The Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences (NDPCHS) recently held its second annual Career Pathways to Academic Primary Care showcase event for both undergraduate and Graduate Entry medical students. The event took place on Tuesday, 21 November in the St Hilda's College Rooftop Garden Suite. After presentations, around 70 attending students enjoyed complementary drinks and dinner while networking in the scenic Riverside Pavilion.
The event was held to enable us to spotlight academic primary care as an appealing and viable career option for current students. Many enter medical school aspiring to a career in research but remain undecided on a clinical specialty. This forum served as targeted outreach divulging the rewarding prospects of academic general practice. Through dynamic talks, both early career and senior academics within our department shared first-hand insight into pursuing research and embarking on a route into teaching.
Our aim is to attract passionate and talented students to join us in our work in driving innovation in primary care. By highlighting diverse career timelines and opportunities for high-impact scholarship, we are optimistic that more newly qualified doctors will embrace a career in Primary Care, and so shape the future of healthcare. Dr Julian Hancock, Academic Lead for Undergraduate GP Teaching
Soon after the event, Dr David Nunan, Departmental Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow in NDPCHS reported a marked increase in interest from students planning to choose NDPCHS as the host for their third year (‘FHS’) research projects.
Dr Jack Amiry, Honorary Lecturer in Medicine at NDPCHS said, 'My favourite quote from one student at the dinner was, "I was thinking about the possibility of GP for the last few years, but now I'm sure about it" '.
Overall feedback from the event suggests these sentiments resonated with the other attendees. With another student adding: ‘“The diversity both of talk topics and of the speakers' experience was fab! As someone that sometimes gets a little lost in the academic speak, this was really accessible and therefore truly useful. I'm also someone not on the traditional path, again inspiring to see how the abnormal, is actually pretty normal.
I also want to compliment the venue choice, it felt really professional and modern.
At no point did I feel like I was disengaging, which is great because I want to be able to give all my attention to every speaker!’”
The department plans to run the Career Pathways to Academic Primary Care again next year. More details of this event and our undergraduate teaching is available at: Undergraduate Study — Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford
