Margot Acer Turner
Chair
Margot Turner is a Senior Lecturer in Diversity and Medical Education at St Georges University of London. She spent 16 years before going into teaching working with people who were both disadvantaged and socially excluded: young offenders, survivors of abuse, asylum seekers and vulnerable older people in a variety of settings in the community.
She was asked to bring that experience into undergraduate medical education in 1997 and is passionate about embedding diversity issues into the medical curriculum. During this time she has been able to motivate and interest both staff and medical students to explore the impact of issues in medical practice and teaching. She is now responsible for the development of diversity sessions throughout two medical curricula and physician associates curriculum.
Margot has also made sure that the diversity teaching is assessed so that it is not seen as an accessory but as an integral part of the curriculum which is valued by students and will inform their future practice. She has also identified the diverse needs of the student group and trains teachers to embed diversity issues into their teaching.
She is also committed to ensuring that her medical school is a socially responsible institution and has worked with medical students to develop community projects and give back to patient groups involved in teaching.
This year she has focused on working with students and other universities, such as Manchester and Sheffield to present and develop diversity work at national and international conferences. She has published work on a range of diversity issues in various journals and a book chapter with Nisha Dogra on Diversity in Clinical Communication. I have also been involved in the discussions with GMC on diversity issues in the new Outcomes for Graduates.
Shuangyu Li PhD SFHEA
Deputy Chair
Shuangyu is Senior Lecturer in Clinical Communication and Cultural Competence at GKT School of Medical Education, King’s College London. He teaches a wide range of subjects in the MBBS programme; and holds several leadership roles in the medical curriculum, including designing and implementing diversity education across the medical programme.
He adopts a spiral approach to developing diversity education, which is informed by research, supported through sustainable faculty training and driven by collaboration between staff and students. Shuangyu did his PhD in applied linguistics in clinical communication and medical education (Leeds Medical School).
He is actively involved in empirical research in language and cultural discordances in healthcare communication. He chairs a research Special Interest Group under rEACH, which strives to bridge the gaps between research, policy making, clinical training and practice. Shuangyu is the lead supervisor of a PhD student, Jia Liu, who investigates how medical students develop their clinical cultural competence through curricular and extracurricular activities. This research feeds into the ongoing curricular development at King’s and may also have nationwide implications.
In 2018, Shuangyu took the role as Deputy Chair of DIMAH, before which he served as the co-IPE lead. In that role, he worked closely with colleagues to extend DIMAH’s collaboration across educational, regulatory and healthcare sectors, and push forward the integration between diversity and interprofessional education. As Deputy Chair, Shuangyu is committed to supporting the Chair to provide leadership and vision for DIMAH. As a team, DIMAH will continue to extend its membership and network nationally and internationally.
DIMAH has established experts and wide range of expertise, which will be reinforced and developed in the years to come. Its impact will continue to grow through providing support and leadership in diversity education across health schools in the UK and beyond. Shuangyu is looking forward to working with all that are committed to researching and educating diversity and cultural competence in healthcare.
Riya Elizabeth George
Secretary
Riya George is a Lecturer in Clinical Communication Skills & Diversity at Bart’s and The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary’s University and a Postgraduate PhD Psychology Researcher at the School of Medicine, University of Leicester. Riya has worked in a variety of mental-health and palliative care settings as a Psychologist, Qualified Bereavement Counsellor and Research Associate.
In addition to this she has been appointed as an Educational Consultant at Mind and aims to support the development and evaluation of high quality diversity training for mental-health professionals. Riya has variety of varied experience of teaching clinical communication and diversity across the medical undergraduate curriculum in four leading UK medical institutions. She has received multiple prestigious awards for the development of innovative and creative teaching material by the Junior Association of the Study of Medical Education (JASME) & the Association of the Study of Medical Education (ASME). Her PhD Research was nominated to be presented at the Parliamentary House of Commons STEM 2017, achieving her the Silver Award (Cash Prize £2000) for Biomedical Sciences and Riya was asked to feature her research on the BBC. Riya’s research was also shortlisted as one of three finalists for the Best Original Research Paper by ASME.
Riya successfully completed a BSc Honours Degree in Psychology, achieving a Distinction (82%) in her undergraduate research project exploring the importance of ‘ethno-cultural empathy’ among healthcare professionals in the mental health and palliative care sector. This experience coupled with working in a variety of healthcare settings spurred her to achieve her Masters in Science at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. During her MSc, Riya worked alongside Professor Graham Thornicroft and conducted a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature around ‘cultural competency trainings’ in UK healthcare settings.
Riya has now embarked towards a PhD in Psychology at the Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, School of Medicine at the University of Leicester. Her primary supervisor is Professor Nisha Dogra and her PhD aims to support curriculum development and evaluation of diversity training in UK NHS Trusts & healthcare educational institutions. Riya’s PhD involves collaborations with eight leading organisations including NHS Employers, NHS England and Mind. Throughout her PhD Riya has achieved multiple prizes and awards for her research including 1st prize for best presentation at the Postgraduate Research Showcase, 2nd prize for ‘PhD Depictions’ and the Leicester Award for student development. Riya continues to be inspired by diversity and clinical communication issues in healthcare and it is her passion to both become a competent member and excel in the field of medical education.
Valerie Farnsworth
Board member
Dr Valerie Farnsworth is a Lecturer in Curriculum Studies at the Leeds Institute of Medical Education (LIME) within the University of Leeds, in the UK. She is a Fellow of the HEA and an experienced education researcher. She has over 10 years of experience in researching across educational sectors with a current emphasis on the transition to higher education and diversity education in medicine.
She was recently appointed the School Academic Lead for Inclusive Practice, a role recognising that inclusivity needs to be embedded across the university throughout our learning, teaching and assessment practices.
