CommencementEducation
Education

Zhiyong Han, Ph.D.

Professor of Medical Biochemistry
Department of Medical Sciences

I am a biochemist by training with a productive background in biomedical research and extensive experience in medical education. At Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, I use active-learning pedagogy to help medical students learn basic science concepts within our integrated curriculum.

My current scholarly interests focus on medical education and the development of effective learning strategies. One area of interest is the application of large language models in medical education, including what these models can and cannot do, how reliable they are, and how they may be used creatively and responsibly by students and educators.

A second area of interest is One Health and global health education in medical schools. I am particularly interested in developing approaches to introduce these topics into the curriculum and to expand learning opportunities for medical students.

A third area focuses on helping medical students develop the skills needed to critically read, analyze, and appraise biomedical literature, and to apply evidence-based medicine in the care of patients.

Education

Ph.D., Graduate School, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

Scholarship

  • Han Z, Battaglia F, Udaiyar A, Fooks A, Terlecky SR. An explorative assessment of ChatGPT as an aid in medical education: Use it with caution. Medical Teacher. 46(5):657–664, 2024.
  • Han Z, Battaglia F, Mansuria K, Heyman Y, Terlecky SR. Beyond Text Generation: Assessing Large Language Models' Ability to Reason Logically and Follow Strict Rules. AI. 6(1):12, 2025.
  • Han Z, Tavasi A, Lee J, Luzuriaga J, Suresh K, Oppenheim M, Battaglia F, and Terlecky RT. Can large language models be used to code text for thematic analysis? An explorative study. Discover Artificial Intelligence. 5:171, 2025.
  • Russell E, Messer T, Manning K, Boparai S, Bhave A, Mastrogiovanni N, Battaglia F, Terlecky RT, and Han Z. A hidden gap: Lack of published evidence on successful One Health curricula development, implementation, and outcomes in medical education. Journal of Medical Education Research. 5(1):59–80, 2025.

Accomplishments

Awards

  • 2025 – Distinguished Faculty Award for Phase 1 Teaching
  • 2022 – Excellence in Teaching Award
  • 2017 – Golden Apple Award
  • 2016 – Distinguished Teacher Award