Paul McMenamin


Professor Paul Gerard McMenamin is an Australian academic and researcher specialising in the structure and immunology of the eye.

Education

McMenamin completed his secondary schooling at St Leonards' Comprehensive Secondary School, Easterhouse, Glasgow. In 1978 he completed an Honours degree in zoology at the University of Glasgow, Scotland). From 1978 to 1981, he was a research student at Tennent Institute of Ophthalmology in Glasgow. In 1986, he completed his M.Sc. in anatomical sciences at Glasgow and recently was awarded the highest degree possible at the University of Glasgow by the Faculty of Medicine for his work over 27 years on the anatomy, pathology and immunology of the eye. He taught anatomical sciences including histology, neuroanatomy, embryology and topographical anatomy.

Career

From 1983 to 1987, McMenamin was a research assistant at the University of Glasgow’s Tennent Institute of Ophthalmology and also a lecturer in the University’s Department of Anatomy. From 1987 to 1991 he was a lecturer in the Department of Anatomy and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia, in Perth. In 1992, he became a senior lecturer, and in 1998 was made Associate Professor of the Department of Anatomy and Human Biology. Since 2003 he has been a Professor in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology. From 2002 to 2004 he was an Honorary Visiting Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Auckland. From 2004 until 2007 he was the Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning at UWA’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. In 2007, he was an Honorary Professor at the Lions Eye Institute’s Centre for Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, and in 2008 spent his sabbatical year at the Institute. He was awarded the highest degree of D.Sc by Glasgow University in 2010. In 2009 he was given life membership of WAMSS in recognition of his teaching of anatomy. He was appointed as Professor of Anatomy and Director of Centre for Human Anatomy Education, in the Department of Anatomy & Developmental Biology at Monash University in Melbourne in early 2010. Prof McMenamin retired in Feb 2020 and was appointed as Emeritus Professor in March 2020.

Publications

McMenamin has published more than 170 papers, in journals including the ppJ.Exp Med., Journal of Immunology, Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, British Journal of Ophthalmology, Medical Journal of Australia J.Comp Neurol and 'Nature Reviews Neuroscience'. He has an H-Index of 49 and over 8400 citations. He is the co-author of The Eye: Basic Sciences in Practice, published by W.B. Saunders which has sold over 8000 copies. The 5th Edition is in preparation. His anatomical charts include The Anatomy of the Greyhound ; The Anatomy of the Horse and The Surgical Anatomy of the Pelvis. His work on innovative 3D printing of replicas of normal human anatomical prosections and their use in teaching is highly cited. He has developed VR and AR applications for anatomy educations. The Monash 3D Anatomy series is also available on 'Sectra' tables globally along with curricular material which supports the use of the 3D data sets.

Awards and recognition

McMenamin won the Premier's Science Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2007, in Australia, partly for his novel use of body painting as a teaching tool in his medical anatomy classes. He has also won University and faculty Excellence in Teaching Awards. He has been invited to run workshops in Prague, Bangkok and other countries and visited Liberia in 2016 to donate a complete set of 3D printed replicas for the medical school in Monrovia.