Staff Profile: Dr Chee Yeen Fung, Preparedness for Practice Development Lead

Dr Chee Yeen Fung is the Preparedness for Practice Development and Pre-Foundation Assistantship Lead at the Imperial College School of Medicine. In addition to her work at Imperial, Dr Fung also holds national educational and leadership roles with Health Education England, the Medical School Council and the General Medical Council, working on various educational leadership, assessment and widening participation projects.

In this interview, Chee Yeen discusses how her career has led to teaching, her passion for widening participation in education and her recent President’s Medal.

Could you describe your education role?

I am currently the Preparedness for Practice Development Lead for Imperial College School of Medicine. In my role, I work to support medical students through all five years of undergraduate medical training, with a focus on getting them ready for clinical practice once they graduate. This has involved developing the assistantship, prescribing and simulation programmes, as well as sessions on professional skills such as teamwork and leadership.

How has your career led you to teaching?

I have been involved in teaching since I was a medical student myself! I started out doing a lot of near-peer teaching as a student and junior doctor, volunteering for every teaching opportunity that came my way. I subsequently took a year out of my clinical training to do a Clinical Education Fellowship at Imperial. This fellowship launched my medical education career and exposed me to the more strategic side of teaching, assessments, curriculum development and educational research. This led to my appointment as the National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow at Health Education England (now NHS England Workforce, Training & Education), where I had the privilege to work on national education leadership projects. I have since been fortunate enough to bring all this experience back to Imperial in my current role, allowing me to continue my interests in teaching, assessment and widening participation.

What do you enjoy most about teaching?

What I love most about teaching is when I’m able to inspire students to see something from a new and different perspective.  That’s when you know you’ve really added value!

How do you feel your education experience at Imperial contributes to other roles and activities you hold?

Working at Imperial has given me a really solid grounding in medical assessments and an understanding of how students approach their courses and exams. The experience and mentorship I’ve received at Imperial is what’s allowed me to contribute to the design and standard of the new national Medical Licensing Assessment which will be sat by all UK medical graduates from 2025 onwards, as well as the existing international medical assessments with the General Medical Council.

What do Imperial and the Department do best for our students?

Imperial very much puts students at the centre of everything it does. We are blessed to have some of the most incredible staff who are constantly developing new ways of teaching which inspire and engage them.

Have you done any widening participation (WP) projects related to Education?

Widening participation is a real passion of mine and I have started several national initiatives to support this cause. The Dr Me Project teaches basic self-care medicine in primary schools, and aims to create much needed aspiration for medical careers early in children’s education journey.
My other project, ESLIH (Empowering Student Leadership in Healthcare), is a national conference which aims to inspire and support healthcare students from all backgrounds to consider clinical leadership early in their undergraduate careers. To our knowledge, it is the only conference of its kind which truly supports to those from WP backgrounds through specifically funded registration and travel awards. I am now pursuing a PhD in Medical Education focusing on the impact of WP work.

How did you feel about receiving the President’s Medal for Excellence in Education (Teaching)?

I was really surprised and honoured to receive the President’s Medal! Imperial has such incredible and talented staff who do such amazing, world-changing work – it’s rather unbelievable to think my contributions to teaching are worth mentioning! I’m so grateful for the opportunities and mentorship Imperial has given me over the years, and I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for the investment I’ve had from the university.