Medical school instructor inspires class in "cover shoot"

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Tina M. Shelton, (808) 692-0897
Director of Communications, Office of Dean of Medicine
Posted: Apr 5, 2011

Students strike a pose
Students strike a pose
A professional photographer focused her lens on 13 students posing last week on McCarthy Mall at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.  The best of her images is going to be chosen for the cover of a publication. 
 
No, it’s not a fashion magazine.  These students will grace the cover of a science textbook.  UH Mānoa's John A. Burns School of Medicine instructor Kerri Cummins devised the project, challenging students in her Physiology 141-142 class to “ace," or come very close to it, their end-of-semester exams.
 
“If they got three answers or less incorrect, I told them they could be on the cover of ‘Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology’ by Fredric Martini,” said Cummins. Fifteen students actually succeeded, and the 13 who were able to make it to the photo session listened carefully as professional photographer Anjj coaxed them through warm-up stretching exercises and a number of different poses.
 
Both the photographer and the college instructor have a way of bringing out the best in the students.
 
“She is sort of a cross between (comedian) Kathy Griffin's and a teacher,” said student Joseph Llamas, describing Cummins. “She’s really funny, and it motivates you." 
 
Llamas noted that the instructor’s challenge was definitely on his mind when he took his exam. “I wasn’t thinking about it until about a week or so before the exam, but as time for the test came around, it did kind of inspire me.  It was a bonus," he said.
 
Most of Cummins' students intend to study further in fields including medicine, nursing and pharmacy. Cummins is with the Department of Anatomy and Physiology.  
 
The students in the photograph are: 1st row: Perry Tsuruoka; Lee Rosner, Joseph Llamas; 2nd row: Remy Minami, Yolette Quach, Brissa Yamamura, Megan Souza, Tiana Abbley, 3rd row: Andrew Lee, Evan Lewis, Sarune Miklovaite, (Instructor) Kerri Cummins, Mitch Cadiz, Howard Kim.

For more information, visit: http://jabsom.hawaii.edu