Valerie has published on professional and social identity, learning theory and the relevance of these for student learning. She has a BA in Linguistics, with a minor in Philosophy (1994) and an MA (2001) and PhD (2006) in Educational Policy Studies, all completed in the US.
Enam Haque MRCGP PGDIPGP MSc (MedEd) SFHEA
Media and Website Lead @enamhaque31
Dr Haque is a GP Trainer working in Levenshulme Medical Practice, located in a diverse and multicultural area of Central Manchester. This has really fuelled his passion to instill diversity education into both undergraduate and postgraduate education.
He is a Clinical Senior Lecturer at Manchester Medical school, leading on Widening Participation and the Year 4 MBChB GP Block. He is also the Chair of the National Medical Schools Widening Participation Forum, a collaborative organisation to improve Widening Participation to Medicine, comprising of 22 medical schools, UCAT and the GMC.
He has been involved with colleagues as part of a diversity working group in the medical school, to develop diversity teaching opportunities for both medical students and GP tutors. This has included nationally delivering training to GP tutors on enhancing the student experience during non English consultations.
He also chairs Askdoc, a Greater Manchester charity which aims to improve the health and knowledge of health of the local BAME community. He is a member of the DIMAH committee and has responsibility for social media, publicity, media engagement and the DIMAH website.
Candan Ertubey
Board member
Candan is senior Psychology lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire. Her specialisms are cross-cultural psychology and psychological assessment. She completed her PhD at the University of London, Goldsmith’s College, in 1999 having work on comparative studies of England and Turkey. Her doctorate was given an award by IACCP for the best Cross-Cultural project internationally in 2000.
Her teaching responsibilities include modules on Culture and Individual Differences to final year psychology students. She is co-ordinating a Master’s course and oversees postgraduate provision in her department.
Her recent research includes developing intervention techniques for people with dyslexia in Higher Education. One other project is on health inequalities for first and second generation Londoners. In her leisure time she reads widely and goes to movies and rambling in Lakes with her family.
Rebecca Farrington
Board member
Rebecca is a GP and Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester Medical School in the UK. Rebecca grew up on the Isle of Islay and graduated from Dundee University in 1990. She has worked clinically in many different settings including New Zealand in 1991 and, following a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from Liverpool in 1995, with Medecins sans Frontieres in Thailand, Liberia, South Sudan and Afghanistan. She worked as a rural GP in a Welsh-speaking area of southwest Wales between 2000 and 2005.
Since 2005 Rebecca has worked part-time as a GP with asylum seekers in Salford and part-time in medical education where her interests include promoting Diversity Education within the medical curriculum at Manchester Medical School. This has been recognised more widely with the award of Faculty Education Academy conference prize for outstanding teaching and learning in 2015 for work on Diversity in the MB,ChB course.
She has helped develop teaching sessions on challenging assumptions for medical students and on effectively using language interpreters for Audiology students and a post-doctoral clinical communication skills course. Rebecca delivers regular CPD sessions for GPs around working with asylum seekers. She has been involved with DIMAH since its inception and is keen to collaborate with other medical schools and Education Across Professions teams to deliver a uniform approach to the growing demand for education about Diversity.
Jon Ward
Board member
Jonathan is a Lecturer in Clinical Communication for the Interactive Studies Unit (ISU) at the University of Birmingham in the UK. He is an alumnus of The University of Birmingham having completed a BA in Drama and Theatre Arts in the early 1990s and spent a decade as a professional actor and role player / simulated patient. He took part in medical role play simulations and OSCE assessments for teams at St George’s in Tooting, St Bartholomew’s in London, Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge and the Interactive Studies Unit in Birmingham from 1996 to 2012, before joining the team at the ISU on a permanent basis. Jon also has a background in research having been head of a qualitative research company in London and run his own market research business.
As clinical communication lead for Year 3 of the Medicine (MBChB) programme and all years of the Pharmacy (MPharm) programme at Birmingham, Jon is able to use role play methodology to challenge students to consider aspects of equality, diversity and inclusion when consulting with patients. In 2019, in conjunction with Pharmacy programme leads, he received an ‘Outstanding Contribution to Teaching’ award for the creation of an innovative, 4-year complex simulation environment for communication and professionalism teaching which reflects the diverse populations students will encounter on placement in the West Midlands. With ISU colleagues he also contributes to module development and teaching for Dentistry, Nursing, Physician Associate and Veterinary undergraduate programmes and Independent Prescribing postgraduate courses.
Jon is a voting member of the UK Council for Clinical Communication, a member of the University of Birmingham’s inter-professional education steering group, a contributor to a new widening participation initiative at his university and a member of a national working group considering the inclusion of electronic patient records in undergraduate medical education.
He has published, with Pharmacy colleagues, on communication skills and Motivational Interviewing training in the pharmacy profession and the national recruitment scheme for pre-registration pharmacist training in England and Wales, and with ISU colleagues on professional development and remedial support.
Kirsty McAvoy
Board member
Dr Kirsty McAvoy is a GP working in St Helens and a Community Clinical Teacher at the University of Liverpool. She studied at the University of Edinburgh, completed GP training in Merseyside and has an interest in teaching, women’s health and diversity.
In 2018 Dr McAvoy was appointed lead for the Year 3 Diversity Course at the University of Liverpool and she enjoys helping students recognise how a patient’s background influences their approach to healthcare, as well as how a doctor’s biases influences their approach to patients and colleagues.
Dr McAvoy is working closely with colleagues in Public Health, Psychology and Communication skills to develop the course further to ensure students graduate with the skills they need to manage patients effectively and support colleagues. She also delivers postgraduate teaching.