Find a Researcher
Shazia Absar
Email - sha36@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Visiting Researcher, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge
Foundation Doctor, Royal Free London Foundation Trust.
Personal Interests - Public Health, Sustainability in healthcare, and Medical Education
Current Education Research Project - Best Ways Forwards Project, and Discourse Analysis Surrounding Low Carbon Inhalers
Rayo Akande
Email - mma69@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - I am a medical doctor (MB BCHir) with an intercalated degree in Natural Sciences: Pharmacology (BA, Hons/MA, Cantab), currently within a Clinical Research Fellowship with a focus on translational medicine,
bridging scientific innovation and patient care. As a Visiting Researcher with the Clinical Education Research Group, I am exploring how clinical education can better integrate principles of translational medicine, ethics, and public health to prepare future clinicians for complex, real-world challenges. Additionally, I serve as a member (lead and second reviewer) at the NHS Health Research Authority’s Research Ethics Committee, providing ethical oversight on health research proposals in the UK.
Personal Interests - I am deeply passionate about improving healthcare through innovative research and interdisciplinary collaboration. Outside of medicine, I enjoy photography, jazz music, and staying active through sports like basketball and football.
Current Education Research Project - I am involved in the Health for All project, which seeks to address structural determinants of health by challenging inequities within medical education.
Social Media - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayoakande
Aatqa Arham
Email - aa2221@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - 6th Year Medical Student
Newnham College Cambridge
Cambridge University Medical Humanities Society Events Officer 2025-26
Association for Medical Humanities Student Representative
Personal Interests - I'm a final-year medical student at the University of Cambridge (Newnham College) with a strong passion for the Medical Humanities, blending my clinical training with interdisciplinary research in history, literature, and public health. My academic work explores therapeutic landscapes and social prescribing, including a dissertation on an 18th-century medical poem and a current case study on social prescribing on a community allotment project in Cambridge. With hands-on experience in a variety of community projects and therapeutic green spaces, I'm is interested in how mobilising community assets and artistic engagement can foster healing, belonging, and patient agency and result in more humane forms of care.
Current Education Research Project - Therapeutic Landscapes and Social Prescribing in Cambridge: Primary Researcher
Creativity in Medical Education: Student Researcher Contributor
CLR (Centre for Landscape Regeneration) Scoping Review Healthcare and Wetland Regeneration: Student Researcher Contributor
Social Media - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aatqa-arham-07a73422a/
Anmol Arora
Email - aa957@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Academic Clinical Fellow at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and AI, Tech and Simulation Lead for the Clinical Education Researcher's Group
Personal Interests - I am an Academic Clinical Fellow at University College London and Honorary Researcher at the University of Cambridge. I have an intercalated degree in Management Studies from the Cambridge Judge Business School. My research focuses on the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in healthcare. I hold honorary research affiliations with NHS England and Improvement and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London. My previous research experience includes work with Yale University School of Medicine, Yale University School of Public Health, University College London, Cambridge University Institute of Public Health as well as leading roles in national research collaboratives. As an Honorary Analyst within the central NHS Data and Analytics team, I have led novel machine learning analysis of national mental health data using the NHS National Commissioning Data Repository. I'm currently working on the application of artificial intelligence in clinical trials methodology, particularly regarding the use of generative algorithms to improve the fidelity of synthetic control arms.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been part of the Respiratory Protection Engineering Taskforce. This is an international multidisciplinary group of researchers working to produce world-leading face mask research, which has received international media attention, been cited by the World Health Organisation and has influenced the worldwide public health response to the pandemic.
I am also Chair of the HDR UK Impact Committee, Co-Chair of the DARE UK Synthetic Data Working Group and am also a public member of several NIHR panels, including the Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award Panel.
Current Education Research Project - I lead the Technology and Simulation workstream of the Clinical Education Researcher's Group, with a particular focus on how we use innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to improve medical education. I am always happy to be contacted by anyone interested in pursuing a clinical AI project to help facilitate it or signpost support.
Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anmol-arora-0000, Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ohjdk7wAAAAJ, Website: https://www.anmolarora.org/
Charlotte Austin
Email - austin.ce@outlook.com
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - BSc Psychology - Cardiff University (2022)
MSc Neuroscience - Oxford University (2023)
Researcher - Oxford University, Department of Psychiatry (until August 2025)
Academic Director of MPhil in Population Health Sciences
Personal Interests -
I am interested in moral decision making and moral judgments.
In August 2025 I am starting my PhD in Psychology at Cornell University where I will be researching what motivates us to learn about the morality of others and who people are "morally curious" about.
For 2 years, I have worked at the Oxford department of Psychiatry investigating treatments for mental illness. This previously included conducting meta-analyses and systematic reviews on novel treatments, but currently I am working on the relationship between nature and wellbeing.
