EdD | University of Houston, 1989
Professor Emerita Paula N. O’Neill, EdD, served in faculty and leadership roles in health science education for more than 30 years. Since she began her career she has served as a medical educator and director/vice chair of multiple departments within teaching hospitals and medical schools. She served as the associate dean for professional development and faculty affairs at UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston for 16 years, retiring in November 2013.
She has published nationally on faculty development and educational research in peer-reviewed journals, served two terms on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Dental Education and Computers in Nursing, chaired two NIH study sections and was a member of ADEA's Commission on Change and Innovation. She is a 2002 fellow of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women and has received numerous awards during her career.
In 2006, Dr. O'Neill was selected to receive The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston President’s Award for Mentoring Women. She is a founding member of the UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston Dean’s Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars and was elected into membership of The UT Academy of Health Science Education, a statewide academy for outstanding educators, in September 2008. She was awarded The UTHealth President’s Scholar Award for Teaching in 2012 and was also selected as a UT System Distinguished Teaching Professor in 2012.
She was elected to honorary membership in Omicron Kappa Upsilon-MuMu Chapter at UTHealth and to the University of Texas - Houston Dental Hygienists’ Alumni Association. She has been the principal investigator for numerous educational research grants, co-director for foundation or corporate grants, was the principal investigator for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Summer Health Professions Education Program from 2006-2013 and the HRSA-funded Hispanic Center of Excellence.
Dr. O'Neill has consulted with more than 100 institutions nationally and internationally and presented more than 400 invited seminars and workshops. Her expertise includes faculty recruitment, development, coaching and retention; curriculum development and evaluation; teaching and learning; interprofessional education; mentoring; coaching; developing leadership capacity; conflict resolution; institutional effectiveness; professional accreditation processes; trends in higher education; and diversity and inclusion.