Category: Teaching

LKCMedicine clinical leads visit Imperial

LKCMedicine clinical leads visit Imperial
A delegation from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore visited Imperial in November.

The week-long LKCMedicine visit included meetings with clinical counterparts; visits to Imperial’s teaching sites Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital and West Middlesex Hospital; observation of a Year 5 significant educational activity; the Faculty of Medicine conference, the teaching awards and Professor Timothy Orchard’s inaugural lecture, ‘Speaking from the gut’.

“It is always a pleasure to welcome our colleagues from LKCMedicine to Imperial,” said Paul Ratcliffe, Deputy Director of Education Management.

“It has been a great opportunity to introduce them to many of our excellent NHS teachers and colleagues involved in delivering education. I was also delighted that the visit coincided with the faculty education forum and that our visitors were able to contribute to this.”

At the conference, Dr Kemp of LKCMedicine gave a presentation on the transition to learning in clinical settings. Associate Professor Wong took part in a panel discussion on ‘the making of a doctor: how to help our students navigate the transition from school child to foundation school’.

The trip also provided an opportunity for both the clinical leads and the Imperial curriculum team to discuss the delivery of the Year 4 curriculum and discuss plans for assessment.

LKCMedicine opened in 2013 as a collaboration between Imperial College London and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore with an inaugural cohort of 54. The school is now in its third year of operation with 222 students.

The students pursue an innovative curriculum developed jointly by Imperial and LKCMedicine, and gain experience in a wide range of clinical settings from an early stage in the course, making extensive use of technology and team-based learning.

Ben Campion
Communications Manager
Imperial College School of Medicine

Imperial students help Year 12s and 13s into medicine

More than 170 aspiring doctors have been given an insight into medical school by Imperial’s Muslim Medics society who held their ninth annual ‘PotMed’ conference last month.

Potential Medics (‘PotMed’) is aimed at ambitious school and college students from all backgrounds keen to study medicine. Taking place on 26 September, PotMed sought to inform and prepare students in Years 12 and 13 on the medical school application process.

A programme ‘for students, by students’, the day included talks from medical students and doctors; one-to-one advice on personal statements; tips on the UKCAT/BMAT as well as practice questions; mock interviews and an ethics seminar.

“Everything we learnt was really useful and has made me more confident in how I should go about getting into med school,” commented one AS-level student. “I think it’s made me want to be a doctor even more than I had wanted to and I didn’t think it was possible for me to be more keen than I already was.”

“It was very good, especially the mock interviews because of the good feedback,” said an A2 applicant. “The talks were all great, especially the one on personal statements, the lectures on interview technique and the role plays.”

PotMed was organised by Qamar Mustafa, president of the Muslim Medics society, supported by a committee of thirteen.

“We are filled with gratitude each year when we hear accounts of students who have been accepted into medical schools across the country because of PotMed,” says Qamar.

“It is particularly pleasing when we meet the new Imperial students who have benefited from our events! We try to educate students on the whole application process, from when they first get the idea to study medicine right through to (hopefully) accepting their offer.

“Responding to the fantastic feedback we receive each year, PotMed continues to inspire and empower students to study medicine.”

Aspiring sixth-form doctors get head start from Imperial students

Year 13 pupils who want to study medicine have been helped on their way by Imperial students when ICSMSU Vision, the medical outreach society, held its annual senior conference on Sunday 20 September.

Aimed at sixth-form students from state schools, the conference sought to give a helping hand to medicine applicants from less-advantaged backgrounds. The day provided the 96 delegates with lectures, one-to-one mock interviews and a personal statement workshop.

The annual event, now in its fifth year, was organised by ICSMSU Vision—founded by Imperial students in 2007 to educate and inspire school and college students from all backgrounds about a career in medicine.

“This event gives underprivileged students a better chance to get into medical school,” said lead organising student Shivam Patel. “Medical school entry is incredibly difficult, and comprehensive school pupils are very under-represented in our cohort.”

The conference was for students committed to submitting a UCAS application in October 2015 and individual mock interviews and personal statement workshops were given by medical students, practising doctors and those who have sat on an Imperial College School of Medicine interview panel for an authentic insight.

As well as workshops, eminent physicians and surgeons Mr P. Paraskevas and Dr Joanne Harris gave lectures on life as a surgeon and medical school interviews. This year’s closing speech was delivered by Professor Lord Winston.

Each delegate received written feedback on their personal statement suggesting any areas for improvement, and also attended sessions on ethics, BMAT and UKCAT.

A delegate commented during the event: “Thank you so much, we don’t get this help in school and I really have no other chance to have a mock interview.”

“The success of this event is a result of months of preparation,” said ICSMSU President Maredudd Harris. “It is clear from the delegates’ experiences that it has been worth the hard work. Vision should be very proud of the work it does.”

