Dr. Paulsen was born in Baltimore, MD and grew up in the Northeast, completing high school in Westwood, New Jersey. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from McDaniel College in Westminster, MD in 1974 and a Ph.D. in Anatomy from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC in 1979. After an NIH-sponsored individual NRSA postdoctoral fellowship in cancer cell adhesion at California State University, Northridge, Dr. Paulsen joined the faculty of the new “School of Medicine at Morehouse College” as an Assistant Professor. He has been on the faculty of what is now the Morehouse School of Medicine since 1980. In the 1980’s and 1990’s he conducted and published research mainly sponsored by NIH on cell differentiation and skeletal pattern formation during limb development and later studied the effects of microgravity on the musculoskeletal system with support from NASA. During his active research years, Dr. Paulsen served on many peer-review panels reviewing research grants for federal agencies including NIH, NASA, NSF, and the US Departments of Education and Agriculture, as well as the March of Dimes. Since he joined the MSM faculty, Dr. Paulsen has been actively involved in the development of the preclinical educational program for the MD degree and a devoted teacher. He has taught extensively in the Medical and Graduate Education programs especially in Cell Biology and Histology, but also in Anatomy and Embryology. He has also been engaged from the start in the development of the PhD in Biomedical Sciences program and other Masters programs. He currently serves as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Professor of Pathology and Anatomy. He has received many teaching awards from his students and MSM. His efforts currently focus on teaching and educational program administration.