I mainly conduct experimental quantitative research, but I have previously worked on mixed-methods case studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses and neuroimaging studies (TMS, fMRI).
Current Education Research Project - Within CERG, I'm investigating the use of AI as a teaching aid in medical education.
Specifically, the use of GPTs as mock patient to train medical students with Adan Taylor, including their effectiveness, students attitude towards them and ethical considerations behind their use.
Nihal Allauddin Basha
Email - nihalbasha@hotmail.co.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - MB BChir, BA (Cantab), AFHEA
FY1 Doctor at Ipswich Hospital, undertaking a Specialised Foundation Programme in Education.
Personal Interests -I have an interest in research, medical education, and paediatrics.
My previous research experience has focussed on wet and dry lab and literature based projects, at the MRC-IMS, Dept of PDN, Dept of Clinical Neurosciences, and MRC-Epidemiology Unit. I have been involved in medical education delivery throughout my time at medical school. I am looking for opportunities to combine this with my interest in paediatrics, having previously co-founded the Cambridge branch of ‘The Asthma Project’, a medical education and outreach initiative which was recognised nationally. I currently work as a supervisor at Gonville and Caius college.
Current Education Research Project -Mixed methods exploration of medical students' experience of using AI scribes and generative AI feedback to enhance their history taking skills.
Ashna Biju
Email - ashna.biju1@nhs.net
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - MB BChir, MA (Cantab), PGCert Medical and Healthcare Education
Foundation Doctor, East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust
Visiting Researcher, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge
Personal Interests - My interests lie in public health and ethics, disability and mental health, and medical education.
As a PHEG Student Medical Educator from 2022-2024, I have been involved and led a number of projects. I co-published a Letter to the Editor of the BMJ, calling for free menstrual product provision in higher education institutions, successfully lobbying the University to provide products across faculties and colleges (https://srh.bmj.com/content/48/4/313). I have also written on period product disposal in India, proposing a three-sphere model tackling unsafe disposal published in the Lancet (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lansea/article/PIIS2772-3682(23)0007…), which I have since had the opportunity to present at national conferences.
I have also been involved in the empowerment evaluation project, looking at student-led development of primary care learning resources for year four placements. As a lead and critical friend, I had the opportunity to present our experiences at the AMEE Conference in Glasgow 2023.
Since graduating, I completed MediLead, a year-long leadership programme with mentoring and exposure to Trust executives. Using KENT methodology, my Quality Improvement Project on improving referrals to Liaison Psychiatry Services, has allowed me to secure a Lean Competency System (LCS) Lean Accreditation. I have also completed a PGCert in Medical and Healthcare Education, where I delivered small-group teaching on Personality Disorders, and wrote a curriculum critique of the Professional Responsibilities Course taught at the University of Cambridge. I have also been involved in teaching for a cross-site OSCE teaching series for medical students.
Current Education Research Project - * Systematic Review into Experiences, Perceptions and Barriers to Use of Reusable Menstrual Products among University Students Globally
* Ongoing Quality Improvement Project on Improving Referrals to Liaison Psychiatry Services at QEQM Hospital, East Kent Trust
Monika Chowaniec
Email - mec76@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - MA (Cantab), MB BChir
Visiting Researcher, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge
Resident Doctor in Oxford and Thames Valley
Personal Interests - I am a recent medical graduate of the University of Cambridge (2023), currently completing the Foundation Programme in Oxford. I am interested in how qualitative research can bring about change in medical education, and I am particularly passionate about the role of translation and interpretation in both clinical care and the medical curriculum. Alongside my work in Clinical Education, I am also working on Sustainable Healthcare with a focus on surgical environments and devices. Outside of work, I can often be found singing in choirs all over Cambridge and Oxford!
Current Education Research Project - I am involved in the Best Ways Forward Project, particularly focusing on understanding and improving the medical student transition between pre-clinical and clinical studies. I am also supporting other sub-projects by working as a floating qualitative interviewer.
Deborah Critoph
Email - dc625@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Nurse, FHEA, PhD student, University of Cambridge
Personal Interests - I am a nurse by background. My areas of interest are multi professional education, clinical communication, triadic communication
Current Education Research Project - Triadic communication in teenagers and young adults with cancer, educational intervention co-design study.
Social Media - @critoph_debbie
Richard Darnton
Email - rmd61@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - FRCGP;PFHEA; PhD in Medical Education.
As the University of Cambridge Director of Studies in General Practice, I am a Family Physician and academic experienced in the leadership and study of health professions education (HPE). I am a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) and have a track record of strategic leadership in HPE, with national policy impacts. As an insider researcher I have published work-based studies of HPE using qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. My current role requires a deep understanding of the rich variety of GP practice environments and their potential for learning and development. At Cambridge, I led a major expansion in primary care clinical placements, requiring a whole new set of arrangements for working at scale. Nationally, I was instrumental in designing new funding arrangements for undergraduate primary care placements in England. Within this space, my research has helped answer some of the questions that educators and workforce planners are asking. It has also influenced teaching practice nationally.
