About Loretta Joy T. Wilber, MD, MPH

It would be an understatement to say that I love teaching. In hindsight, I have been drawn to teaching my entire life. During grade school and high school, I would often sit with fellow students who were struggling with a topic and share some tips or tricks I used for learning. During my college years, I was the Teaching Assistant for the general physics class during the school year, and during the summer I worked at a summer camp teaching photography to happy groups of campers. It really didn’t matter the topic; I loved sharing knowledge and experience with others and seeing that light-bulb moment when they learned something new.

So, it was no surprise that, when I completed my Preventive Medicine residency training, I incorporated teaching into my professional career. Over the years, I’ve taught a variety of courses, including the Biostatistics core sequence for doctoral students, a course in Clinical Trials, and a course focused on Maternal and Child Epidemiology. I am passionate about what I call the “Student Experience” in my classes, so I would learn everything I could about excellent course design and delivery. I would ask myself questions like, “What is it like for a student to take this class?”, “How can I build a course design that makes learning relevant?”, and “Why is this topic important for their future career?” For many courses, this included developing the course for hybrid or online delivery, since many of our programs are evolving into distance education.

Teaching and learning are such great experiences! Make the most of every day, and learn everything you can, for both your personal and professional goals.