Meet our team

Professor John Abraham
Professor of Sociology and Pharmaceutical Policy

A Professor of Sociology currently at BSMS, John Abraham has been Full-Professor of Sociology at King’s-College-London (KCL) since 2013, and previously Personal Chair and Full-Professor of Sociology at Sussex University from the 1990s. 

J.Abraham@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Muna Al-Jawad
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education and Honorary Consultant Geriatrician

Muna is lead for curriculum development for the undergraduate MBMS course. She is also lead for personal and professional development and the F0 module in year 5. Muna uses comics and other creative research methods to do (and supervise) healthcare humanities research around practitioner/student experience, leadership and decolonising the curriculum.

muna.aljawad@nhs.net

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John Anderson
Principal Lecturer

J.Anderson@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Gemma Archer
Lecturer in Public Health

Dr Gemma Archer is a lecturer in Public Health in the Department of Medical Education at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). She leads on the Public Health MSc dissertation module and co-leads on Epidemiology.

g.archer@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Wajeeha Aziz
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education

Dr Aziz has vast experience of research in life sciences with enhanced skills in electron microscopy, high resolution imaging and electrophysiology. Dr Aziz's research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.

w.aziz@bsms.ac.uk

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Kate Bascombe
Reader in Physician Associate Studies

Kate Bascombe is the Course Lead for the Physician Associate (PA) MSc at BSMS. She undertook her PA training at St George’s University of London (SGUL) as the second cohort qualifying in 2011. Clinically, she has worked in secondary care across medical and surgical fields and primary care where she currently practices. 

k.bascombe@bsms.ac.uk

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Lelia Bissell
Senior Lecturer in Therapeutics

Leila has worked at BSMS since 2007 and have been closely involved in the development of the Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (CPT) curriculum and teaching delivery to undergraduate medical students across the entire course. In 2015, alongside colleagues in BSMS, she developed the idea of a digital student drug formulary to consolidate learning of core and commonly prescribed drugs, and SmartDrug® was implemented for Years 3 and 4 medical students.  In 2022, SmartDrug® was expanded to incorporate MyPrescribing®, which is a hybrid of a NHS Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA) system and the UK Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA).  Both SmartDrug® and MyPrescribing® continue to receive positive student feedback for the impact on contextualising of CPT learning, and preparation prescribing learning and the PSA. Leila is also involved in Interprofessional Education development and delivery between BSMS and School of Applied Sciences (Pharmacy) University of Brighton.

L.Bissell@bsms.ac.uk

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Joanna Bocking
Medical Education Officer

J.C.Bocking@brighton.ac.uk

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Sue Brown
Divisional Assistant

S.Brown@bsms.ac.uk

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Naomi Burns
Clinical Teaching Fellow

n.burns@bsms.ac.uk

Naomi has worked within the field of medication safety for many years, with an interest in reducing risk with insulins and anticoagulants. This has led to national awards following presentations internationally in person and in poster form. Naomi has led on investigations involving medication including two attendances at coroners' courts. She has a keen interest in teaching in initiating training days, reviewing national teaching aids, acting as a mentor to diploma pharmacists and as supervisor to pharmacy undergraduates undertaking research. 

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Chay Burt
Lecturer in Medical Education

Chay is a Lecturer in Public Health at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School and a current Law PhD student at the University of Sussex. His PhD focuses on the approach to regulating assisted dying across different jurisdictions and the implications of different methods of regulation. He has been a student at the University of Sussex since 2014 as a Law with Business Management LLB undergraduate, before completing his LLM in Law in 2019.

c.burt@bsms.ac.uk

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Ceri Butler
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education

C.Butler@bsms.ac.uk

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Clare Castledine
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education

C.Castledine@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Gaurish Chawla
Senior Lecturer

Gaurish started his career as a junior doctor in North India before he completed his MSc in Healthcare Management at the University of Manchester (2011) for which he received a distinction. Before joining BSMS, Gaurish taught on the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Programme for the NHS Leadership Academy. Gaurish has been a member of the BSMS team since 2018 and teaches on a variety of postgraduate and undergraduate modules.

