Professor Julia Choate is the director of physiology education and biomedical program convenor at Monash University. Julia improves students’ university experiences by using active strategies to enhance learning and develop employability skills. In response to students’ anxiety about their post-degree careers, she embedded a professional development program into the biomedical degree-program and evaluated the roles and attitudes of academics/faculty in supporting students’ career development and wellbeing. She has created active guided-inquiry physiology workshops and virtual laboratories that have increased student participation, skills development and understanding. The impacts of her interventions are published in leading education journals. Her influence on her peers is reflected in her work with the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Executive, The Physiology Majors Interest Group and the Education and Engagement Committee for The Physiological Society. The positive influence of Julia’s teaching on students is acknowledged with numerous education awards, including the Otto Hutter Prize for Physiology Teaching (The Physiological Society), the Michael Robert’s Teaching Prize (Australian Physiological Society) and an Australian Award for University Teaching.