Personal Interests - I love teaching and mentoring, and it has also been a joy to help with the Cambridge Masters in Medical Education programme. Research-wise, I enjoy using qualitative research methods to investigate aspects of work based learning, problem based learning, the clinical consultation, healthcare workforce planning/development, and the organisation and leadership of HPE.
For example, in 2020 I led a qualitative evaluation of medical students consulting from home (currently over 7000 views and 34 citations). This was the only evidence referenced by national guidance sent to all medical schools by the UK Medical Schools Council and our published findings helped this novel teaching method to be accepted nationally. Our follow-on ethnographic study became the first to document the nature of learning medicine in primary care since the major changes to general practice that occurred from 2020 onwards. We then published a mixed methods study which was the first to document the prevalence of medical student involvement in remote consultations and to understand the degree to which doctors have adapted to supervising these. This work lead to a commissioned BJGP editorial on the use of video consultations in clinical education. We subsequently published research on threats to medical student teaching capacity that was the first study to demonstrate the scale of the ‘space crisis’ in primary care and its impact on medical education. This work was highlighted in a national report on primary care infrastructure and led to a request for national policy advice.
Outside work, what floats my boat? Friendship, family, faith, fresh air and French horn!
Current Education Research Project - I currently lead a cohort study that uses quantitative methods to investigate, and track, medical student perceptions and intentions regarding future career choice over the course of their training. This is a collaboration between Norwich, Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin Medical Schools designed to inform medical workforce planning. Baseline findings have been published, midpoint data collection is also complete and endpoint data collection is underway.
I recently completed a preliminary investigation into the presence and impact of competing institutional pressures, policies and rationales in HPE
Erin Fitzsimons-West
Email - erinfw2@gmail.com
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Foundation year 1 doctor at Southern Trust, Northern Ireland.
Personal Interests - I am a foundation doctor in Norther Ireland, having studied medicine in Christ’s College, University of Cambridge. My interests lie in public health, in which I am doing an SFP placement in this year.
Joanna Hampton
Email - joanna.hampton1@nhs.net
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Consultant Physician
Faculty for PRC
Director of undergraduate Geriatric Medicine
Fellow of HEA
Assistant Affiliate Professor for School of Medicine
Personal Interests -
I have a broad interest in undergraduate and postgraduate education and in particular am interested in improving engagement and enjoyment for medical students.
I am passionate about Geriatric Medicine and am always looking for ways to increase training in elderly care!
Current Education Research Project - I am co-supervising the Perceptions of ageing in medical students project
I am leading on a new project regarding improving placement experience for medical students by utilising all members of the MDT
Megan Emma Hodge
Email - meh86@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - I'm currently a 5th Year Medical Student at the University of Cambridge.
Personal Interests - I am very interested in curriculum improvement and how education can be adapted to best meet the needs of students, particularly in the current climate of change within medical education. I am also interested in different formats of exams and assessments and how these test different skills and elements of learning. Perhaps most importantly, I am interested in student engagement in learning and how we can improve this, alongside enjoyment!
Current Education Research Project - I have previously been involved in elements of the Best Ways Forward project, and have just finished partaking in this year's Flipped Classroom sessions.
Charlotte Howdle
Email - cjh241@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - 6th Year Clinical Medical Student at University of Cambridge
Personal Interests - My research interests are public health and the use of AI in medical education.
Current Education Research Project - I am researching medical students' perceptions of using AI in their education.
Social Media - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-howdle-9058572a2/
Esther M Hunt
Email - emh81@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - I am a Doctor of Education Candidate in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, where I teach part-time on the master's Level 7 program in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapeutic Counselling. In the past, I was Head of Student Well-Being at the University of Chichester, and managed four key services for students, including the Health, Mental Health, Well-Being, and Counselling services.
I am a Mental Health Professional and Registered Counsellor/Psychotherapist with the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA), the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and the Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH). I am also a Clinical Supervisor and offer reflective practice and supervision to colleagues in the health, education, or social care sectors.
As a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA, Advance HE), I hold a PgCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGCert LTHE) and I am a member of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. I am also a member of the British Educational Research Association (BERA).
Personal Interests - I am the Chair of the Psychotherapeutic Educators and Counsellors Hub (PEACH), fostering progressive conversations about learning and teaching, and educational research in the counselling and psychotherapy professions.
I am a Network Co-lead for the Practical Wisdom Network, which was formally launched on 9 April 2025 at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, with the generous support of the Collaborating Centre for Values-Based Practice. Founded by an interdisciplinary group of five scholars, the Network is united by a shared commitment to the principles of Practical Wisdom. Each founding member brings doctoral-level expertise to the field, and together we are dedicated to empowering others to translate these time-honoured philosophical insights into meaningful, practical applications across our respective professions and beyond.
