Shaping tomorrow’s doctors: Dr Emma Keeling on Imperial’s educational partnerships

From London to Singapore and beyond, Dr Emma Keeling, Associate Dean for Educational Partnerships, shares how Imperial College London's global partnerships are transforming medical education to meet diverse healthcare needs around the world.

Who are you and what do you do here? 

I’m the Associate Dean for Educational Partnerships at Imperial and have been in this role since January 2023, though I’ve been working at Imperial for a decade. Alongside my role at Imperial, I’malso a General Practitioner. I started out teaching in the Medical School and have transitioned through various roles. My journey began in the Primary Care Teaching Team within the School of Public Health, where I worked as an Academic Clinical Trainee during my GP training then a  a Teaching Fellow. I later joined the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) project, a collaborative partnership between Imperial and Nanyang Technological University to develop a joint medical school in Singapore. As the Academic Lead for LKCMedicine, I led a curriculum review and helped to  refine the curriculum. Since becoming Associate Dean for Educational Partnerships, my role has expanded to include exploring new educational partnerships that will benefit our faculty, staff and students. One recent example of that is the Pears Cumbria School of Medicine (PCSM), a collaborative and inclusive medical school developed through our partnership with the University of Cumbria.  

What is the vision for the Pears Cumbria School of Medicine? 

The vision was always clear: to create a medical school in Cumbria, for Cumbria. Everyone involved is committed to this goal, from the staff at Imperial to the staff at the University of Cumbria, and the local healthcare providers. This shared vision and passion has helped us effectively tell our story, gaining support from NHS England and securing generous funding from the Pears Foundation. This unified commitment has been key to our success in building a medical school tailored specifically to Cumbria’s healthcare needs. It really has been a great example of partnership working. 

Why does Imperial collaborate on projects like LKCMedicine and PCSM instead of just focusing on teaching students in London? 

These partnerships help us extend our reach both nationally and internationally, creating unique opportunities in education, research, and other areas. For example, over the years, we’ve built a wealth of experience in establishing new medical schools, and these initiatives open doors for joint research projects, student exchange programmes, and other cross-cultural experiences that are mutually beneficial for our students and our partners. These partnerships aren’t about franchising but rather about understanding and catering to the specific needs of each community, such as the healthcare requirements in Cumbria and Singapore.  

We worked with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) to explore establishing a third medical school there. Currently, Hong Kong has two long-established medical schools, but due to growing healthcare demands, there is a pressing need for more doctors to support the national healthcare system there. HKUST, like Imperial, has a strong foundation in research, science, engineering, and business, making it an ideal home for the new medical school.  We worked closely with HKUST and local partners to understand Hong Kong's unique healthcare landscape and cultural context, leveraging our experiences to design a curriculum tailored to meet the city’s needs. HKUST were successful in their bid to host the third medical school and plan to open to new students in 2028.   

What would you say are the biggest successes or takeaways from the LKCMedicine partnership? 

In my mind, the biggest success has been the students. We’ve now had seven cohorts of graduate doctors who are all contributing significantly to Singapore’s healthcare system. I’m very proud to have been part of that. I think we’ve also been able to learn a lot from LKCMedicine. They are highly innovative and excel in team-based learning, an approach we’ve now adopted in our own programmes here in London. The partnership has also achieved international recognition, with LKCMedicine entering the QS rankings as one of the highest-ranking of any new medical school. It has been a very positive and mutually enriching collaboration. 

As a research-intensive university, what differentiates our MBBS course, and do we bring that same approach to Cumbria and Singapore? 

We’ve learned that each environment has unique needs. For instance, though Imperial is focussed on developing clinician scientists, the curriculum at LKCMedicine and PCSM is tailored to reflect the healthcare priorities and resources available locally. We firmly believe that medical schools should be tailored to fit the specific environment, culture, and healthcare infrastructure of each location. PCSM, for example, is community-oriented, focusing on addressing the specific public health needs of the region. We did a huge amount of work in the early stages of the partnership with colleagues at the University of Cumbria, the local hospitals, GPs, and other healthcare providers to make sure we were getting it right. 

What has the university’s strategy – in particular Imperial Global – meant for you and your team, especially in terms of future international partnerships? 

It’s a really thrilling time for us. The LKCMedicine partnership in Singapore, for example, was a significant milestone, and our new global hubs, like the one in Ghana, offer further opportunities for educational and research exchanges. We’re excited about expanding not just through major projects but also through smaller initiatives, such as student exchanges through our Intercalated BSc, or local consultancy roles, that align with the local community's needs. 

Cultural sensitivity seems vital in these partnerships. Has that been your experience? 

Absolutely. Understanding how our partners work in terms of business practices, health, and culture is essential to building strong partnerships. I think it's imperative to understand the culture and not expect everybody to align with our customs. While our mission in medicine is universal – to improve patient outcomes – we know that adapting to each partner’s unique cultural context is key to successful collaboration.

What project are you most proud of? 

PCSM is certainly a proud achievement. From its inception as an idea, we’ve developed it into a fully operational school that has welcomed its first students. It's become much bigger than the few of us that were initially involved in starting it, and much more real. While I’m no longer involved in the day-to-day operations, I’m proud to have been instrumental in the beginnings of the school. The Cumbria-based team is doing an exceptional job, and I’m excited to see what the future holds for them and the school.  

What future successes do you envision for both you and Imperial? 

I’m passionate about the quality of medical education that we deliver and ensuring we maintain high standards in all Imperial-affiliated schools, even if it’s done in a different way – that’s a non-negotiable. Personally, I hope we can collaborate with an international partner to develop, or contribute to the development of, a new medical school. One advantage of my role is that it's not predictable. I could be doing something very different next year, and that's something that I love.

Imperial is great because of the great people, both within the faculty and across the university, who have supported us immensely – particularly in the development of PCSM. The level of collaboration across the college has been essential to our success. Being such a large institution with experts not only in academia but across various fields, we could truly bring together a wealth of knowledge and experience to make it happen.