Author: Khadija Mahmoud

Second year of medical school: from virtual reality to refugee health


Second year of medical school

Khadija Mahmoud reflects on the highlights from the past year of medical school – from a virtual reality project that sparked an interest in refugee health to attending One Young World Summit.


I never imagined that my medical degree would involve a project working with chemical engineers to study the effects of a virtual reality (VR) application! During the second year of MBBS Medicine at Imperial College School of Medicine, we undertake a three-week research experience called Clinical Research Innovation (CRI).

I worked with our Digital Learning Hub  and the Matar Fluid Group to study the effects of using 3D virtual reality in learning. Our research focused on transforming medical education in classrooms by increasing interactivity. Working with two others, we managed to plan, design and conduct a study of 36 participants, producing a poster to present our findings at Imperial’s annual science festival for second-year medical students. The VR application showed fluid dynamics within a liquid flow with real-time feedback and could easily replicate blood flow in an artery to allow exploration of pathologies in relation to this.  (more…)