Bridget O'Brien, Ph.D. Assistant Adjunct Professor Teaching Scholars Program, UCSF

Education & Training

• Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations - BS
• University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business - MS
• University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Education - PhD

Areas of Interest

• Clinical education
• Workplace learning and assessment
• Cross-professional education
• Transitions in medical education
• Qualitative methods in research and evaluation

Current Academic & Research Activities

Dr. O'Brien is working on the Professional Preparation of Physicians Project, a national study of clinical education in medicine, at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. She is also involved in a benchmarking project for residency and fellowship programs, a review of qualitative research studies in medical education, and a study of clerkship transition courses in U.S. and Canadians medical schools.

She teaches in the Teaching Scholars Program at UCSF and is a faculty member for the Harvard-Macy Program on Assessment.

Selected publications

1. Stern D, Song Y, O'Brien B. Company Training in the United States 1970-2000: What have been the trends over time? International Journal of Training and Development. 2004; 8(3): 191-209.

2. O'Brien B, Cooke M, Irby D. Perceptions and Attributions of Third Year Student Struggles in Clerkships: Do Students and Clerkship Directors Agree? Acad Med. 2007; 10: 970-978.

3. Poncelet, A, O'Brien, B. A Survey of Transition Courses to Prepare Medical Students for Clerkships. Acad Med. [In Press]