G.Chawla@bsms.ac.uk

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Evelyn Crosskey
Postgraduate Researcher 

Evelyn is currently undertaking a PhD exploring experiences of neurodiversity-affirmative autism diagnostic assessments for children and young people.

E.Crosskey1@uni.bsms.ac.uk

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Jessie Cunnett
Lecturer

Inspired by her own and others’ experiences of health and care services, Jessie has pursued a 25-year commitment to enabling people to have a strong and powerful voice in their own health and care.Jessie provides independent advice, support and practice in human-centred leadership, strategy, engagement and change across the health and care system. She is a lecturer in Leadership, Commissioning and Change Management, a Trustee at National Voices the leading coalition of health and social care charities and a mentor for the Fabian Women’s Network promoting the participation of women in politics and public life. Jessie has worked nationally, regionally and locally, in the NHS and with the NHS as well as within professional regulation, qualitative and social research, post graduate education and as part of the VCSE sector. 

j.cunnett@bsms.ac.uk

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Priyanka Daniel
Anatomy Demonstrator

P.Daniel2@bsms.ac.uk

Professor Kevin Davies
Course Principal (Internal Medicine)
Emeritus Professor

Kevin helped to set up Brighton and Sussex Medical School in 2002. In the summer of 2009-10 Prof Kevin Davies worked for 18 months as Chief of Medicine for University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust and combined his academic work with the responsibility for leading the clinical service within University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. In addition he is an Associate International Director for Europe for the Royal College of Physicians and is actively engaged in developing closer links with European medicine, both clinically and academically.

K.A.Davies@bsms.ac.uk

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Ursula Davies
Course Lead (Internal Medicine)

U.Davies@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Sara Donetto
Lecturer in Medical Education

Sara has experience teaching on a range of subjects including qualitative research methodologies and methods, co-design and co-production, and the sociology of health and healthcare. They supervise MSc and MRes dissertations based on qualitative empirical projects and/or bibliographic work.

S.Donetto@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr James Fallon
Clinical Senior Lecturer in Medical Education and Undergraduate Lead for Psychiatry

James is a teaching academic with roles throughout the course in mental health and in the phase 3 (final year) leadership team. His interests are in incorporating simulation into undergraduate psychiatric education and ways to maximise learning in online and hybrid teaching. James works clinically with people with chronic psychotic illnesses at Sussex Partnership.

J.Fallon@bsms.ac.uk

Adam Faux

A.Faux@bsms.ac.uk

Jon Fenn

J.Fenn2@bsms.ac.uk

Breda Flaherty
Course Leader for the MSc in Healthcare Leadership and Commissioning

Breda is Course Leader for the Healthcare Leadership and Commissioning MSc and Deputy Chair of the Board of Study, responsible for curriculum assurance across the department’s postgraduate programme offer. She is also a principal lecturer and leads on course design, offers tutorials and dissertation supervision at masters and PhD level, leads on curriculum development and manages the faculty teaching and administration team.

B.Flaherty2@brighton.ac.uk

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Vanessa Fludder
Course Lead (Anaesthesia) 

V.Fludder@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Anne Gatuguta
Course Lead (Global Health) 

Anne is a Senior Lecturer  in the Department of Global Health and Infection in the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). Prior to joining BSMS, Anne was completing a PhD in Public Health and Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. While there, Anne taught part-time on the Basic Mathematics and Statistics for Epidemiology and Population Health modules. 

A.Gatuguta@bsms.ac.uk

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Sam Greenhouse
Senior Lecturer in Healthcare Leadership and Service

Sam is a project manager for the Multiprofessional Fellowship Programme, having also managed the Leadership and Education Fellows programme, both run at BSMS in conjunction with Health Education England Kent, Surrey and Sussex.  In this role she provides development support to the Fellows on the programme and liaises with Directors of Medical Education and other stakeholders across the region to promote the programme and facilitate shared learning.

S.Greenhouse@bsms.ac.uk

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Shereen Habib

S.Habib@bsms.ac.uk

Catherine Hennessy
Head of Anatomy

Catherine Hennessy, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc., P.C.A.P., F.H.E.A., Ph.D., is the Head of Anatomy at BSMS. She teaches anatomy to undergraduate and postgraduate medical students and trainees, as well as students from various allied health science courses. In 2021, she completed a PhD exploring how medical students and doctors develop their understanding of social media professionalism and the development of a professional online identity. Her research interests include social media professionalism and the development of anatomy core curricula for health professionals.

