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Professor and Eminent Scholar
Psychiatry
School of Medicine
E-mail: kendler@hsc.vcu.edu
http://www.vipbg.vcu.edu/~vipbg/dr
/KKENDLER.shtml
What drew you to
the life sciences and why did you choose your specific field?
The possibility of using science to help improve the human condition
and psychiatric difficulties — products of the human mind/brain
— were by far the most interesting.
Why did you decide to go beyond the lab into the
classroom
to teach?
You learn by teaching. Also, it is important to try
to inspire the next generation of researchers.
What is your philosophy
of teaching? How do you teach and why do it that way?
I try to communicate the excitement of science — organized,
serious play. In small groups, I try to use the Socratic method
— forcing students to actively think, not just listen.
What is it you want your students to leave your
class with
after it’s all over?
An appreciation of the awesome complexity
of human behavior and the potential power of the tools we now have
to shed at least some
light into the darker places of the human experience.
What do you
want students who may be interested in any of the life sciences
to know?
That great opportunities await them to plumb the mysteries
of
the human brain/mind.
What do you get out of teaching?
The chance
to organize my thoughts, to try to excite others.
Do you learn
anything from your students?
If they think and ask good questions.
What do
you do in your “free” time?
I am still raising three children, trying to be a good husband.
I exercise regularly — swimming, biking, running and weight
lifting.
Do you have any interesting or unusual
hobbies?
I have studied the Hebrew Bible (in Hebrew) since college days.
I have hiked in some pretty remote places, most recently in the
far north of the Canadian arctic, and used to be a good banjo player.
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Kenneth
Kendler, M.D.