Inaugural Lectures of Prof Anita Berlin and Prof Graham Easton

You are invited to join the next event in the FMD Inaugural Lecture series with Prof Anita Berlin and Prof Graham Easton. Please note that this is a joint event with two individual lectures followed by a reception.

Please note that this is an in person event only.

Event schedule

4.30pm - Event starts, Introduction of Prof Anita Berlin

4.35pm - Transforming education at the Deep End - Inaugural lecture by Prof Anita Berlin

5.15pm - Introduction of Prof Graham Easton

5.20pm - The Power of Story: from the newsroom to the consulting room - Inaugural lecture by Prof Graham Easton

6.00pm - Reception

Transforming education at the Deep End

During my career as a GP and academic I have seen the importance of generalism in managing increasingly complex case-mix in particular in the deprived and excluded communities with whom I have worked. Addressing the challenges encountered in this Deep End of medical practice offers exceptional potential for health and education systems. In this lecture I follow the strands of my own academic work tracing the developments of primary care and its role in education in the UK and internationally. I consider the idea of leadership of learning and how we might prepare health professionals not only to be clinical experts, but also to act as advocates, change agents and stewards of health systems in an uncertain world. Using examples from past work with marginalised communities: students from under represented areas; people at the end of their lives and their carers; and refugees and undocumented migrants I hope to provoke reflection on the future of medical education.

Speaker bio

Anita Berlin is an inner city GP and a Professor of Primary Care Education at the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry (Barts and The London) at Queen Mary University of London (where she Head of Community Based Medical Education from 2017 to 22). Anita has a Masters and Doctorate from the Institute of Education, London. Her academic focus is health equity, leadership of learning, and quality governance of educational and clinical institutions. She is dedicated to modernising the medical curriculum and developing academic opportunities in primary care. Her third sector work includes supporting unpaid carers, and asylum seekers, survivors of torture, trafficking and modern day slavery. Throughout her career she has been involved in international educational development projects principally in Spain, Latin America and currently in the Middle East.

The Power of Story: from the newsroom to the consulting room

As humans we are hardwired for storytelling; stories help us to make sense of the world and our inner selves, to make connections with others, and to remember things. As a BBC journalist I was trained to use stories to engage an audience and communicate complex medicine and science, whether reporting on Dolly the sheep, the science of aspirin, or the Ebola crisis in West Africa. In this lecture I will show how medicine is starting to catch up – it’s now becoming clear how stories can also be powerful tools in educating future doctors, and in understanding doctor-patient consultations, where stories are central to connecting with patients and helping people to live their best lives.

Speaker bio

Graham Easton is a GP and Professor of Clinical Communication Skills at Barts and The London Medical School, QMUL. He studied medicine at The London Hospital Medical College before training as a GP on the Oxford Region scheme. He then studied for a master’s in Science Communication at Imperial College which led to a role as senior producer in the BBC Radio Science Unit, where he presented Radio 4’s flagship medical programme Case Notes for many years. After a spell as an editor at the BMJ, he has combined medical journalism with part-time clinical practice and medical education. He was acting head of undergraduate GP teaching, and then a Programme Director for GP specialty training at Imperial College, and his research at the Institute of Education explored how lecturers use narratives in medical teaching. He was elected to Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2017. He has written or edited several books, including The Appointment - the story of a morning surgery told from inside the mind of a GP - which was selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club.