Healing through connection
#CelebratingEngagement
with Alexandra Cardoso Pinto
“Research and medicine exist to serve people, to help people. But for our work to be meaningful, it has to be understood.”
“I chose Imperial because I wanted a varied career, but I chose medicine because I wanted to help people”, says Dr Alexandra Cardoso Pinto. It’s been almost a year since she won the Student Award at the 2024 President’s Awards for Societal Engagement, and this philosophy to go above and beyond to help people is as present in Alexandra’s work now as it was when she first realised she wanted to pursue a medical career.
Now a Specialised Academic Foundation Doctor in Oxford, Alexandra was a medical student at Imperial until graduating in June 2024, but still retains an Honorary Clinical Researcher position within the School of Public Health. Alexandra embraces broad and complex questions within the health landscape, asking “How can we identify what we need to do? What’s going to have the biggest, best impact on the lives and health of people? How can we create that?” These big-picture questions are what inspired Alexandra to pursue a BSc in Global Health during her intercalated study year in 2022.
“Research and medicine exist to serve people, to help people. But for our work to be meaningful, it has to be understood.”
“I chose Imperial because I wanted a varied career, but I chose medicine because I wanted to help people”, says Dr Alexandra Cardoso Pinto. It’s been almost a year since she won the Student Award at the 2024 President’s Awards for Societal Engagement, and this philosophy to go above and beyond to help people is as present in Alexandra’s work now as it was when she first realised she wanted to pursue a medical career.
Now a Specialised Academic Foundation Doctor in Oxford, Alexandra was a medical student at Imperial until graduating in June 2024, but still retains an Honorary Clinical Researcher position within the School of Public Health. Alexandra embraces broad and complex questions within the health landscape, asking “How can we identify what we need to do? What’s going to have the biggest, best impact on the lives and health of people? How can we create that?” These big-picture questions are what inspired Alexandra to pursue a BSc in Global Health during her intercalated study year in 2022.
Whilst the bigger picture may be what fascinates Alexandra, where she really thrives is working with people, being able to look them in the eye and provide support for them on a human level as much as a professional one. On top of her already significant workload studying for her degree, Alexandra got involved in and led several engagement projects. This ultimately saw her take home the award in 2024, something she described as a “pinch yourself moment.”
It’s easy to see why Alexandra was selected by the panel. Her output of engagement projects, alongside her studies, is an incredibly impressive body of work. Over the COVID-19 pandemic, Alexandra was elected co-chair of Teddy Bear Hospital, a programme that visits primary schools to explain healthcare and address ‘White Coat Syndrome,’ which refers to the stress a patient may feel in a medical environment. During a time of heightened medical anxiety and school closures, Alexandra and her team created online games and activities that provided positive support to a large number of children. She also volunteered with Play Team to help frightened children in hospitals, and ran a mentoring programme for disadvantaged pupils considering careers in healthcare.
Whilst the bigger picture may be what fascinates Alexandra, where she really thrives is working with people, being able to look them in the eye and provide support for them on a human level as much as a professional one. On top of her already significant workload studying for her degree, Alexandra got involved in and led several engagement projects. This ultimately saw her take home the award in 2024, something she described as a “pinch yourself moment.”
It’s easy to see why Alexandra was selected by the panel. Her output of engagement projects, alongside her studies, is an incredibly impressive body of work. Over the COVID-19 pandemic, Alexandra was elected co-chair of Teddy Bear Hospital, a programme that visits primary schools to explain healthcare and address ‘White Coat Syndrome,’ which refers to the stress a patient may feel in a medical environment. During a time of heightened medical anxiety and school closures, Alexandra and her team created online games and activities that provided positive support to a large number of children. She also volunteered with Play Team to help frightened children in hospitals, and ran a mentoring programme for disadvantaged pupils considering careers in healthcare.
Alexandra reminisces of a particularly touching moment from her time at Play Team when a woman asked her to visit her daughter, who was particularly upset. The mother had to see her other child, who was in A&E, but was worried to leave the daughter who was so afraid she wasn’t even looking up, let alone speaking. Alexandra asked her about some drawings which she spotted by the girl’s side, and after showing an interest and asking her questions, she started doing some drawing with her. The girl slowly began to make eye contact, then to speak. By the time her mother returned half an hour later, the two were performing a duet of ‘Let It Go' from Frozen accompanied by Alexandra’s ukelele.
It’s a heartwarming story, and it highlights the essence of Alexandra’s skills, motivations and why she has gone out of her way to do so much engagement work.
“None of these things were a career move - it was always things that I wanted to do. It was things that brought me a lot of joy.”
