The initial core membership of HETRU is provided below.

Dr. Otto Sanchez, MD, PhD.

Otto is currently the Associate Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Ontario, Institute of Technology. He is a trained Medical Doctor and Pathologist from Colombia, specializing in cancer research. Otto has extensive experience in development of interdisciplinary cases and use of technology in learning. His current research activities focus on the effective use of technology to teach basic sciences with a clinical context, including the use of online case studies. He was the first recipient of the UOIT teaching excellence award.

 

Dr. Jayshiro Tashiro, PhD, BSN, RN.

Jay is currently an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ontario, Institute of Technology. Jay is also the CEO and Director of Research for Wolfsong Informatics, LLC, an innovation company in the United States. He has an extensive background in educational research and the development of competence-based educational methods. His research team built the Virtual Clinical Excursions products, which are now widely used by students in nursing, medical assisting, and emergency services programs. Jay also has developed a new model for telehealth that will improve homecare monitoring of patients. Prior to returning to school for a nursing degree in 1996, Jay was the Director of the Center for Environmental Sciences at Northern Arizona University. His interest in environmental health and medical informatics issues led him to focus on health education, to become a nurse, and to use complex patient simulations as part of new technology-enhanced approaches to education. His special interest is development and evaluation of educational methods and materials within an evidence-based learning framework for improving higher order thinking skills, such as clinical judgment.

 

Dr. Bill Muirhead, PhD.

Bill is currently the Associate Provost, Teaching and Learning at the University of Ontario, Institute of Technology. Bill has had extensive experience in the areas of teacher training, online education, course development and international education. His current research interests are in the areas of online education, distance education and the design of hybrid teaching-learning environments. Bill is the past President of the Canadian Association for Distance Education and is the past Editor in Chief of the Collaborative Learning Object Exchange. Bill also recently received the national "Leadership Award" from the Association for Media Technology in Education Canada (AMTEC) this spring.

 

Dr. Carolyn Byrne, PhD, RN.

Carolyn is the founding Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ontario, Institute of Technology. She has had extensive previous experience in interdisciplinary education at McMaster University, where she served as an investigator in two research units: the System-Linked Research Unit on Health and Social Services Utilization and the Community-Linked AIDS Resource Unit. While at McMaster Carolyn received the presidents award for Educational Leadership. Carolyn has extensive experience in Health Sciences education and has served as an educational consultant in the United States, Japan, England, Sweden, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. Carolyn will assist in building infrastructure at the university to support technology enhanced learning.