Dr. Anna MacLeod

Education:

• PhD (University of South Australia)
• MAEd (Mount Saint Vincent University)
• BEd (University of New Brunswick)
• BA (University of New Brunswick)

Brief bio

Dr. MacLeod is a social scientist with an active research portfolio. A qualitative researcher, she uses ethnographic methods to learn about distributed medical education and learning with technology. She is particularly interested in understanding the social and material influences associated with developing professional identities.

Research interest

Dr. MacLeod maintains a Tri-Council funded program of research exploring the complexities of medical education in a digital age. She is currently the Principal Investigator on grants funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Books (Edited Collection)

Schnurr, M., & MacLeod, A. (2020). Simulation-based education: A transdisciplinary perspective. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Select recent publications

MacLeod A, Cameron P. (Dis)embodiment and medical education: How feminist organizational theories can help us think differently about gender. Med Educ. 2025 Apr 7. doi: 10.1111/medu.15697. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40192947.

Ellaway R, MacLeod A, van Schalkwyk S, Cleland J. Study the past if you would define the future: Historical methods in medical education scholarship. Med Educ. 2025 Feb 17. doi: 10.1111/medu.15621. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39962799.

Cameron P, Luong V, Kits O, Stewart WA, Burm S, Miller S, Field S, MacLeod A. Two-Dimensional Deaths? A Discourse Analysis of Patient Death in Preclinical Tutorial Cases at a Canadian Medical School. Teach Learn Med. 2024 Oct 3:1-13. doi: 10.1080/10401334.2024.2409695. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39360817.

Luong V, Ajjawi R, Burm S, Olson R, MacLeod A. Unravelling epistemic injustice in medical education: The case of the underperforming learner. Med Educ. 2024 Nov;58(11):1286-1295. doi: 10.1111/medu.15410. Epub 2024 Apr 27. PMID: 38676450.

MacLeod A, Ellaway RH, Cleland J. A meta-study analysing the discourses of discourse analysis in health professions education. Med Educ. 2024 Sep;58(9):1058-1070. doi: 10.1111/medu.15309. Epub 2024 Jan 11. PMID: 38212063.

Varpio L, Parker R, MacLeod A. Understanding the Differences That Differentiate: A Model for Deciding Which Literature Review to Conduct. J Grad Med Educ. 2024 Apr;16(2):146-150. doi: 10.4300/JGME-D-24-00151.1. Epub 2024 Apr 15. PMID: 38993309; PMCID: PMC11234308.

Pride T, Sibbald K, MacLeod A, Martin D, Owen M (2023). Faculty from marginalized groups in the health and social service professions: Challenging ‘expected academic’ identity and roles. Canadian Journal of Higher Education. 53(1), 32-43.

MacLeod A, Aston M, Price S, Stone K, Ollivier R, Benoit B, Sim M, Marcellus L, Jack S, Joy P, Gholampourch M, Iduye D. "There's an Etiquette to Zoom That's Not Really Present In-Person": A Qualitative Study Showing How the Mute Button Shapes Virtual Postpartum Support for New Parents. Qual Health Res. 2023 Sep;33(11):1005-1016. doi: 10.1177/10497323231187541. Epub 2023 Aug 9. PMID: 37554077; PMCID: PMC10494476.

Brown C, MacLeod A, Hawick L, Cleland J. Disembodied, dehumanised but safe and feasible: The social-spatial flow of a pandemic OSCE. Med Educ. 2024 Feb;58(2):235-246. doi: 10.1111/medu.15173. Epub 2023 Jul 30. PMID: 37517448.

MacLeod, A., Luong, V., Cameron, P., Burm, S., Field, S., Kits, O., Miller, S., Stewart. W.A. (2023). Case-Informed Learning in Medical Education: A Call for Ontological Fidelity. Perspectives on Medical Education. 12;2(1):120-128. doi: 10.5334/pme.47. PMID: 37063601; PMCID: PMC10103732.

Annan HG, Do V, MacLeod A. Learning by doing: A phenomenological study of medical student leaders. Med Educ. 2023 Aug;57(8):753-760. doi: 10.1111/medu.15025. Epub 2023 Feb 14. PMID: 36740400.

MacLeod A, Cameron P, Luong V, Parker R, Li V, Munroe-Lynds CL. Questions of Well-Being and Inclusion in Online Undergraduate Medical Education During COVID-19: A 2-Phased Focused Scoping Review. Acad Med. 2023 Apr 1;98(4):521-530. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000005119. Epub 2022 Dec 12. PMID: 36538670.

Cleland J, MacLeod A, Ellaway RH. CARDA: Guiding document analyses in health professions education research. Med Educ. 2023 May;57(5):406-417. doi: 10.1111/medu.14964. Epub 2022 Nov 17. PMID: 36308050.

MacLeod A, Cameron P, Luong V, Kovacs G, Patrick L, Fredeen M, Kits O, Tummons J. Negotiating humanity: an ethnography of cadaver-based simulation. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2023 Mar;28(1):181-203. doi: 10.1007/s10459-022-10152-4. Epub 2022 Aug 22. PMID: 35994215; PMCID: PMC9395868.

Beagan BL, MacLeod A, Owen M, Pride TM, Sibbald KR. Lower-class origin professionals in Canadian health and social service professions: "A different level of understanding". Soc Sci Med. 2022 Sep;309:115233. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115233. Epub 2022 Jul 21. PMID: 35932715.

MacLeod A, Luong V, Cameron P, Kovacs G, Fredeen M, Patrick L, Kits O, Tummons J. The Lifecycle of a Clinical Cadaver: A Practice-Based Ethnography. Teach Learn Med. 2022 Oct-Dec;34(5):556-572. doi: 10.1080/10401334.2022.2092111. Epub 2022 Jun 30. PMID: 35770381.

Cleland J, MacLeod A. Disruption in the space-time continuum: why digital ethnography matters. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2022 Aug;27(3):877-892. doi: 10.1007/s10459-022-10101-1. Epub 2022 Apr 7. PMID: 35389151; PMCID: PMC8988472.

Awards & honours

• 2024 AMEE Best Research Presentation Award “Encountering Death in UGME: An Ethnographic Discourse Analysis”
• 2024, Elected Fellow of AMEE – The International Association for Health Professions Education (FAMEE)
• 2023 AMEE Best Research Presentation Award “Critical Discourse Analysis of Death and Dying in Case Based Learning: A Call for Ontological Fidelity”
• 2022 AMEE Best Research Presentation Award “The Invisible Work of Cadaver-Based Simulation: A Practice-Based Ethnography”
• 2018 Elected to Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars
  
• 2016 Canadian Association for Medical Education Certificate of Merit
• 2010 Most Popular Article Award: Advances in Health Sciences Education: Theory and Practice. (Mann K, Gordon J, MacLeod A. Reflective Practice in Health Professions Education: A Review of the Literature. Advances in Health Sciences Education: Theory and Practice, 2009; 14: 595-621).

Memberships

• Association for the Study of Medical Education
• Canadian Association for Medical Education
• American Educational Research Association
• Association for the Study of Medical Education in Europe
• Canadian Society for the Study of Education

Teaching

• Research in Medicine, Unit Head
  

Service & activities

• Associate Editor, Advances in Health Sciences Education: Theory and Practice
• Chair, Research in Medicine Committee
• Member, Undergraduate Medical Education Curriculum Committee
• Member, Education Council