C.Hennessy@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Andreas Hiersche
Academic Project Lead for Remediation

Andreas studied medicine in Germany and obtained his medical degree from the University of Cologne, Germany. Thereafter, he completed his training in General (Internal) Medicine in Germany. Andreas moved to England to pursue a career in Palliative Medicine. In 1998, he was appointed Macmillan Consultant in Palliative Medicine in Brighton where he practised until retirement (hospice, community and hospital setting).

a.hiersche@bsms.ac.uk

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Charlotte Hill
Senior Medical Officer

C.Hill@bsms.ac.uk

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Caroline Hopper
Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Commissioning

Following a career in universities, local government and the voluntary sector; Caroline Hopper joined the NHS in London and was then an Executive Director in health authorities and primary care trusts in Surrey and Sussex for over 12 years. She held a wide range of general management roles on NHS Boards including Director of: commissioning; strategic and service development; public engagement and human resources and organisational development.

C.M.Hopper@brighton.ac.uk

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Camilla Ingram
Prosector in Anatomy

C.Ingram@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Anna Jones
Clinical Teaching Fellow: Project Lead for Sustainable Healthcare

As a Clinical Teaching Fellow in Medical Education at BSMS from 2011 - 2016, Anna was the module leader for the electives and taught health protection and global health. Following this role, she was commissioned by Doctors of the World to undertake an evaluation of their service for vulnerable migrants in Brighton which aimed to remove the barriers to healthcare. She has recently returned to BSMS and is leading on implementing teaching in sustainable health and sustainable healthcare.

A.Jones@bsms.ac.uk

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Goldie Khera
Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer

G.Khera@bsms.ac.uk

Jacquline King
Programme Administrator

J.King@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Jackie Knight
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education

Jackie joined BSMS with prior experience for successful delivery on large-scale change management projects at a local, national, and international level. Jackie has worked in multi-disciplinary contexts across her academic and clinical career actively managing new workforce roles, developing curricula, and establishing sustainable partnerships across geographical sectors. To achieve this objective, all health professionals, regardless of their discipline, need to practice collaboratively and essentially to champion both inter-professional and intra-professional learning opportunities.

J.Knight@bsms.ac.uk

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Meg Locke
Assistant Administrator

M.Locke@bsms.ac.uk

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Jane Lodge
Lecturer, Healthcare Leadership, Commissioning and Change Management 

Jane joined BSMS as a lecturer in October 2024, after working for 24 years in the NHS in non-clinical roles, including leading a range of partnerships and collaborations across the Sussex health and care system. A specialist in public involvement, Jane has experience in commissioning, quality improvement, equality, diversity and inclusion, complaints management and Population Health Management approaches. Working at neighbourhood, local and national level has brought a depth and breadth of perspectives that Jane now brings to teaching. Passionate about reducing health inequalities, Jane has experience in leading projects across Sussex to ensure the voices and experiences on those who are marginalised are heard and used to shape and improve care and outcomes. 

j.lodge@bsms.ac.uk

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Charlotte Manu

C.Manu@bsms.ac.uk

Claire Martin
Programme Administrator

 C.A.Martin@brighton.ac.uk

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Elizabeth Morris
Programme Administrator

E.Morris@bsms.ac.uk

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Dominic O'Brien
Lecturer in Anatomy

At BSMS, Dominic primarily delivers teaching to first and second-year medical students, contributing to anatomy teaching across most modules, and leads the anatomy teaching for module 202 (Neuroscience and Behaviour).