Competence-Based Education in the Healthcare Professions, as I am part of a research group conducting a systematic literature review focusing on the development of student competence in line with the GMC standards and guidance in medical education.
Current Education Research Project - Doctor of Education research focuses on the development of practice wisdom (phronesis) in learning and teaching in the counselling and psychotherapy professions. Researching own teaching practice using Research Lesson Study ( Pete Dudley, 2019) and heuristics.
Emma Johnson
Email - ecj43@cantab.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - BA, MB BChir.
Foundation Doctor, Oxford University Hospitals.
Visiting Researcher, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge.
Personal Interests - I am interested in medical education surrounding health inequalities, public health and medical ethics.
Whilst completing my medical degree at Cambridge University I was a PHEG student medical educator and member of the Health for All initiative, working with the Public Health and Primary Care department to improve medical education on health inequalities. I was involved in development of a teaching session on health inequalities surrounding sex and gender and am currently writing on a textbook chapter on this topic. Through this group I have undertaken research in menstrual equity and healthcare sustainability.
I'm also interested in medical ethics and philosophy, particularly in relation to clinical trials and how doctors and medical students are educated about these issues. I intercalated in History and Philosophy of Science, taking a module in Medical Ethics, and am a member of an NHS HRA Research Ethics Committee.
Current Education Research Project - I am working on initiatives within the Best Ways Forward project:
- A systematic review investigating how student voices affect social injustice and health inequalities education within the medical curriculum.
- A research project developing and investigating the effect of MDT teaching on clinical placements for students.
Social Media - www.linkedin.com/in/emma-johnson-118617373
Alexander Jones
Email - alexander.jones6@nhs.net
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Best Ways Forwards Researcher
SAM-WISE Project Supervisor
ST5 Ophthalmology Addenbrookes Hospital (Aug 25)
MBBChir MSc MSt (MedEd) FHEA FRCOphth
Personal Interests - I am an ophthalmology registrar with long experience in teaching. I was a supervisor in preclinical physiology for 5 years, a clinical supervisor for 2 years, and a Clinical Teaching Fellow for 1 year. I hold a masters in medical education from the Institute of Continuing Education in Cambridge and studied as a graduate medical student at Wolfson College, Cambridge. I am interested in student motivation, curriculum design and medical student professional roles.
Current Education Research Project - I am drafting a paper on medical student motivation that explores why students choose particular learning activities.
I am a project supervisor for SAM-WISE, which is researching the effects of student attendance monitoring on both student and staff after the recent introduction of mandatory monitoring for trusts associated with Cambridge Clinical School.
Nicola Jones
Email - nlj27@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Consultant in Cardiothoracic Intensive Care and Director of Medical Education at Royal Papworth Hospital; Year 4 Clinical Lead and Clinical Teaching Fellow Coordinator, School of Clinical Medicine; Director of Studies and Fellow in Clinical Medicine, Murray Edwards College; Affiliated Associate Professor.
Personal Interests - I am interested in if—and in what ways—Clinical Teaching Fellows support the sustainable expansion of the medical workforce. I’m also keen to explore how technologies such as point-of-care ultrasound can be applied effectively in day-to-day clinical practice.
Current Education Research Project - I have received a grant from ASME and the GMC to explore how Clinical Teaching Fellows support medical students’ learning in the clinical environment.
Chris Kassam
Email - christopher.kassam@nhs.net
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - ST3+ medical education fellow, West Suffolk Hospital.
Visiting Researcher, Public Health Education Group, Department of Public Health & Primary Care, University of Cambridge.
Personal Interests - I am a physician about to enter higher specialty training in nephrology in the East of England. Educationally, I have a particular interest in the challenges of transitioning between different roles during medical education and training, especially the undergraduate transition from pre-clinical to clinical learning.
Current Education Research Project - My current education research project explores the experience of graduate-entry medical students adapting to learning in clinical environments for the first time. Using a mixed-methods approach, we have established key themes identified by students as challenges during this transitional period, and using the theoretical lens of Self-Regulated Learning, we are now seeking to develop resources to help them successfully negotiate this transition.
Amber Khan
Email - ak2312@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - 6th Year Medical Student, Queens' College Cambridge
BA Ecology (Plant Sciences)
Personal Interests - I am a final year medical student at Cambridge, having intercalated in Ecology, Conservation Science and Biological Anthropology during my third year, and kept up with interdisciplinary interests though involvement in various Planetary Health focused academic projects since. I'm particularly interested in the intersections between biodiversity, environment, and Public Health, use of critical lenses (environmental justice, political ecology, decolonial theory etc), and qualitative research methods.