“I’m hugely proud of our students for initiating and delivering such an outstanding event that mentors our next generation of doctors,” added Martin Lupton, Head of the Undergraduate School of Medicine.

“Like ICSMSU Vision, I believe that doctors should be representative of the communities they serve and our school strategy recognises this need for a diverse workforce. Outreach activities like this conference help ensure that entry to medical school is inclusive to applicants of all backgrounds and life experiences.”

Bookings for the senior conference next year will open in June 2016. More information can be found at the ICSMSU Vision website.

Ben Campion
Communications Manager
Imperial College School of Medicine

FEO awarded for outstanding customer service

The Faculty Education Office has again achieved the national standard ‘Putting the Customer First’ in recognition of its outstanding customer service culture and delivery.

Established in 2004, Customer First is an independent organisation that aims to improve service delivery to customers by ensuring that institutions are assessed, developed and supported to a quality standard.

The FEO first achieved the Customer First standard in 2012, which comprises 30 principles of excellent service. Customer service champions at each campus promote awareness and good practice at a local level and also supported the arrangements for the assessment.

Examples of the FEO’s efforts to continually improve the student experience include a completely modernised student reception at the South Kensington campus, providing a more welcoming environment, the introduction of iPads across programmes and a new curriculum map for the medicine programme which is about to launch to students.

“A huge thank you to all staff who have been involved in meeting the Customer First standard once again,” said Chris Harris, Quality and Educational Development Manager in the FEO who led the original and re-accreditation. “This is a fantastic reflection of the team’s hard work and commitment.”

“I am absolutely delighted with the outcome,” adds Susan English, Director of Education Management and executive sponsor of the project. “The assessor was very positive and recognised the wide-ranging improvements we have introduced since our previous assessment and our on-going trajectory of innovation.

“It is really gratifying to have external recognition for the FEO’s focus on improving the student experience.”

Ben Campion
Communications Manager
Imperial College School of Medicine

Report from the ASME conference in Edinburgh

There was a strong showing of Imperial college educators at the ASME conference in Edinburgh last week with some 20 teachers presenting their education research or innovative teaching ideas in undergraduate, postgraduate and CPD fields. Many thanks to Professor Sue Smith and MERU for granting funding to many of these teachers and enabling them to present their work in a National forum.

It is difficult to name any highlights but particularly interesting presentations were made by Dr Ros Herbert on the impact of role models on medical students and  Dr Nina Salooja on the use of innovative teaching methods in a Teaching Skills course for undergraduates and the primary care team of Dr Andy Mckeown, Ms Gillian Williams and Dr Elena Barquero who presented their work on   a  pilot to match medical students and nursing students to  health coach vulnerable patients in the community.

Particular mention needs to be made about the success of our teaching fellows;  Dr Ann Chu for ASME New researcher Award  Medical trainees’ views on the transition from core training to higher specialist training ,  Dr Suzie Pomfret for the TASME Teaching Innovation & Excellence Award for her work on simulation PTWRs and preparation for consultant practice and Dr Rula Najim and Dr Nina Dutta for being Highly Commended in the ASME poster prize for teaching fellow led teaching in  undergraduate surgery.
We hope to build on this  interest and energy in education with  equally good numbers attending the forthcoming AMEE conference in Glasgow in September 7-9th 2015.

Dr Joanne Harris MRCP MRCGP MA(Med Ed)
Deputy Head of Undergraduate School
Deputy Director Primary Care Education

London Gold Medal Viva winners describe their successes

Rahul Ravindran and Ashik AmlaniTwo Imperial students have been recognised at a prestigious competition involving medical schools across the capital.

Rahul Ravindran took home the top prize at The University of London Gold Medal Viva – an annual competition organised by the University of London for institutions in the capital with medical schools. Fellow classmate Ashik Amlani also took home the Betuel Prize as the runner up.

Here Rahul and Ashik describe their successes, time at Imperial and hopes for the future.

Rahul Ravindran

I found out that I was nominated for the Gold Medal Viva in Muheza, a rural village in Tanzania, during my elective. To find this out by mobile in a place with no running water was surreal. It was a daunting task as I had been given around six weeks to cover most of what I had learnt over the past six years! My preparation consisted of reading medical journals and meeting with members of the Faculty of Medicine to practise answering viva questions.

The day of the viva was in the final week of my studies at Imperial. I was questioned on a very wide range of topics, ranging from the molecular mechanisms of colorectal cancer metastasis to my opinions on how to improve child health in the UK. After the grilling was over I enjoyed the sunshine and took some photos to remember the day (the photo here was taken after the viva before the results).

