Tag: Teaching

Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Newsletter Features MPH Course Director, Professor Azeem Majeed

MPH Course Director, Professor Azeem Majeed from the School of Public Health, was interviewed for the Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Newsletter.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.
A: I am the Course Director of the Imperial College London Master of Public Health (MPH) programme. My other roles include being Professor of Primary Care and Head of the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College London. I am also Associate Medical Director with the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and an adviser to the World Health Organization (WHO) on primary care and public health. I remain active in clinical practice as a GP in the Clapham area of London.

Q: What were you doing before you joined Imperial?
A: I was formerly Professor of Primary Care & Public Health at University College London. I have also worked as a GP in the Clapham area of London since 1995.

Q: What (and who) inspired your research and teaching interests?
A: I undertook my GP training in the Pontypridd area of South Wales. I was struck by how many young patients I saw with problems such as heart disease and cancer. It was during this period I began to realise the importance of the wider non-medical determinants of health and the importance of topics such as health promotion, disease prevention and early diagnosis.

Q: What are the biggest challenges in your research field?
A: Health systems throughout the developed world are under increasing pressure to provide universal access to high quality services while at the same time trying to limit public spending on healthcare. This has led to an increased emphasis on ensuring that health services are of high quality, safe and cost effective; and that doctors and other health professionals base their clinical decisions on high quality evidence. There is also increased awareness of addressing risk factors for poor health such as smoking, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and obesity.

Q: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
A: I was formerly a qualified football referee but have had to give this up because of other commitments. In my spare time, I enjoy reading. I am also a member of the National Trust and enjoy visiting their parks and gardens.

Q: What advice would you give to new Masters students?
A: Attend your lectures, study hard, and practise academic writing. Read articles in relevant journals such as the BMJ and Lancet. Try to contribute to public and global health through membership of student societies and by writing for blogs.

The full newsletter can be viewed online

Imperial MPH Students win first prize in the “Vaccines Today Communication Challenge”

Two MPH students, Yewande Adeleke and Riham Arab, won the first prize in the “Vaccines Today” competition with their video promoting the MMR vaccine. We would like to congratulate them for their success. You can watch their video here.
This is the text accompanying the video: “Social media is a highly effective tool to use to improve awareness, encourage uptake and dispel myths associated with the MMR vaccine. So for the Vaccines Today Communication Challenge, we tried to display the content in an innovative, humorous and informative manner. The initial scene is to evoke a sense of duty and moral obligation amongst viewers. The target audience is both male and female adults. The transition from monochrome to coloured imaging is in parallel with the start of self-efficacious messaging and the MMR vaccination schedule is incorporated in the content. Finally, the video concludes with a herd of cows symbolising herd immunity and the #GetImmooonised slogan, can be used to encourage MMR vaccination on a variety of social media platforms”.

GP Tutor Dr Dana Beale gives a view from the community

As part of our View from the Community series of articles, our Year 6 Specialty Choice Lead Dr Ros Herbert interviewed community teacher Dr Dana Beale, to get the inside track on what it’s like being a teacher for Imperial College.

Dana, tell me what first got you interested in homeless medicine?

Dr Dana Beale aboard her narrowboat

“Incredibly I was inspired by the same module I did as a student at Imperial College that I am now teaching on! Back then it was ‘medical and social care of the homeless’ and was based at the surgery for the homeless in Great Chapel Street – a fabulous service that showed me that primary care tailored to this vulnerable and challenging group existed and I promised myself there and then that I would return to work in this field.”

What makes you so enthusiastic about this work?

“I find this line of work a breath of fresh air; at times incredibly challenging but hugely rewarding. I feel privileged to be able to delve into patients’ lives at often their most chaotic and vulnerable, to reach out and essentially say ‘right…. How can we help you out here?’ I love the fact that it can range from helping those with complex medical cases and advanced pathology to psychiatric and psychological support with all sorts of things thrown in along the way. It feels natural to me to be faced with someone who needs an intense and complex team-based approach and to figure out where on earth to start – and to recognise that sometimes all that is needed is to show basic human kindness and just listen. The team around me makes my job a thousand times easier every day.”

What challenges does this “specialty” have?

“It can be a big challenge dealing with people who have often had difficult childhoods then have lost everything and are at rock bottom. Behaviour can be aggressive or defensive and it can be hard to strike the right balance between being approachable but also staying safe; between being supportive whilst also not acquiescing to every request – for example drug seeking behaviour. But over time I have learned how to help people to see that what they think they need RIGHT NOW may be the most detrimental thing to them in the long-run. We don’t always get it right and are always still learning. Risk management and good team communication is vital.”

If you were PM (not a bad idea?!) what would you do to improve the lot of the homeless?

“As PM I would make reducing health and wealth inequalities a key priority. I would seek to steer away from the perception that these are lazy people who want something for nothing and are just a drain on society. Epidemiological studies tell us that countries that support their unemployed and incapacitated will see a quicker and more sustained return to working life and being ‘productive’ in society – rather than focusing on ever more brutal sanctioning and impossible hoops to jump through.”

You obviously love teaching the students, tell us why?

“I feel honoured to be charged with fresh young minds to teach – so much of the time they really do teach me too! I like finding out about my students and which paths they hope to take and to perhaps plant a few seeds that will blossom in their later practice. Even if just one person looks at the homeless heroin addict they are dealing with in A+E, on the wards or in a GP surgery through a different filter and remembers that they are a human being with their own unique story, I feel I will have achieved something.”