Michael Hortsch, PhD

Dr. Michael Hortsch is a native of Germany and Professor in the Departments of Cell and Developmental Biology and of Learning Health Sciences. He holds a Diploma degree in Biochemistry from the Free University of Berlin and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Heidelberg. These degrees were awarded for research performed at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Germany, respectively. After postdoctoral studies in the field of developmental neurobiology at the University of California in Berkeley, he joined UM in 1991 where he performed research on the biological role of neural cell adhesion molecules. In 2010 he concentrated his professional efforts on medical education, specifically the teaching of histology to medical, dental, and undergraduate/graduate students. His research now focusses on the use of novel educational strategies and electronic resources for the teaching of the basic sciences. He is a Fellow of the American Association for Anatomy and the recipient of the association’s 2023 Henry Gray Distinguished Educator Award.

Research Focus: Medical education, histology, e-learning, educational technology, virtual microscopy.

Modern technologies play an increasingly important role in teaching the biomedical sciences to today’s generation of students. For many years our department has been at the forefront of adopting and developing novel and exciting teaching resources. However, are these new technologies really effective in educating tomorrow’s scientists and health care professionals? How can we use these new teaching modalities to help our students learn better and gain a deeper understanding of the expanding volume of scientific knowledge? My current research program is investigating how modern electronic teaching resources are used by students and what impact they have on students’ learning success. In addition, I am developing effective new electronic teaching resources. My most popular learning tool is a series of mobile applications called SecondLook™ (http://secondlook.med.umich.edu). It represents a self-review instrument that allows students to use their study time more effectively as it directs their learning efforts towards gaps in their knowledge and skill sets.