I knew I would discover the outcome on the same day and the wait was very nerve-wracking. I remember eating my lunch on the bank of the Thames by Tower Bridge when I received the result by email. I was shocked to discover that I had won the competition! I immediately called my parents and all the mentors and friends who had supported me through the process. I spent the rest of the day celebrating with friends in London.

I am now moving to Oxford to embark on an Academic Foundation Programme in order to develop a career which combines my two passions of clinical and academic work. Winning the London Gold Medal has been a truly special way to complete my time at Imperial. I owe my success to the constant encouragement I have received from my family and friends, as well as the remarkable staff from the Faculty of Medicine who have taught me over the past six years. I am very grateful and will be forever indebted to my teachers here.

Ashik Amlani

When I received my nomination for the University of London Gold Medal Viva, my initial reaction was one of shock and incredulity. I could not believe that Imperial College School of Medicine had nominated me to represent the rest of my peers and the College at large in this most prestigious and enduring of competitions which has previously featured the likes of Sir Alexander Fleming. However, having eventually cast away any thoughts of a colossal mix up, these feelings gave way to immense pride and honour. I was desperately keen to do Imperial proud and continue the trend of success we have enjoyed over the past few years in the competition.

The format of the competition is simple. There are six eminent examiners asking questions within their chosen fields – medicine, surgery, clinical sciences, clinical pharmacology, obstetrics & gynaecology, and paediatrics – for five minutes each. A daunting prospect indeed! The viva included being asked about the mechanisms of cancer metastases and the various theories behind the recent trend in increasing asthma diagnoses in the UK. Even though the teaching and exam process at Imperial prepares us very well for viva questions, the viva was extremely difficult and I felt it did not go well.

Imagine, then, my delight and surprise to have been part of another Imperial clean sweep in the Gold Medal competition. Being awarded with the Beutel Prize was, apart from proving the existence of divine intervention, quite simply the best way to end my time here at Imperial. It has been the most wonderful six years of my life and I have cherished every minute of it. In particular I must thank our dedicated teachers and professors, especially my personal tutor Dr. Amir Sam, without whom my success would not have been possible.

In the future I will soon be starting an Academic Foundation Programme in nuclear medicine at Barnet and Royal Free hospitals as an FY1 doctor. I look forward to putting everything that I have learnt over the past six years to good use in order to provide the best care for my patients and aspire to an eventual career in radiology.

London Advanced TB Course – 26-27 November 2015

London Advanced TB CourseThis popular course will offer a comprehensive update on all aspects of the management of TB provided by the UK’s leading TB experts.

The course will be of interest to all grades of doctors including consultants, specialist registrars in respiratory medicine or infectious diseases, general practitioners, public health physicians, TB nurses and other non-medical health professionals working in TB.

Highlights include:  Speakers include:
  • Interactive workshops
  • MDR TB evening symposium
  • Diagnostics updates
  • Management Updates
  • Tackling complex cases
  • Incident management
  • Paediatrics and HIV aspects
  • Onn Min Kon
  • Deepti Kumar
  • Graham Bothamley
  • Peter Davies
  • Francis Drobniewski
  • Marc Lipman
  • Peter Ormerod
  • Lucy Thomas
  • Domink Zenner
  • Philipp du Cros
  • Martin Dedicoat

“An excellent, enjoyable and thorough course”

“Exceeded expectations – I don’t know where I would have learned this otherwise!” QR

“Thank you for an excellent 2 days, the quality and quantity of the subjects/speakers has been very good”

For further information and to register visit www.imperial.ac.uk/nhli/london_tb

Follow @LondonTB on Twitter
CPD accreditation sought

Imperial College Students win the Royal Society of Medicine’s Norah Schuster Prize for History of Medicine

Norah Schuster PrizeThe School of Medicine are very pleased to announce that two of our 5th year Medical students, Zeena Mougammadou-Aribou and Sam Tindall both won prizes at this year’s Royal Society of Medicine Norah Schuster Prize.

This prestigious prize is awarded for the best student essay relating to the history of medicine. Zeena and Sam (seen below at the Award Ceremony in April) won the prize for the mini-projects which they conducted during the History of Medicine specialist course, taken as part of their intercalated BSc. They each received a £100 book token and a year’s membership of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Zeena’s mini-project considered a surgical procedure which was marketed in the 18th century for the management of teething in children. Interestingly, until the 19th century a large portion of child mortality was attributed to teething, which was perceived to be a dangerous period in child development. The surgical procedure was invented by a man named Joseph Hurlock and it involved cutting the gums of teething children so the teeth could come through unobstructed. Hurlock used clever and innovative marketing techniques to ensure that his procedure became widely used. However, these techniques were also controversial; for example, criticising the reliability of nurses and the effectiveness of other techniques used for teething infants.

