Meet Colin Bicknell - Health Policy

What course do you teach on and what is your role?

Colin BicknellI am the Course Director for Health Policy.

How has your career led you to teaching?

I trained at Southampton Medical School and Imperial and was awarded Bachelor of Medicine and Doctor of Medicine degrees. I was appointed as Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Vascular Surgeon at the Imperial Vascular Unit, London in 2009 and am presently Head of Specialty for Vascular Surgery. I am a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and a member of the Vascular Surgical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, the British Society of Endovascular Therapy, the Royal Society of Medicine and the European Society of Vascular Surgery. I am a board member of the Section of surgery council and the Educational Reference Group at the Royal Society of Medicine. I was the Chair of the British Society of Endovascular Therapy Annual Conference Committee from 2013-17.

What aspect of the course do you enjoy teaching the most?

The research skills development of students over the two year part time MSc is the most rewarding part of the teaching in my opinion. We try and weave the research skills teaching into the modules and teach critical appraisal, research design and writing. At the end some truly impressive research theses are produced on all manner of policy aspects.

What do you hope your students will go on to achieve on completion of this course?

Simply to look at the evidence in developing policy with an open mind and a different lens to when they started.

What is your favorite part about teaching at Imperial College London?

The students!