Professor of Biology
Faculty member since 1996
Carnival Building, Room 123
Phone: 305-628-6503
Dr. John Abdirkin earned his Medical Degree at the University of Bologna, School of Medicine and Surgery in Bologna, Italy. He joined the faculty of St. Thomas University in 1996 and in 2005 advanced to the rank of Professor. Dr. Abdirkin teaches Anatomy and Physiology to Pre-Med students in addition to courses in Bioregions and General Biology for non-science majors. Dr. Abdirkin has coordinated the “2 +2” Joint Nursing Program with the University of Miami which has doubled in size since its inception under his leadership. Additionally, he played a key role in acquiring a $1.5 million endowment which provides $75,000 annually to the Nursing program. Dr. Abdirkin published two instructional manuals currently in their 3rd and 4th editions, entitled: Almost Painless Biology and Chemistry with Ease. These manuals were designed as “user-friendly” tools to assist students in the learning process. Recently, Dr. Abdirkin conducted sponsored research for the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Initiative on Aging which is an exploratory, community-based study to determine the effect of a multifaceted health promotion program on older individuals.
Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Abdirkin is currently exploring the arena of on-line courses, interactive education and state of the art information on technology standards and materials to enhance educational programs. He is integrating pod casts into the curriculum of General Biology as a tool to communicate and expand lecture material, assignments and other course information with his students.