From left: Dr Michael Weatherburn (Sam's project supervisor), Zeena M-A, Dr Emily Mayhew, Sam and Dr Neil Tarrant (Zeena’s Supervisor and History of Medicine course head) a t the Norah Schuster Awards Ceremony
From left: Dr Michael Weatherburn (Sam’s project supervisor), Zeena M-A, Dr Emily Mayhew, Sam and Dr Neil Tarrant (Zeena’s Supervisor and History of Medicine course head) a t the Norah Schuster Awards Ceremony

Sam’s mini-project examined how a strong focus on the Western Front during World War 1 meant that the Italian Front was overlooked in historical writing and therefore in public perception. The war took place in the Alps between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The terrain and weather conditions made this battle unique in many ways when compared with the rest of WWI. The injuries and ailments afflicting soldiers fighting in this region are therefore very different to those perceived to have affected soldiers at the time. This includes frost bite and the risk of avalanche in the winter, and lightning strikes and malaria in the summer.

The School of Medicine would like to congratulate Zeena and Sam on their excellent achievement and to thank Dr Neil Tarrant, the History of Medicine Course Director, and his team for all of their work on the course.

Nicole Barnes
Curriculum Administrator (BSc Pathways)
Faculty Education Office (Medicine)

Appointment of Head and Deputy of Years 3 and 6 Assessment

I am pleased to announce two important academic appointments:

Dr Amir Sam has been appointed Head of Years 3 and 6 Assessment, with Dr Neil Mo as his Deputy.

Amir, as many of you know, is a Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist at Hammersmith and Charing Cross Hospitals.  He is heavily involved in education, holding a number of roles including Head of Curriculum and Assessment Development and Director of Clinical Studies at Charing Cross.  He also represents the School at the Medical Schools Council Assessment Alliance.

Neil is a Consultant Rheumatologist at Charing Cross Hospital, where he is also the Site Lead for Rheumatology.  He is involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, and has held posts as Lead for Simulation Training and Foundation Programme Director within his Trust.

Miss Susan English
Director of Education Management and Programme Director
Faculty of Medicine

Student presenter prize for medical student Madeleine Openshaw

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMadeleine Openshaw, a 5th year student at the Imperial College School of Medicine won the Student Presenter prize at the Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC), London and South East Regional conference in January 2015.

Her emotive presentation entitled ‘In Loving Memory’: the role of sentimental objects in childhood bereavement’ was based on research performed during her humanities intercalated BSc at Imperial.

Maddy will be presenting her work again in June at the Annual GP Teachers Conference for our community based Imperial Primary Care teachers.

 

Dr Joanne Harris MRCP MRCGP MA(Med Ed)
Deputy Head of Undergraduate School of Medicine
Imperial College London

Academic Foundation Programme – the great success of Imperial Students

med studentsImperial’s final year medical students have achieved an outstanding result with 62 students attaining a place on the Academic Foundation Programme (AFP) for 2015/16. This is the second highest number of students from any UK Medical School and reflects the success of the strong academic focus of the Imperial College medical programme. This compares with 42 students getting an AFP in 2014/15, and 49 the year prior. Of the 62 students, 32 will be staying in London, 10 will go to Oxford, 2 to Cambridge, 10 to the Midlands and the others dispersed over the country.

The AFP offers the brightest and most academically able newly qualified doctors an opportunity to develop research, teaching, and leadership/management skills in addition to the competences outlined in the Foundation Programme Curriculum over a two year period. The AFP was established as a stream within the Foundation Programme with the aim to increase the opportunities available for the most junior doctors to gain access to research training alongside gaining their basic clinical competencies. About 6% (approximately 480 posts) of all Foundation Posts in the UK are AFP.

AFP trainees usually undertake a 4 month research placement in their second year, and many are successful in presenting at conferences and getting published.  Several doctors who complete the Academic Foundation Programme go onto secure Academic Clinical Fellowships and follow the academic pathway.

At Imperial, we have always encouraged our medical students to apply for the AFP. A key USP of Imperial students is their academic ability and we believe that the AFP offers an unparalleled opportunity to develop academic skills that would facilitate easier entry into the Integrated Academic Training Pathway.

Application to the AFP is very competitive and applicants are interviewed if shortlisted (unlike applicants to the standard Foundation Programme.) Imperial has taken the view that if a student is keen on an academic path then they need to start thinking early during their medical school career about how to be in a position to provide evidence of their experience in, and commitment to, research, leadership and/or medical education by the time they are applying in their final year.

 

Date for your diaries: Next Annual NW Thames Academic Foundation Symposium – Wednesday 8h July from 18.30 in the Drewe lecture theatre, Reynolds Building, Charing Cross Hospital.  

For more information about the Academic Foundation Programme please refer to the UKFPO website or contact Prof Liz Lightstone, Reader in Renal Medicine and Academic Director, NW Thames Foundation School.

