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Homaira Azim

Homaira Azim, MD, PhD

Associate Professor


Department: Neurobiology & Anatomy

Education

  • MD – Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, Afghanistan (2008)
  • PhD – Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana (2020)

Awards & Honors

  • Golden Apple Award, Drexel University College of Medicine – 2025
  • Clinical Anatomy Junior Faculty Award, American Association of Clinical Anatomists – 2023
  • Early-Career Faculty Travel Award, American Association for Anatomy – 2022

Homaira Azim, MD, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Azim holds a medical degree, a PhD in anatomy and cell biology and a doctoral minor in education. She is trained in various quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods methodological approaches in educational research, with a focus on medical and health sciences education. She is currently teaching gross anatomy, microanatomy, and neuroanatomy at Drexel University College of Medicine's Philadelphia Campus.

Research Overview

Dr. Azim’s research interests involve designing and implementing innovative teaching and learning strategies as well as developing comprehensive explanations for the current pedagogical problems in medical and health sciences education. She is also particularly interested in interdisciplinary medical humanities research with a focus on medical students’ professional identity formation and medical professionalism.

Research Interests

Innovative teaching and learning strategies, medical humanities and medical professional identity formation

Publications

What Does a Modern Anatomist Look like? Current Trends in the Training of Anatomy Educators
Schaefer AF, Wilson AB, Barger JB, Azim HM, Brokaw JJ, Brooks WS.
Anat Sci Educ. 2019 May;12(3):225-235.

A Foucauldian Archaeology of Modern Medical Discourse
Azim HM
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Ind., 2020

Presentations

The Good, the Bad, and the Challenging: Medical Student Perceptions of Ethical Conduct in Gross Anatomy Lab
Azim, HM, Fairweather, EW, Cardiges, MN
Poster presentation, American Association for Anatomy, Anatomy Connected Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, March 2024

Can Empathy Help Medical Students Reflect Deeper on the Details of Body Donation and Dissection?
Azim, HM
Platform presentation, American Association of Clinical Anatomists Annual Meeting, July 2023 (published in Clinical Anatomy journal)

Specialized Advanced Anatomy: A Student-Initiated Elective Course for Second Year Medical Students
Azim, HM, Murphy, RJ, Record, MJ, Santare, JA & Sprague, AV
Poster presentation, American Association for Anatomy, Anatomy Connected Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., March 2023

Remembering Our Past: Teaching the History of Anatomy at Indiana University.
Brokaw JJ, Azim HM, Bendinger JE, Byers KT, Dufeau DL, Hanson DC, Organ JM, O’Loughlin VD
Poster presentation, American Association for Anatomy Society, Experimental Biology Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, Pa., April 2022

Objectification, Desensitization, and Personification: Medical Student Strategies for Dealing with Human Body in the Anatomy Lab
Azim HM
American Association for Anatomy Society, Experimental Biology Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, Pa., April 2022

Assessing the Efficacy of the Novel, Hybrid-Based Surgical Anatomy Elective Course.
Salazar DM, Belmares R, Azim HM
Poster presentation, American Association of Clinical Anatomists Virtual Annual Meeting, July 2021

Using Facebook as a Learning Medium in Undergraduate Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) Courses
Azim HM
American Association for Anatomy Society, Experimental Biology Annual Meeting, Orlando, Fla., April 2019

Student Perceptions and Experiences with Team-Based Learning (TBL) in a Graduate Histology Course
Azim HM
American Association for Anatomy Society, Experimental Biology Annual Meeting, San Diego, Calif., April 2018

Permissibility of Human Dissection
Azim HM
School of Global and International Studies, Center for the Study of the Middle East, Bloomington, Ind., October 2012


Contact Information


Academic Office

Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy
60 N. 36th Street
Room 10E33
Philadelphia, PA 19104