- Burnett School College of Medicine Faculty News
It’s easy to make assumptions when you see Dr. Tina Chiarelli’s white-coat picture and academically rich bio under her title: associate professor of medicine in the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. Yes, she’s a doctoral graduate. Yes, she’s a respected educator on human anatomy.
Now brace yourself. There’s another side to Dr. Chiarelli’s CV.
She’s bagged rattlesnakes in the Appalachians, collared Bengal tigers in India, tracked spiny crayfish in Australia, studied bats and fingernail-size coqui frogs in Puerto Rico and explored dangerous underwater caves in Florida. Chiarelli the reproductive physiologist is also Dr. Chiarelli the traveling elephant biologist.
“In the culture of medical academia, we tend to eat, breathe and sleep a singular subject,” she says. “So, when colleagues and students hear what I do they say, ‘Wow, that’s the coolest thing.’ In the context of health, I think it’s important to see the world from more than one dimension.”
Learn more at https://www.ucf.edu/news/embarking-on-a-new-journey/