 

Philipa Shallard
Foundation School/Undergraduate Services Manager
Faculty of Medicine

Immunology Short Course for Clinicians and Scientists

HIV-infected H9 T cell
Image courtesy of: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases / Flickr

This year’s annual Immunology Short Course for Clinicians and Scientists was held in February.  This popular course saw over 50 participants from across the country have the opportunity to hear from leading immunology academics and specialists from Imperial College and other institutions including UCL, Kings College London.

Course leader Professor Liz Lightstone said of the course   “the participants, from clinical, academic and industry backgrounds, particularly enjoyed the opportunity to go from “basic” immunology to clinical applications and challenges that the course offered over its themed days”.

For over 20 years, the Department of Immunology has run this short course providing clinicians and scientists with a broad understanding of the complex field of Immunology and an insight into the most recent advances in both scientific and clinical immunological research.

The next course will take place in February 2016 at W12 Conference Centre Hammersmith, for more information contact Celeste Miles celeste.miles@imperial.ac.uk

New Primary Care Education Research web pages

Primary Care Education ResearchThe Department of Primary Care and Public Health has launched a webpage dedicated to Primary Care Education Research. It includes useful resources to support all sorts of education research projects, from articles about methods and theory to practical guides to the process of education research.  It has three main sections:

  1. Recent primary care education publications and presentations
  2. Guidance on the education research process
  3. A bank of resources; articles, PowerPoints, and links to support people in their education research projects

Visit the website

Contact: Dr Graham Easton, Lead for Primary Care Education Research

 

Ben Broglia
Primary Care Education Administrator
Department of Public Health and Primary Care

Partnership for Child Development update

PCDPCD release Annual Report 2013 – 14

PCD recently published its Annual Report 2013 – 14 outlining its ongoing successes in supporting governments to build the enabling environment to advance inclusive, scaled and sustainable school health and nutrition programmes. These programmes are improving the development, education and well-being of school-aged children worldwide. The report also highlights work in supporting government-led Home Grown School Feeding interventions by strengthening the links between school feeding programmes and the local smallholder farmers who supply them.

 

PCD co-hosts 4th Asian School Health and Nutrition Training Course

From 8 – 16 December PCD co-hosted the 4th Asia School Health and Nutrition (SHN) training course which brought together 37 participants from government, academia and civil society representing 12 countries in the region. During the course, lectures were delivered by international experts on SHN topics including deworming, WASH, school feeding and the inclusion of children with disabilities. To enhance interaction, participants also visited three local schools to learn from the Thai experience and developed country specific SHN action plans.

 

Charlotte Broyd
Communications Officer
Partnership for Child Development
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Faculty Education Office update

The Senior Management Team has now moved to Charing Cross.  We are located on the first floor of the Reynold’s Building, so please do come and visit us if you are over there.  We will obviously still spending a fair amount of time at South Kensington.  The majority of the FEO are remaining in their current offices in SAF.

I am also pleased to inform you of two new appointments:

Dr Jo Harris has been appointed Deputy Head of the Undergraduate School. She is a General Practitioner and an Educator. She is currently studying for a doctorate (EdD ) in education at the Institute of Education and her research  interest is in assessment of professionalism of medical students. Jo is currently Director of Curriculum and Assessment, and will continue in that role.

Dr Carolyn Gabriel has taken up the role of Head of Careers Development.  I am sure most of you already know Carolyn, who has been very involved in education for a number of years, and was previously one of our Vertical Theme Heads.  She can be reached on Carolyn.Gabriel@imperial.nhs.uk.  I hope you will support her in developing careers as a theme throughout our undergraduate course.

Miss Susan English
Director of Education Management and Programme Director
Faculty Education Office (Medicine)

School of Medicine Awards for NHS Teachers 2014

School of Medicine Awards 25.11.2014 070The School of Medicine Awards for NHS Teachers evening took place on Tuesday 25 November.  The annual ceremony recognises the enormous contribution of NHS staff to the education of undergraduates and postgraduates in the Faculty of Medicine.  Fifteen members of staff received awards, which were presented by Professor Dermot Kelleher, Vice President (Health) and Dean of the Faculty Medicine.  Many of the students who nominated the winners attended to describe their teachers’ impact on their education at Imperial.  The ICSM Students’ Union Light Opera Society also performed for guests.

School of Medicine Awards 25.11.2014 004This year, two new awards were created: the Supporting the Student Experience award (for NHS staff in non-teaching roles), which was presented to Darren Pirson, Medical Education Manager at Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust.  The Distinguished Teacher award, only open to previous teaching award winners, was introduced to recognise a sustained, outstanding contribution to education.  The inaugural Award was given to Dr Naila Kamal of London North West Healthcare NHS Trust.  Dr Kamal gave a presentation on her experiences of teaching our students.