She is proudly bookish, but her passion lies with people: “I find it fun to study whatever new disease I’ve just heard about, but it’s never as fun as actually being with people, speaking to them, understanding them and what they understand about the work we’re doing” she elaborated.
Engaging with the public is something that helps Alexandra find meaning and joy in her work, but it's also something that she sees as an essential means for medicine to function in its goal of helping people. “Societal engagement was really what brought a lot of meaning and impact to the work I was doing. I think research and medicine exist to serve and help people, but for our work to be meaningful, it has to be understood. It has to be trusted. It has to be informed by the communities that we’re trying to help” she says.
Alexandra reminisces of a particularly touching moment from her time at Play Team when a woman asked her to visit her daughter, who was particularly upset. The mother had to see her other child, who was in A&E, but was worried to leave the daughter who was so afraid she wasn’t even looking up, let alone speaking. Alexandra asked her about some drawings which she spotted by the girl’s side, and after showing an interest and asking her questions, she started doing some drawing with her. The girl slowly began to make eye contact, then to speak. By the time her mother returned half an hour later, the two were performing a duet of ‘Let It Go' from Frozen accompanied by Alexandra’s ukelele.
It’s a heartwarming story, and it highlights the essence of Alexandra’s skills, motivations and why she has gone out of her way to do so much engagement work.
“None of these things were a career move - it was always things that I wanted to do. It was things that brought me a lot of joy.”
She is proudly bookish, but her passion lies with people: “I find it fun to study whatever new disease I’ve just heard about, but it’s never as fun as actually being with people, speaking to them, understanding them and what they understand about the work we’re doing” she elaborated.
Engaging with the public is something that helps Alexandra find meaning and joy in her work, but it's also something that she sees as an essential means for medicine to function in its goal of helping people. “Societal engagement was really what brought a lot of meaning and impact to the work I was doing. I think research and medicine exist to serve and help people, but for our work to be meaningful, it has to be understood. It has to be trusted. It has to be informed by the communities that we’re trying to help” she says.
"Engagement is what creates that two-way dialogue. It’s not just about disseminating knowledge and sharing what we know, it’s about listening, co-creating, and learning from people.”
As somebody who thinks in both macro- and micro-scale terms, she also sees engagement as a way of helping her to improve as a doctor. “It's easy to get stuck in your own world of numbers and scientific writing, and easy to forget what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. When somebody asks me, ‘why do I have high blood pressure’, I say ‘that’s a really good question!’ Having to explain medical issues in simple terms definitely helps me to understand things a bit better.”
Alexandra is keen to express that the work that led to the award in 2024 was a team effort, and speaking to her it felt as though the biggest privilege was to be able to take part in teams full of exceptional people doing special, life-changing work. Whilst she has left Imperial in a clinical capacity, her people-focussed philosophy still drives her work and inspires her to grow, taking on initiatives such as introducing medical careers to young children, and teaching the ABCs of resuscitation and how to ask for help during an emergency.
"Engagement is what creates that two-way dialogue. It’s not just about disseminating knowledge and sharing what we know, it’s about listening, co-creating, and learning from people.”
As somebody who thinks in both macro- and micro-scale terms, she also sees engagement as a way of helping her to improve as a doctor. “It's easy to get stuck in your own world of numbers and scientific writing, and easy to forget what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. When somebody asks me, ‘why do I have high blood pressure’, I say ‘that’s a really good question!’ Having to explain medical issues in simple terms definitely helps me to understand things a bit better.”
Alexandra is keen to express that the work that led to the award in 2024 was a team effort, and speaking to her it felt as though the biggest privilege was to be able to take part in teams full of exceptional people doing special, life-changing work. Whilst she has left Imperial in a clinical capacity, her people-focussed philosophy still drives her work and inspires her to grow, taking on initiatives such as introducing medical careers to young children, and teaching the ABCs of resuscitation and how to ask for help during an emergency.
“It’s all a learning process, and there’s a lot to be learned still, certainly for me”, she says. As well as taking on a new Public Engagement course, she mentions her work collaborating with the charity Eh!woza and University of Cape Town which is engaging the public – including children and young people – on global health images, allowing them to have a say on how they are used and what they would like to change.
Alexandra believes medicine exists to help people, and that curiosity and compassion are essential to achieving that goal. To her, understanding people is the key to making it happen. “No matter if you’re talking to an adult, a kid, or a teenager, it’s about building a relationship, and trust. It’s about curiosity about who they are” she explains. “And for kids especially: listen, smile, and the rest will happen.”
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