Current Education Research Project - Centre for Landscape Regeneration (CLR) scoping review and systems mapping project to explore interconnections between human health and wetland restoration in the Cambridgeshire Fens.
Ansam Khan
Email - ansam.khan3@nhs.net
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Clinical Teaching Fellow in Medicine, Hinchingbrooke Hospital (North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust)
Personal Interests - I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Leicester and have since developed a strong interest in medical education. My interests in research involve the integration of technology in medical education. I have presented my award-winning research projects on the use of 360 degree videos and AI in medical education at national and international conferences.
In my role as a teaching fellow, I am extensively involved in undergraduate teaching programme for Cambridge medical students at Hinchingbrooke Hospital and am always looking for innovative ways to enhance their learning. I am currently pursuing a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education with the University of Cambridge. From August 2025, I am set to begin Internal Medicine training in King's Lynn.
Outside of work I love to read, make scale models and go bouldering!
Current Education Research Project - I am the co-lead in one of the Best Ways Forward sub-projects: Student Attendance Monitoring and its impacts on staff and students.
Martha Kingsley
Email - mmk65@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Year 6 Medical Student at University of Cambridge starting as an FY1 in Oxford this August
Personal Interests - I am particularly interested in medical education around health inequalities.
Current Education Research Project - I have worked on the Flipped Classroom project and am currently working on an Empowerment Evaluation project focused on teaching health inequalities to medical students.
Edward Lau
Email -ejsl2@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - MB BChir, MA (Cantab), PGCAP, MRCP (UK), FHEA. Lead for the Curriculum Development Strand of the Clinical Education Research Group. Visiting Researcher at the Public Health Education Group.
Personal Interests - I graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2022 with a medical degree and a first-class honours in his intercalation in Pharmacology. I completed my academic foundation training in North Central London, where I’m currently continuing my training in internal medicine.
With a strong interest in medical education as a student, I led the development of various award-winning, university-wide teaching programmes focussing on near-peer teaching and capacity building. My interests include curriculum development, diversity, and inclusion. Through the projects I supervise, I explore the use of various developmental techniques to facilitate student engagement and learner-centred opportunities. My main research expertise is within qualitative research and process designs of participatory action research, and I’m always keen to hear about new research avenues.
Outside of work, I enjoy swimming, running and cycling, so please don’t hesitate to reach out, be it about education opportunities and ideas, or simply to say hello!
Current Education Research Project -
- Medical School Post COVID: What are the best ways forward for teaching and learning?
- Student-led development of primary care learning resources for year four placements – an empowerment evaluation service development project
- Maximising the potential of medical students as change ambassadors: learner-led development of equality, diversity and inclusion in the medical curriculum – an empowerment approach
- Participatory action research evaluation of the PHEG student medical educators programme
Jonathan Liu
Email - jl2123@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - 6th Year Medical Student at University of Cambridge.
Personal Interests - Cinephile who's slightly too obsessed with Liverpool FC.
Current Education Research Project - I am currently working on a research project into medical student perceptions of ageing using photo elicitation.
Social Media - https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanliu.bsky.social
Jane MacDougall
Email - jane.macdougall@nhs.net
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Consultant Gynaecologists and Subspecialist Reproductive Medicine, Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust
Associate Postgraduate Dean, NHS-WT&E-EOE - responsibilities include lead for educational research group
Director of Studies Clinical Medicine, Newnham College, CU
Personal Interests - I have always had an interest in Postgraduate Education and have held a number of leadership roles in education including College Tutor and Director of Postgraduate Medical Education for CUH. From 2003-8 I was the Clinical Director for Women’s Services in Cambridge. I was Head of School for the new East of England (EOE) Postgraduate School of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (2008-2017). I completed a research based Masters in Education in 2003 at CU and have also published in educational journals. In undergraduate medicine, I am Director of Studies for Clinical Medicine for Newnham College, Cambridge University.
As Associate Postgraduate Dean for NHSE-WT&E-EOE and “Patch Dean” for Cambridge & Peterborough, I am responsible for the fellowship programme and educational research group, and oversee the faculty development programme in EOE. I have recently taken on responsibility for the training post expansion & distribution programme in EOE and am the regional representative for the new Educator Workforce strategy.
Current Education Research Project - Involved with a couple of educational research projects based at Clinical School.
Am also involved with guideline development with our obstetric partners in Uganda - and how best to disseminate these and measure outcomes nationally.
Main interests are related to faculty development and currently to the value of fellowships.
Palani Nagappan
Email - pgn25@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - I am a clinical academic affiliated with the University of Cambridge, working across the School of Clinical Medicine and the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. My work straddles clinical practice and medical education research, with a focus on how evolving educational practices impact learner outcomes.
Personal Interests - My interests lie at the intersection of research, education, and practical application. I genuinely enjoy teaching—it’s one of the most rewarding parts of my week, whether I’m facilitating small group discussions or navigating large cohort lectures. Outside of work, I enjoy discovering new cuisines, long walks that become longer than intended, and pretending to be good at quiz nights.
Current Education Research Project - I have recently co-led and published a systematic review exploring trends in medical student attendance at in-person teaching sessions post-pandemic—a topic that has sparked quite a bit of interest (and debate). This work, published in BMJ Open, examined both the extent of these attendance shifts and their relationship to educational outcomes. Currently, I’m investigating methods for monitoring and enhancing attendance in clinical teaching environments, with a specific interest in what attendance patterns can tell us about session quality and perceived value. It’s part pedagogical curiosity, part quality improvement, and always a good excuse to ask difficult questions at faculty meetings.
Leo Nagy
Email - ln333@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Medical and natural sciences graduate from the University of Cambridge, Resident doctor at Royal Papworth Hospital and Addenbrooke's Hospital, visiting researcher at Public Health and Primary Care Department of the University of Cambridge.
Personal Interests - Public Health, Healthcare systems, healthcare financing and management structures. Primary prevention and screening.
Current Education Research Project - Comparing financial incentives between insurance based and directly funded healthcare systems.
Elizabeth Neri
Email -en358@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - I am currently a final year medical student at the University of Cambridge
Personal Interests - I am deeply passionate about understanding the "why" behind health inequalities and structural determinants of health to ensure suitable and effective interventions. I am interested in the incorporation of critical race theory and decolonisation in medical education and health practices.
Current Education Research Project - I am currently looking for research projects to partake in.
Social Media - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizneri/
Michael Okocha
Email - mo507@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - BSc(Hons), MBBS, FRCS, MSc, FAcadMEd, PgDip
ST8 Colorectal Registrar, Great Western Hospital, Swindon
MSt Candidate Wolfson College, Cambridge University
NIHR Respond Trial, PI, Royal United Hospital Bath
European Society of Coloproctology Pelvic Floor Fellow 24/25, St Mark’s National Bowel Hospital, London
Association of Surgeons Great Britain and Ireland, Averil Mansfield Fellow 2025/6
Past President Pelvic Floor Representative, Dukes Club, ACPGBI
Past President, ASGBI Moynihan Academy
Council Member, Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh
Personal Interests - I am a General Surgery Registrar with subspecialty interests in Pelvic Floor, Benign Colorectal, and Emergency General Surgery, with a particular focus on women’s health and geriatric care. My leadership competencies include serving on the College Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and NHS SDEC committee which have enabled me to help shape national surgical policy. I am undertaking an MSt in Medical Education (Cambridge) and have served as an Associate Tutor at the University of Bristol.
Current Education Research Project - My MSt research project is: What are the barriers health visitors face in asking about obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI) during postnatal care, and how can these barriers be addressed through co-designed, trauma-informed, stigma-sensitive educational interventions?
Social Media - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelokocha
Mc Stephen"Macky" Padilla
Email - msp44@cantab.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - BA (Hons) Natural Sciences: Psychology, Neurosciences and Behaviour
MB BChir
Doctor working in West Midlands
Personal Interests - My personal interests are in curriculum design and how various educational theories can be used as a basis for developing a curriculum that is ultimately co-produced by students and faculty.
Current Education Research Project - I am currently working on the empowerment evaluation project, where we are looking at how empowerment evaluation could be used as a means of developing clinical resources for medical students rotating across different placements.
I am also working on the Best Ways Forward project, aiming to investigate how medical teaching has changed and could be improved in a post-CoVID-19 landscape.
Social Media - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mc-stephen-padilla-42743420b/
Thomas Pulimood
Email - tp320@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - MBBS MA cantab FRCP FHEA
I am a Consultant Respiratory and General Physician and work in West Suffolk Hospital, Cambridge University Hospital and Royal Papworth Hospital Cambridge.
Personal Interests - My main interests in education are in teaching graduate medicine. I am a Tutor and Director of Studies (clinical) for Wolfson College, Cambridge Graduate Course in Medicine (CGCM), and Fellow at Wolfson. I am an External Examiner for year 1 of the Graduate Entry Medicine, Oxford University, sit on the standard setting panel and am examiner at Cambridge University. I am a Partner Governor and member of the nominations committee of the Council of Governors WSHFT, representing the University of Cambridge, sit on the Arts committee of Wolfson and am chair of the Friends of Vellore UK charity. I am a specialist facilitator in communication skills teaching and lead the CGCM Clinical Reasoning and Communication Skills (CRCS) program.
My experience in postgraduate medicine training was as Structured Training program director of the Specialist Training Committee (STC) overseeing training days, Training Program Director then Chair of the STC East Of England, member of the
Speciality Advisory Committee for England, Respiratory Medicine, at the Royal college of Physicians (RCP), external inspector of training programmes, external assessor for respiratory trainees in London, and chaired the Regional Specialist Respiratory Trainee selection for the Southwest of England for the RCP. During my tenure the respiratory programme in the East of England became the largest research and clinical programme in the UK. I remain a member of the respiratory STC of the East of England.