Closing the event, Professor Jenny Higham, Vice Dean (Education and Institutional Affairs) congratulated all the award winners, describing them as an inspiration to the next generation of doctors.

A full list of award winners can be found at: http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/prospectivestudents/undergraduate/contacts/awards/

Chris Harris
Quality and Educational Development Manager
Imperial College School of Medicine

Faculty Teaching Forum: resilience with compassion

The 2014 Faculty Teaching Forum took place at the Charing Cross campus on Thursday 27 November, with the theme of Resilience with Compassion.  The aim of the Forum is to bring together the wide community of teachers from across the Faculty and partner NHS providers for an afternoon focused on undergraduate medical education.  The plenary lecture was given by Dr Tom Evens, a former Imperial student, who shared his insights of resilience and compassion from his experiences both as an Olympic rowing coach and Air Ambulance Doctor.  The afternoon also comprised of an expert panel debate, a series of workshops and a number of short update presentations from staff in the Faculty.

One of the organisers for the Forum, Dr Jo Harris, Director of Curriculum and Assessment in the School of Medicine and Deputy Director of Primary Care Education, thanked all those who had attended and contributed to the event and highlighted the important opportunity to network, share ideas and reflect on practice.

Chris Harris
Quality and Educational Development Manager
Imperial College School of Medicine

Educational leadership appointments

I am delighted to announce the following appointments to two educational leadership roles in the School of Medicine:

Professor Margaret Callan has been appointed as Course Leader (Rheumatology) for Year 5 of the Undergraduate Medicine programme, following the departure of Dr Sonya Abraham.  Professor Callan is Deputy Head of Year 5, Course Leader for Immunology in the Year 5 Pathology Theme and a Consultant Rheumatologist at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Dr Elizabeth Muir has accepted an appointment to lead a programme of work supporting the School’s ‘Year of Feedback’.  The purpose of this project is to identify and deliver improvements to the feedback provided to our students throughout the undergraduate Medicine programmes.  Dr Muir is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health and a General Practitioner.  She is also Theme Leader for Foundations of Clinical Practice and co-leads the Problem Based Learning teaching.

I hope you will join me in congratulating them on their new appointments.

Chris Harris
Quality and Educational Development Manager
Imperial College School of Medicine

WHOCC members participated in a leadership and health management training in Nairobi

On the 13th of September, members of the WHO Collaborating Centre left to Nairobi, Kenya to conduct a one-week course on Leadership and Health Management. The training, held in partnership with UNICEF Somalia Country Office, targeted high-level health officials of the Somali Ministry of Health, as well as WHO and UNICEF country officials.

The WHOCC leadership training aims to provide current national, regional and local leaders and decision makers the necessary management and leadership skills to cope with every day as well as crisis situations. By becoming better leaders, health officials will be able to contribute to the improvement of the Somali health system and to provide more effective services to the population.

Throughout the course and by means of very hands-on exercises, participants developed leadership skills such as delegation, team work, or evidence-based decision making. Each day was dedicated to a specific area of health management: from leadership skills to quality of care, management in health, policy and strategy, and governance. After receiving their certificates, participants returned to Somalia, with the skills and tools to inspire and influence those around them.

nairobi_blog_post_cropped

Imperial medical students pick up top prizes in University of London Gold Medal Viva

London Gold Medal Viva winner Amy Mallorie v2The  Gold Medal Viva is an annual competition organised by the University of London, which invites the capital’s top students to take part, having been nominated by their medical schools based on exceptional academic performance. The doctors-to-be face a panel of examiners who test their on-the-spot knowledge of key areas to determine an overall winner, alongside a runner-up who claims the Betuel Prize.

This year we were delighted to see both accolades go to two of our own medical students, who share their experiences of the competition, and of life at Imperial.

Amy Mallorie – University of London Gold Medal Viva winner 2014

Being nominated for the University of London Gold Medal viva for medicine was an immensely proud moment for me, with the chance to represent Imperial College in a competition previously won by Sir Alexander Fleming. (He was awarded the 1908 Gold Medal, whilst studying at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington).

In early July I took part in the viva alongside the top 1% of final year students across all London medical schools. The viva was challenging, involving intense questioning on medicine, surgery, clinical sciences, clinical pharmacology, obstetrics and gynaecology, and paediatrics. The questions were difficult, and I remember the first of the viva being the most nerve-racking; I was given a clinical case of a young woman with a post-operative seizure and asked for differentials. I had to draw together knowledge from several different areas to answer, which Imperial finals had prepared me well for.

