Nadine Abbas

Medical Student

HLA Cohort: 1^st Cohort, Founding scholar

Highlight of HLA experience: “I can’t say it enough, the HLA has been such a great place to connect with like-minded students and to have been given the privilege to hear leaders from different sectors talk. Additionally, through my work as a videographer on Not Just a Medical Student, I was lucky to be invited by one of the faculty members to Norway to host a workshop at the Annual Junior Doctors Conference.”

Biography: I applied during my intercalated year when I saw a tweet regarding a brand new leadership academy called The HLA accepting applications. It looked like an innovative approach to enhancing leadership but I wasn’t sure exactly what it would entail. I was on holiday at the time and with the imminent deadline, I submitted my application whilst in the car, on my way to the mall!

Having had previous leadership roles at university, The HLA looked like a new innovative idea that would allow me to build upon and enhance my skills. More importantly, I wanted to learn about other students and healthcare professionals and their experiences of what leadership meant to them.

Having been part of the first cohort of scholars, I truly enjoyed the experience. The HLA is very much still evolving and each year new events and workshops are added. From my time at The HLA, I very much gained a supportive network and was fortunate enough to attend talks by leaders from different sectors. I believe the HLA also builds your confidence and self esteem encouraging you to undertake projects you wouldn’t have otherwise.

The HLA also makes sure to keep alumni still very much involved, so you never really leave!

Project(s) undertaken: During my time at the HLA we had to undertake individual projects, and with my passion of videography and medicine I decided to combine them.

To inspire tomorrow’s doctors to be creative, there is a need to engage them with latest innovations, technology and conferences within various specialties. However, currently these themes are scarcely covered in the timetabled medical curriculum.

I therefore created and launched an innovative bite-size medical education video series that had gained traction quickly with currently over 1000+ followers on Facebook called Not Just a Medical Student reaching and enhancing medical students experience across the UK. It seeks to INSPIRE, ENGAGE and INFORM tomorrow’s doctors with videos like none before.

The Not Just a Medical Student medical education videos has won multiple awards including ‘The Association of The Study of Medical Education (ASME) Educator Innovator Award 2017’.

The videos feature many of the other scholars of the HLA cohort. The work has also been presented as oral and poster presentations at various conferences.

SOCIAL

Article(s) published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/just-medical-student-nadine-abbas/