Current Education Research Project - My current area of interest in education research centres around the importance of art in education and training.
Irene Mateos Rodriguez
Email - irene.rodriguez@nhs.net
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - General Practice Registrar in Cambridge, ST3
PGCert Medical Education (University of Cardiff)
MBBChir Graduate Medicine (Cambridge University)
MSc Developmental Psychology and Clinical Practice - Distinction (University College London)
BA Experimental Psychology - First Class (University of Oxford)
Personal Interests - My interests are in qualitative research, in particular in the field of medical education and primary care.
Current Education Research Project - I am involved in the Best Ways Forward Project leading a branch of the project trying to understand the place of clinical supervisions from the perspectives of current medical school students. I am also involved in supervising medical students projects.
Vianca Shah
Email - vs482@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Incoming FY1 at Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading
Final year medical student, University of Cambridge
Personal Interests - I'm really passionate about medical education and research, particularly how teaching methods influence learner engagement and critical thinking in clinical settings. I'm also keen to explore innovative, evidence-based approaches to medical teaching and curriculum design.
Current Education Research Project - I am involved in the research project on perceptions of ageing amongst medical students, with co-researcher Jonathan Liu leading the project, Dr Joanna Hampton and supervised by Dr Charlotte Tulinius.
Social Media - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vianca-shah-6bb1302a8/
Stephanie Smith
Email - ss2512@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - I am a Senior Tutor in Clinical Reasoning Communication Skills (CRCS) working with undergraduate medical students at the University of Cambridge, School of Clinical Medicine. My clinical background is working as a Specialist Nurse in Transplantation. Having completed my Masters in Medical Education, I now work with postgraduates on the first year of the Masters in Medical Education pathway, on the PGCert Medical Education.
Personal Interests - Areas of medical education interests are;
-creativity and reflection
-optimising the CRCS curriculum
-experiential learning and simulation
-new and existing facilitator training and development
-authentic representation of diversity into the CRCS curriculum
-patient voice
Current Education Research Project - I am involved in the Best Ways Forward research looking at bridging the gap from pre-clinical to clinical in the CRCS curriculum. I am expanding my masters project in educator's perspectives on the impact of creativity on reflection and we are looking to publish that work. Additionally I am involved in another research project on student's perspectives on the impact of creativity on reflection.
Adan Taylor
Email - adan.taylor1@nhs.net
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Medical Education Fellow - Royal Papworth Hospital
Personal Interests - I am a medical education fellow currently posted at Royal Papworth Hospital with an interest in anaesthetics, intensive care and medical education. In my educational responsibilities I have found that my interests in acute care and emergency management have translated well to a simulation based environment and most commonly conduct teaching in that setting, designing new formats of simulation for medical students and postgraduate doctors. I have a special interest in the use of artificial intelligence and large language models applied to both research pipelines and medical education. I am particularly interested in how medical students approach large language models, what their perception of artificial intelligence is, and the efficacy of large language models in various simulation based settings.
Current Education Research Project - One of the recent developments in simulated technology is the advent of AI facilitated OSCEs and simulated patients. I am currently planning a research project aimed at investigating the perceptions of medical students towards AI simulated patients as well as investigating how medical students approach interactions with these virtual actors. This is a study employing a mixed-methods design with quantitative questionnaires and qualitative analysis of student transcripts with the AI as well as semi-structured interviews with the participants. I hope that this study will be able to demonstrate how students are currently using AI when preparing for patient encounters as well as investigating the content of their interactions with the AI. I hope to be able to extend this research in the future to investigate the efficacy of AI simulated patients in preparing for OSCEs by tracking the performance of students over time, as well as comparing their use of these platforms to their performance in practice OSCEs and university examinations.
Charlotte Tulinius
Email - ct419@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - MD, PhD, MHPE, MRCGP (Hon), SFHEA
Medical Education Research Lead, Senior Research Associate, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine.
Associate Teaching Professor in Clinical Education, Public Health Education Group, PCU,
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, UK.
Lead of CERG.
Personal Interests - My main roles at Cambridge University are to build faculty and student capacity in clinical education research as well as faculty development in education praxis. This includes research skills training, teaching, developing new teaching and learning programmes and environments, and leading a portfolio of clinical education research projects on curriculum development, learner-directed teaching & learning, technology supported education, and creativity & reflexivity in education. Some of my work includes a global health perspective, i.e. in collaboration with The Cambridge Global Health Partnerships and universities in East Africa.