I recently completed the 6 year undergraduate MBBS/BSc programme. During my time at Imperial I have been particularly inspired by all the incredible teams of healthcare professionals and excellent teachers I have worked with on clinical attachments. Through doing an Intercalated BSc in Cardiovascular Sciences I became interested in research, which further motivated me.

Winning the gold medal was surprising, as well as a huge honour, and it has been a lovely way to end my time at Imperial’s School of Medicine. My next step will be starting the Academic Foundation Programme as an F1 junior doctor this August. The academic part of my foundation programme will involve a nuclear medicine research project during F2. Looking forward, I aspire to a career in academic medicine or radiology.

Anthony Dorr – Betuel Prize winner 2014

My route into medicine was more protracted than most, and took several attempts!  My time at Imperial College started with my PhD and this was incredibly productive and rewarding. However, it was clear that I wanted to practice medicine.  Staying on to study on the graduate medicine programme was the obvious choice, as the course emphasises the basic medical science that underpins clinical practice.  Again, my learning was well facilitated both on and off the wards, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Since my main driving force throughout medical school was to simply reach qualification, it was quite a surprise and privilege to be invited to participate in the Gold Medal Viva.

The breadth of knowledge required to excel in the viva is an important factor and I was concerned that my lack of knowledge of certain specialties would hinder me.  The examiners were extremely amiable and the exam felt more like a friendly chat, albeit about clinical scenarios covering medicine, surgery and specialties.  With regards to these, attempting to draw on knowledge from up to two years ago was particularly daunting when put on the spot.  However, as vivas form an important part of assessment at Imperial, I had at least a robust method to use when formulating an answer.

I am delighted to have been awarded the Betuel Prize, and it is a great way to conclude studying at Imperial, especially being a part of Imperial’s double success with Amy winning the Gold Medal.  I am now looking forward to finally practicing medicine after eleven years of being a student, but I would not have made without my wife and family.  It is hard to say what the future holds, but I have been lucky enough to be accepted on to an Academic Foundation Programme at St. Thomas’ in respiratory medicine, and I am relishing the opportunity to combine clinical medicine with my research interests.

Appointment of new Head of Year 6 of MBBS/BSc programme – Dr Niamh Martin

I am delighted to inform you that Dr Niamh Martin has been appointed Head of Year 6 for the MBBS/BSc programme.  Many of you will know Niamh who is a Consultant Endocrinologist in the IC Trust, and Director of Clinical Studies at the Hammersmith, in addition to being heavily involved in curriculum and assessment across our courses.

Niamh will take up her appointment on 1st September, and I hope you will join with me in congratulating her and giving her your full support.

Miss Susan English
Director of Education Management and Programme Director
Faculty Education Office (Medicine)

The “go-to” App for Imperial College Masters students

Imperial mobile

A Department of Surgery and Cancer administrator Susan Clark teamed up recently with Amir Rana, Junior Software Engineer, Web Development, in the pilot phase of an Imperial Mobile Initiative. They held a training session for administrators to learn how to build an App for their Masters’ programmes using the College licensed software Ombiel. The training provided an opportunity to learn and share the challenges and resolutions of applying different course structures to the App.

The story behind the initiative goes back to March 2013 when Susan wrote to IT. She asked for an App that would incorporate electronic student evaluations and the facility to push out essential course information to students. Saul Batzofin, Infrastructure Programme Manager, replied to Susan’s request with immediate help, first by training using Qualtrics, a recently acquired survey software. The evaluations had already been customised for the Department of Surgery and Cancer courses by Dr Kirsten Dalrymple, Senior Research Fellow and Co-Course lead MEd Surgical Education and they will shortly be accessible via the MEd App. This summer will see Susan working on improvements to the existing surveys and Apps, getting them ready for the 2014 / 2015 cohort. New students will have a 10 minute orientation in the use of the App in Module 1 of their respective Masters Programme, October 2014.

As for the future, the Department of Surgery and Cancer have a new MSc Masters programme pending; a move to a modularised structure that fits well with the surgical trainees career pathway. This year’s collaboration and initiative has paved the way for the use of the App for this new Programme, with the potential to go beyond administrative technology into Mobile learning.

Saul Batzofin emphasized the versatility of their solution; “Imperial Mobile works on mobile phones, tablets and desktops so rather than us telling people where and how to engage with College, we allow them to choose the device and location. So our ambition for Imperial Mobile is to give people relevant information and applications where and when they want it. We are still quite early in our journey but are working hard to add ever more useful functionality to our App.” Susan added that administrators can improve support for learning and teaching with their own collaborative contributions to this journey by engaging with the technology now provided by the College, when changes to timetables and key information need to be pushed out to students, the Go-to App could be invaluable.

