Learning is like breathing. It takes both inspiration and expiration. For learning to happen, it is not enough for knowledge to go in. It also has to come out.
— Collares, 2025
Assessment that teaches. Curricula that breathe.
I help medical schools and education groups make academic decisions on evidence — from the exam to the curriculum, from faculty to leadership.
Consulting, faculty development, keynotes and mentoring. In English, Portuguese and Dutch — in Europe, Brazil and online.
Built at
Maastricht University · European Board of Medical Assessors · University of Algarve · University of Minho · ICVS · Faculdades Pequeno Príncipe · Harvard Macy Institute
- 10 years — at Maastricht University's School of Health Professions Education
- 15 medical schools — under his leadership of innovation and academic quality at a major Brazilian education group
- 1st — international computerised adaptive progress test, developed for EBMA
Who I work with
For the people who set the course of medical education
- Medical education groups — Consistent quality across campuses without erasing each school's identity.
- Deans and programme directors — Curriculum, assessment and indicators that hold up to accreditation, licensing exams and time.
- Executives and founders — An independent technical read before investing in platforms, exams or curriculum reform.
- Teachers and clinical supervisors — Practical training in teaching, assessment and clinical reasoning you can use the following week.
Services
How I can help
Assessment and psychometrics
Exams that measure what they claim to measure — and teach while they measure.
- Technical audits of exams and item banks
- Progress testing and data-driven licensing-exam preparation
- Item response theory, computerised adaptive testing and cognitive diagnostic models
- Programmatic assessment and standard setting
- Results reporting and dashboards for leadership
Curriculum and innovation
Curricula that alternate learning and demonstrating — curricula that breathe.
- Curriculum design and review against national standards
- 4C/ID instructional design and entrustable professional activities (EPAs)
- Methodological transitions: PBL, TBL and case-based learning
- Generative AI in teaching and assessment
- Academic quality and innovation systems
Faculty development
Teachers who teach and assess with method.
- Faculty development and evaluation policies and programmes
- Item-writing and review workshops, OSCE and mini-CEX
- Teaching and assessing clinical reasoning
- Learning science in the classroom
- Feedback and student mentoring
Speaking and mentoring
Technical content, clear language, lasting effect.
- Keynotes and opening lectures
- One-to-one mentoring for programme directors, deans and founders
- Mentoring in health professions education research
- Advisory boards and examination committees
Formats: fixed-scope projects, ongoing advisory, on-site or online workshops.
Approach
How I work
Assessment of, for and as learning: the right exam does more than rank — it guides study, returns useful information and prepares for practice.
- Diagnosis — I start from the data the institution already has — exams, grades, attrition, teaching evaluations. I measure before I propose.
- Design — Solutions proportionate to the problem, grounded in the literature and compatible with how the school actually runs.
- Implementation — I train the teams who will sustain the change, with materials and routines that stay in-house.
- Evidence — Indicators agreed at the outset, so results can be shown to leadership, regulators and students.
Speaking
Keynotes and workshops
For conferences, opening lectures and academic leadership meetings: evidence-based content, delivered so that it travels home with the audience.
Frequent topics
- Programmatic assessment: fewer exams, more information
- Generative AI and clinical reasoning: teaching to think in the age of algorithms
- Excellence without perfectionism in medical training
- Learning science: how to study — and teach — better
- Progress testing and adaptive testing: from data to decisions
- Curricula that breathe: alternating input and output in learning