When I first began an anatomy teaching residency and concurrently taking courses towards my master’s degree, I felt overwhelmed at the challenge ahead of me. How was I supposed to get from where I am now to a place where I’ll be responsible for teaching anatomy to future healthcare professionals? As I thought about the process of becoming an expert and how to get the most out of this experience, I was reminded of family dinners while I was in elementary school.

My family often ate dinner late, all together at the six-seat kitchen table once my father got home from work. Like any family, we had our fair share of both laughing and fighting around the kitchen table. But for some reason, what I remember most about these family meals was a question that my father posed to each of us night after night:

“What did you learn today?”

I didn’t know it then, but, with a simple question, he was doing several things. He was encouraging us to see the lesson in everything, good or bad. He was instilling in us a growth mindset, the idea that we can always be better. And he was getting us to look back, knowing that reflecting is the best way to learn. So, at the end of each day, I began to write about what I was learning.

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I see my journey to mastering clinical anatomy as three-fold: I’m learning how to learn anatomy, how to teach anatomy, and how to apply anatomy. As I reflect on each of these topics, I hope that sharing my stories will be of value to you.

For the anatomy student, I hope that sharing learning strategies and clinical contexts will help you to better understand and apply the information.

For the anatomy teacher, I hope that discussing teaching methods and issues specific to instructing anatomy labs will help you to better engage students.

For the clinician, I hope that sharing relevant research and reviewing the anatomy of clinical conditions will help you to better serve your patients.

Most of all, I hope that this process of discovery and reflection will make me a better student, teacher, and doctor. Thanks for joining me and together, let’s keep learning.

Alexander Kuehl, D.C.

aka. “Dr. K”