Member Spotlight: Kevin Patton
TAA member Kevin Patton is a professor and textbook author in the human anatomy & physiology discipline.
The 10th edition of his textbook, Anatomy & Physiology, will be released in February 2018. This two-semester textbook for health professions training recently won a Texty award (2016). He also has several one-semester books: Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology, Structure & Function of the Body, and The Human Body in Health & Disease. Besides some lab manuals, he has also authored the reference book Mosby’s Handbook of Anatomy & Physiology and student manual Survival Guide for Anatomy & Physiology.
What are you currently working on?
I’m currently leading a revision of Structure & Function of the Body. This is my first effort guiding a team of contributors instead of doing nearly all the revising myself. This edition will feature a library of online ancillary articles similar to collections I’ve implemented in some of my other textbooks. These act as “virtual sidebars” that provide brief articles to give some helpful background to important topics, explore clinical applications of basic science, and help integrate diverse topics so that students can better see the big picture of human structure and function.
Share a recent accomplishment.
I’m really excited about my new podcast, which will launch in February. It’s an extension of my website/blog called The A&P Professor (theAPprofessor.org), which helps me establish my role as an expert teacher and communicator in my discipline. I’ve been considering podcasting for a while, but it was a recent TAA webinar that finally pushed me forward to give it try. I’m recording the first batch right now and it’s a lot of fun.
What is your favorite textbook writing tip or strategy?
A lesson that I learned later than was good for me is to rely on professionals outside my own expertise. That is, I wished I’d started out using author’s attorneys, business tax professionals, royalty auditors, and other professionals and sticking to what I do best. Although this help costs money, I’ve found its way more expensive to handle non-authoring matters myself. I have also found that putting my time into non-authoring matters actually costs me more than hiring people that know what they’re doing.
What is your best TAA experience so far?
It’s impossible for me to narrow it down, because I’ve had so many–they keep on happening! As a teacher, I get great satisfaction in helping others with their textbook accomplishments–especially with those new to this process. As an author, I’ve gained enormous benefit from the advice and camaradarie from other TAA members. As a member, I’ve enjoyed the friendly and truly helpful services provided by and/or curated by our talented TAA staff.
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