Susan Clark
Postgraduate Education Administrator
Department of Surgery and Cancer

Partnership for Child Development June Update

Innovative School Feeding Programme to Combat Extreme Poverty in Zanzibar

HGSF programme launched in ZanzibarOn 28 May the Government of Zanzibar launched a new innovative Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programme in collaboration with Imperial College London’s PCD and programme donors Table for Two to feed over 5000 school children, whilst simultaneously supporting local smallholder farmers by sourcing their produce for the school meals.

“This programme is the first of its kind for Zanzibar and marks the Government’s awareness on the value of school meals for society as a whole” said PCD’s East Africa Senior Programme Manager, Iain Gardiner. He continued, “Not only will children be well fed in school but jobs will be created for farmers and other community members involved in the growing, processing and preparing of food for school meals.” Find out more

 

Nigeria’s Federal Ministries collaborate to extend HGSF

Nigeria high level meetingOn 19 May 2014, PCD, Imperial College London with support from the Vitol Foundation convened a special high-level convening of federal ministers, state governors and international experts in Abuja to discuss how more of Nigeria’s school children and farmers can benefit from Home Grown School Feeding programmes.

PCD’s Executive Director, Dr Lesley Drake said “The meeting is an excellent example of high level inter-ministerial collaboration at the federal and state level to design sustainable school feeding programmes which will improve the lives of children and smallholder farmers across the country.” Find out more

 

Promoting the Home Grown in Home Grown School Feeding

Promoting Home Grown in HGSFPCD, Imperial College London alongside Dutch development organisation, SNV are working with Kenya’s Ministries of Agriculture and Education to increase the access of coastal smallholder farmers to local markets supplying school meals in Kenya’s Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programme.

In the target counties of Kilifi and Lamu, PCD together with SNV have launched the intervention to address challenges of farmer produce being sourced from large distances within Kenya and even outside of the country in neighbouring Tanzania. To ensure producers in the counties are secured of a reliable income and livelihood, so the “Home Grown” in HGSF is maximised, the project aims to achieve a more localised supply chain – to, in effect, boost the link between smallholder farmers, traders and recipient schools. Find out more

 

Addressing Micronutrient Deficiency in Ghanaian Children

MNPs training in Ghana60 stakeholders from Ghana’s School Feeding Programme (GSFP) programme from national, regional, district and school levels across three regions of the country were recently trained on the use of Micronutrient Powders (MNPs) to combat micronutrient deficiencies found in school-aged children in the intervention areas.

The training, carried out by Ghana’s Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the GSFP and PCD, Imperial College London taught participants how to correctly apply and store the MNPs. The sessions which followed a “training of trainer’s” approach will see participants organise step down trainings for caterers and cooks in their consecutive districts so lessons learnt are widely disseminated. Find out more


Charlotte Broyd
Website and Communications Assistant
Partnership for Child Development

Excellent Medical Education – National ASME/GMC Joint Awards – advance notification

ASME GMCThe “Excellent Medical Education” Programme is a set of national prizes being established jointly by ASME and the GMC to fund high quality medical education research, development and innovation.

This is in response to recognition of the need for further research-based evidence related to medical education and training, through supporting capacity building and increasing the volume of high quality medical education research. Applications using quantitative or qualitative, established or innovative methods will be welcome. Further information will be available from the ASME website closer to the launch at the ASME Annual Scientific Meeting in Brighton in July 2014. However, we are providing this initial summary so that interested individuals and organisations have additional time to begin to consider potential projects which they may wish to submit in one or more of the three categories.

All ASME members who are based in the UK will be eligible to apply, provided their organisation is capable of fulfilling the role of a research sponsor (e.g. an NHS organisation, academic institution). Submissions for awards will open on 17th July 2014. The online application form will be accessible via the ASME website from this date. The deadline for the first year’s applications will be 17th December 2014.

ASME and the GMC do not intend to name specific topic areas and welcome applications on a wide range of issues, across the continuum of medical education:

• Undergraduate
• Postgraduate
• Continuing Professional Development

Three prizes will be available, one linked to each of these stages of medical education. The programme is intended to support research which is related to the innovation, development, implementation and sustainability of excellent medical education which has an impact at either the individual (medical students, doctors in training, SAS doctors and consultants, and/or patients) or systems level (e.g. informing or leading to organisational change).

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Evidence that the project links directly with GMC education priorities
• Clarity as to the aims and objectives of the work
• Coherence between the aims and objectives, and the approach or methods used to measure and/or report outcomes
• Demonstrated outcomes/outputs for medical students, doctors, education and training programmes, including identification of key drivers for success/failure. Potential trajectory to patient benefit will also be considered as an outcome criterion
• Targets/outcomes, and if reached/achieved
• Evaluation of process as well as outcome(s) (i.e. why it worked as well as “it worked”)
• Evidence as to whether or not the work has maintained momentum, or details of how successful candidates would use the prize funding to further extend the project