I have led several local and national development projects within medical/clinical/health professions’ education, including faculty development, curriculum development, research capacity building and policy making in Denmark, the UK and East Africa, and I have delivered education at undergraduate as well as postgraduate levels within medicine, for faculty and researchers at all levels, as well as interdisciplinary groups of health care deliverers and professionals from other academic environments. I have been chair and member of several national health or educational committees in Denmark and the UK and have received awards and special recognitions for my professional work of pedagogical leadership, curriculum development, research, and innovative health promotion strategies.
Current Education Research Project - I am a researcher and a supervisor on and PI for a number of research projects within all three themes of the Clinical School education research portfolio. This includes being one of three leads for the Best Ways Forward research project, an action research project aiming to develop better teaching and learning at the Clinical School. I am also one of the leads for the development and research evaluation of the PHEG Student Medical Educators' Programme, and several other clinical education research projects.
My main research methodology expertise is within qualitative research, arts-based research, and process designs of participatory action research i.e., based on empowerment evaluation.
Social Media - @ClinEduRes_ucam
Rajesh Varma
Email - rajesh.varma@nhs.net
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - MA (Cantab), PhD, MRCGP, MRCOG, PGDip (Oxon), MBBS
GP Partner & GP Trainer, The Colne Practice, Hertfordshire
NICE Guideline Committee member for Osteoporosis
Undergraduate Tutor (Years 4–6), University of Cambridge
Professional clinical speaker for Daiichi Sankyo, Besins and Pfizer
Personal Interests - I am passionate about medical education, AI innovation in primary care and clinical training, and advancing clinical understanding in cardiometabolic health, women’s and men’s health at transitional life stages, and longevity medicine. I particularly enjoy mentoring medical students and GP trainees, and I believe in delivering ‘precision’ learning—tailored to each learner’s needs, stage, and potential. My educational approach is informed by Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, emphasising scaffolded, collaborative progression, and the Yerkes–Dodson Law, which underscores the need to balance challenge and support to optimise performance. These principles guide my commitment to fostering resilient, reflective, and high-performing clinicians.
Current Education Research Project - In collaboration with the Public Health Education Group at Cambridge and a cohort of talented undergraduate medical students, we are exploring how AI-driven transcription and customisable consultation templates can enhance clinical supervision and formative assessment. The study evaluates the effectiveness of AI-generated feedback in accelerating the development of consultation competencies and improving alignment with GMC performance benchmarks. I believe AI holds transformative potential in identifying individual learners’ strengths and gaps with greater precision than traditional supervision alone—opening the door to more tailored, data-informed learning interventions and innovative models of educational feedback in clinical training.
Social Media - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gprajeshvarma
Professor Paul Oliver Wilkinson
Email - pow12@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - Clinical Dean and Director of Medical Education, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge.
Professor of Youth Mental Health, University of Cambridge.
Honorary Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Paediatric Psychology Service, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.
Personal Interests - I very much enjoy spending time with my wife and two (now adult) children. We like country walks, travelling, mountain biking and good food and wine (I am currently trained as WSET level 2 in wine, and soon to take level 3). Above all, I am a committed Christian, and part of the congregation of C3 Church in Cambridge.
Current Education Research Project - Since becoming Clinical Dean, I have had to reduce my research significantly. My clinical education research is mainly focussed on racism in medical education, particularly awarding gaps. The largest current educational research project which I am leading is a multi-centre collaboration examining factors (in particular ethnicity and graduate/standard course type) associated with new medical graduates remaining in the NHS. I continue to conduct some psychiatric research, particularly in the epidemiology and treatment of self-harm and depression.
Elizabeth Wheater
Email - elizabeth.wheater@gmail.com
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - ST5 in Acute Medicine, EoE trainee
Medical education fellow Royal Papworth Hospital 2023-2024
Medical educator delivering mainly small group teaching in Clinical Reasoning and Communication Skills since 2016
PGCert in Medical Education 2024-2025
Personal Interests - I am passionate about delivering and innovating medical education, particularly in the field of Clinical Reasoning. I am currently balancing my educator role with a training position in Acute Medicine, as well as life as a mum of two young children.
Current Education Research Project - I am hoping to take my novel concept of clinical reasoning teaching, which aims to bring an element of the cognitive apprenticeship to a classroom environment (Fake Take) forward, with a glimmer of hope that one day I might be granted some exclusive time to dedicate to researching the effectiveness of such teaching (possibly at PhD level if I can secure funding).
Kalman Winston
Email - kaw82@cam.ac.uk
Credentials and Role/ Workplace - PhD in Medical Education
Associate Teaching Professor in PHPC
Academic Director of MPhil in Population Health Sciences
Personal Interests - Interests include curriculum design, educator development, small group teaching, interactive pedagogies, widening participation, and remediation of struggling students.
Current Education Research Project - Development of Dyslexia Toolkit for GP trainees and educators
Development of 100 Theories in HPE text.
Social Media - @zakkal.bsky.social