Andrea Bugarcic

Biography

After completing her PhD, Andrea held postdoctoral roles at Griffith University and the University of Queensland, researching protein trafficking in viral infections and Parkinson’s disease. As a lecturer at UQ, she developed and evaluated biomedical science curricula while building a profile in educational research. In 2015, she moved into educational leadership in complementary medicine at Endeavour College, where she led curriculum development, TEQSA accreditation, and educational scholarship. Andrea joined the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine at Southern Cross University as a Senior Lecturer in 2020.

Andrea is a member of SCU's Research Clusters:

• Harvest to Health

Andrea's work contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals

Research

Andrea's research interests focus around evidence acquisition and transferability into education and practice. As a scientist, Andrea's research aims to understand the basic mechanism pathways involved in disease, from viral and bacterial infections to Parkinson's disease. Andrea is currently expanding this basic mechanistic understanding research to incorporate herbal molecular research by incorporating traditional herbal knowledge and contemporary naturopathic practice. As educational scientist, Andrea primary research is focused on evidence in health professions, with specific interest in traditional and contemporary evidence nexus applied in clinical practice. Andrea presented at various conferences and published widely across both fields.

Andrea was successful in attracting several grants in both scientific and educational research space and has received Commendation for Programs that Enhance Student Learning at University of Queensland in 2012 and her work on measuring critical thinking in oral presentations was presented in Good Practice Guide for Science (2013) aligned to Threshold Learning Outcome 4: Communication.

Community engagement

Andrea is involved in peer review across several journals publishing educational and scientific research and has reviewed Honours and PhD theses. She also mentors students and young researchers in developing their own research and career interests.

Andrea chaired and was a member of various academic and research Committees and Boards.

Andrea has also developed a workshop that engaged primary school students with cell biology and was a National Science Project competition judge.

Supervision

Andrea has supervised five Honours and three PhD students across scientific and educational research. Her supervision interests include evidence use in health practice, critical thinking and clinical reasoning in health science education, traditional herbal knowledge in modern health contexts, and basic biological processes.

Teaching

Andrea's teaching experience spans science education and professional education - she developed and taught undergraduate cell biology lectures and laboratories and taught anatomy and physiology content. She also delivered professional development lectures in educational research and scholarship.