Waking Dream: Exploring the similarities between schizophrenia and 

dreams.” PsychEd Up. 2005, April; 1(4):2-3.

·         Tanaka T, Serneo FF, Higgins C, Gambello MJ, Wynshaw-Boris A, Gleeson JG. “Lis1 

and doublecortin function with dynein to mediate coupling of the nucleus to the centrosome 

in neuronal migration.” J Cell Bio. 2004 Jun; 165(5): 709-21. 

·         Kingsbury MA, Rehen SK, Contos JJ, Higgins CM, Chun J. “Non-proliferative effects of 

lysophosphatidic acid enhance cortical growth and folding.” Nat Neurosci. 2003 Dec;6(12):1292-9. 

·         Gilbert ME, Paczkowski C.  “Propylthiouracil (PTU)-induced hypothyroidism in the developing

 rat impairs synaptic transmission and plasticity in the dentate gyrus of the adult hippocampus.” 

Brain Res Dev Brain Res. 2003 Oct 10;145(1):19-29. 

·         Conner JM, Culberson A, Paczkowski C, Chiba AA, Tuszynski MH.  “Lesions of the basal 

forebrain cholinergic system impair task acquisition and abolish cortical plasticity associated with 

motor skill learning.” Neuron. 2003 Jun 5;38(5):819-29. 

·         Kurien BT, Newland J, Paczkowski C, Moore KL, Scofield RH. “Association of neutropenia in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with anti-Ro and binding of an immunologically cross-reactive neutrophil membrane antigen.”  Clinical and Experimental Immunology. 2000 Apr;120(1):209-17.

 

·         Ivkovich, D., Paczkowski, C.M., Stanton, M.E.  “Ontogeny of delay versus trace eyeblink conditioning in developing rats.” Developmental Psychobiology. 2000, Mar;36(2):148-60.

 

·         Paczkowski, C.M., Ivkovich, D., Stanton, M.E. “The ontogeny of visual versus auditory eyeblink conditioning in the developing rat.”  Developmental Psychobiology. 1999, Dec;35(4):253-63.