Colleen O'Connor, Ph.D.

Colleen O’Connor, Ph.D., is Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Golden Gate University. She brings more than 30 years of leadership in health sciences and medical education, with deep expertise in accreditation and curricular development.

From 2020 to 2025, Dr. O’Connor was the first employee and founding Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville, Arkansas. As a full professor, she was part of the team that established the school and secured its accreditation. She has served as Faculty Accreditation Lead at two medical schools and now consults with medical schools seeking accreditation and reaccreditation.

Previously, she was an associate professor and Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs at Duke University School of Medicine, where she led the development and ongoing renewal of the four-year curriculum and served as faculty lead for the school’s reaccreditation. She is one of the inaugural Distinguished Members of the Duke Academy for Health Professions Education and Development and was instrumental in the construction of the school’s 104,000-square-foot Trent Semans Center for Health Education.

Earlier in her career, she helped build the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and her international work includes helping establish Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. Dr. O’Connor holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Arizona, and her research focuses on innovation and change in medical education.