Hemel ModiYear of completion
2014

Current role
General Surgery SpR & PhD Student

The most beneficial things about the programme

  • The incredible dedication and support of the faculty is second to none.
  • Hearing from external speakers who are world renowned in the field of medical education, including some unique professions such as tailors from Savile Row and Potters!
  • Developing a completely different way of thinking and writing about education to what were are used to as clinicians. Rather than education being a process which we are involved in from time to time, the M.Ed encourages you to immerse yourself in the philosophical, psychological, and sociological foundations of education

My main areas of interest in surgical education

  • Skills learning and assessment
  • Neurocognitive mechanisms that under pin surgical performance

Title of my dissertation
Effective supervision in surgical training: a phenomenological analysis of trainees’ experiences

The most important outcome of my research

  • Learning how to conduct qualitative research
  • Gaining an understanding of what trainees want from professional supervision, enabling deaneries to tailor supervision arrangements accordingly

Since getting my degree, here are some of the things I’ve done in education

  • I presented my dissertation at AMEE as an oral presentation

Next I'd like to
I’m currently pursuing a PhD in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial looking at activation in the prefrontal cortex (measured using near infrared spectroscopy – see picture of me wearing the headset!) in surgeons during stressful events in the operating theatre. My most recent study has exposed the subtle differences between junior and senior trainees in terms of how their brains cope with stress and how this reflects in their motor performance. As part of my research I hope to eventually develop cognitive training strategies for trainees that allow them to improve their performance under pressure.