D.O'Brien@bsms.ac.uk

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Rebekah Ohene
Lecturer in Physician Associate Studies

R.Ohene@bsms.ac.uk

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Professor Mike Okorie
Professor of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics

M.Okorie@bsms.ac.uk

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Jemina Onimowo

J.Onimowo@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Sean O'Nunain
Course Lead (Cardiology)

S.O'Nunain@brighton.ac.uk

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Dr Lisa Page
Clinical Senior Lecturer in Medication Education and Psychiatry

Lisa has worked as a Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist at the Royal Sussex County Hospital since 2011, where she sees a wide range of psychiatric presentations including self-harm, organic psychiatry, medically unexplained symptoms, adjustment disorders and trauma presentations. In January 2020, Lisa took up a new role as Clinical Senior Lecturer in Medical Education and Psychiatry at BSMS.  One of the aims of this role is to improve and enhance the Psychiatry training offered to BSMS medical undergraduates.

lisa.page@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

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Dr Marija Pantelic
Senior Lecturer in Public Health

Marija is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at BSMS. Prior to joining BSMS she was a Senior Advisor for Research and Evaluation the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (now Frontline AIDS), a global partnership of civil society organisations that work together to mobilise communities against HIV and AIDS. Marija is an associate member of the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, Oxford University; member of the International Scientific Advisory Board for the AIDS Impact Conference; and member of the Technical Working Group of the Global Partnership for Action to Eliminate HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination. 

M.Pantelic@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Kamal Patel
Course Leader (Paediatrics and Child Health)

Dr Kamal Patel works full time as a Consultant Paediatrician at The Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton. He is the Clinical Lead for Level 2 Paediatric Critical Care where he developed the unit’s expertise in paediatric acute non-invasive ventilation leading to 2 national innovation and safety awards in 2016 and the KSS leadership award in quality and safety in 2017.

k.patel@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Tilly Paz
Lecturer in Public Health

Tilly has a very extensive teaching experience in academic and non-academic settings and she lectured and facilitated workshops with people from many age groups and all walks of life. She currently leads on the Global Public Health module and contributes to many others.

t.paz@bsms.ac.uk

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Bella Penny
Lecturer in Pysician Associate Education

A.Penny@bsms.ac.uk

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Emily Pitt
Medical Education Manager 

e.pitt@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Katherine Pitt
Lecturer in Medical Education

Kate is a Lecturer in Medical Education and General Practitioner in Homeless and Inclusion Health. She studied Human Sciences at Oxford University, before achieving distinction in her medical degree from University College London. She combined academic with general practice training, and published research and educational articles, mainly on the healthcare response to domestic abuse. 

K.Pitt2@bsms.ac.uk

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Luke Reid
Deputy Head of Anatomy

Luke holds a MSc in Human Anatomy from the University of Edinburgh. Since 2016, he worked as a Lecturer in Anatomical Science at the University of Dundee, with short-term post at the University of St. Andrews. Luke holds an honorary post as a research fellow in the NHS Tayside ENT department and has contributed anatomical expertise to a number of postgraduate surgical training courses. 

L.reid2@bsms.ac.uk

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Sarah Robinson

S.Robinson3@bsms.ac.uk

Gabby Rose
Lecturer in Physician Associate Studies

Gabby graduated as a Physician Associate (PA) from BSMS in 2020 and has worked as a PA in local hospital trusts ever since, predominantly in Elderly Care. She joined the BSMS team in 2023 as a lecturer for the Physician Associate course.

G.Rose@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Sebastian Shaw
Lecturer in Medical Education

Seb grew up local to Brighton in the countryside of West Sussex. BSMS has been at the heart of his career since he first came to the university as a medical student. He returned to BSMS as an Honorary Research Fellow in 2017, before stepping up to the role of Honorary Clinical Lecturer in 2020.

S.Shaw2@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Duncan Shrewsbury
Reader in Clinical Education & Primary Care

Duncan (they/them) is a queer academic GP, practicing in Brighton.

As a Reader in Clinical Education & Primary Care at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, they are the Deputy Lead for Curriculum Development, the research lead for the Department of Medical Education, and the lead the Academic GP training for the medical school.

d.shrewsbury@bsms.ac.uk

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Professor Claire Smith
Professor of Anatomy, BSMS, and Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (Education and Innovation), University of Sussex

Professor Smith is a world leading expert on anatomy education, with over a hundred publications in the field. An award winning innovator and educator her passion is to understand how students learn anatomy. She has researched, and been a public advocator for increasing awareness of body donation and the positive impact learning on donors has. Professor Smith teaches on all aspects of the body at a range of levels, from 6th form students to the Royal College of Surgeons. Her leadership has placed BSMS Anatomy as a renowned centre for study and in her own words “It’s always a privilege to work with donors and students to help them advance their knowledge and practice to improve science understanding and patient care”.

C.Smith@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Roelof Joe Stammeijer
Lecturer in Medical Education

Dr Joe Stammeijer graduated from Guys, King’s and St Thomas’s School of Medicine with his MBBS and a BSc in Psychology in 2016, and after foundation years in Brighton and London trained in Core Psychiatry in Yorkshire. A brief detour into Emergency Medicine occurred during the Covid-19 Pandemic, where after working as the High Intensity User fellow he completed his PGCE in Medical Education at BSMS.

j.stammeijer@bsms.ac.uk

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Danya Stone
Lecturer in Anatomy

Danya has been an anatomy lecturer at BSMS since 2019 and teaches on undergraduate medical and biomedical science courses and the postgraduate physician associate course. Danya is also conducting a part-time PhD project looking at the emotional experiences of students learning anatomy through cadaveric dissection. 

d.stone@bsms.ac.uk

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Charlotte Street 
Course Coordinator

C.Street@bsms.ac.uk

Heidi Taylor
Senior Medical Education Co-Ordinator

Heidi is the Course Co-Ordinator for Internal Medicine, Simulation in Clinical Practice & Dental Implant Reconstructive Surgery. If you have any admin queries about modules, assignments, tutorials & need advice in general on any of the courses she looks after, Heidi is the person you need to speak to.

H.Taylor@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Phil Thompson
Course Leader for the Clinical Radiology MSc

Phil Thompson has been a Consultant General and Interventional Radiologist at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust since 2004, with particular interests in urological and gastrointestinal imaging and intervention. He has been Head of the Health Education England South East School of Radiology since 2014, having previously been Sussex Radiology Training Programme Director.

phil.thompson2@nhs.net

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Anouk van der Avoirt
Honorary Senior Lecturer

Anouk van der Avoirt has always had a particular interest in teaching and training and has been the local PD for Higher Surgical Trainees for many years, and was TPD for Core Surgical Training in KSS for seven years. She is responsible for the undergraduate paediatric Surgical Curriculum at BSMS. From 2018, she will be running the Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient (CCrisp) course in Brighton, to which her Masters students will have priority access.

a.vanderavoirt@nhs.net

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Rochelle Van Kan

R.VanKan2@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Poothirikovil Venugopalan
Deputy Course Leader, Paediatrics and Child Health, and Cardiology

pvenugopalan1@nhs.net

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Claire Webster
Digital Projects Officer

Claire has a background in genetic research and analytical approach to problem-solving; within BSMS this approach is applied to improvement projects that help systems run more smoothly. She enjoys problem-solving and working towards defined goals, making project work very rewarding. 

C.Webster@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Geoffery Wells
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education and Palliative Medicine

Geoffrey is a Senior Lecturer at BSMS, and Consultant in Palliative Medicine at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (ESHT). Upon completion of specialist training in 2022 he undertook a locum consultant position at ESHT before obtaining his current substantive post at BSMS.

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Dr Rebecca Winter
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education and Geriatric Medicine

Rebecca shares her time between teaching and research for BSMS and the Royal Sussex County Hospital where she is an Honorary Consultant in Elderly Medicine, with an interest in patients with frailty who have breast cancer.

r.winter2@bsms.ac.uk

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Esther Yong
Teaching Fellow in Medical Education

E.Yong@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Elaney Youssef
Lecturer in Medical Education

Elaney is a lecturer and health services researcher with an interest in HIV, public health and medical education. She graduated from the University of Southampton with a BSc in Physiology and an MSc in Public Health Nutrition before moving to University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (formerly known as Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust), where she worked in clinical research within the field of HIV and sexual health. In 2015 Elaney received an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship to undertake a PhD at BSMS entitled ‘Barriers and facilitators to testing for HIV in people aged ≥ 50 years’, which she completed in 2019. Since that time Elaney has worked as a lecturer at BSMS in the department of Medical Education. 

e.youssef@bsms.ac.uk

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