In this episode of the RCP Medicine podcast, Dr Rohan Mehra, an Infectious Diseases and Microbiology registrar with an interest in conflict and catastrophe medicine, delves into the critical issue of pandemic preparedness. As we reflect on the challenges faced during the COVID-19, and other pandemics, the question remains: how ready are we for the next inevitable outbreak? Joining Dr. Mehra is Professor Tom Solomon, a leading expert with nearly three decades of experience in emerging infections.  

Professor Solomon is the Professor of Neurological Science and Head of the Brain Infections Group at the University of Liverpool. He led the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Infection and Global Health and founded the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections. His work has been pivotal in responding to Ebola, Zika, COVID-19, and mpox (formerly monkeypox).

As Director of The Pandemic Institute in Liverpool and Vice President (International) of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor Solomon is a leading expert in pandemic preparedness. He also engages with the public through his media appearances and the Scouse Science Podcast.

Together, they explore the lessons learned from past pandemics and discuss what needs to be done to safeguard our future.

Links and resources:

The pandemic institute - https://www.thepandemicinstitute.org/

The WHO pandemic hub - https://pandemichub.who.int/ 

CEPI (coalition for epidemic preparedness Innovations) - https://cepi.net/ 

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Episodes 1 - 49 'Impressive Deals' - Nicolai Heidlas

Listen to Dr Rohan Mehra, RCP clinical education fellow, (Infectious diseases/microbiology SPR) and Dr Mumtaz Patel, as they shine a spotlight on female leadership in healthcare. They discuss many of the issues facing women in leadership position within healthcare and the challenges faced in reaching those positions. Inequality remains deeply engrained within the healthcare workforce and urgently needs addressed and Mumtaz and Rohan outline how this could be done.
Dr Mumtaz Patel is a consultant in nephrology in Manchester as well as senior censor and vice president for education performing presidential duties including chair of council for the RCP. Mumtaz previously launched a global women leaders programme, on which she remains an active educator, which empowers female physicians to advance into leadership roles, which continues to be hugely successful to this day. This programme aims to narrow the gender leadership gap globally and is tailored to a local context to address these issues in smart sustainable targeted ways. It is also aligned to the Emerging women’s leaders programme which focuses on the same issues within the UK which Mumtaz has also been instrumental in creating. Mumtaz also recently won the prestigious ‘Outstanding Leader award’ at the Global women in Healthcare awards.

This episode was funded by Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited. Vertex had no involvement in the creation and elaboration of this episode and all views and opinions expressed by the presenter and guests are solely their own.

Resources:

https://www.rcp.ac.uk/events-and-education/education-and-learning/clinicians-as-leaders/emerging-women-leaders-programme

https://www.rcp.ac.uk/news-and-media/news-and-opinion/celebrating-international-women-s-day-2024-global-women-leaders-programme/ 

References:

1. Female global health leadership: data-driven approaches to close the gender gap. Lancet 2019; 393: 521-523.
2. Downs JA, Reif LK, Hokororo A, Fitzgerald DW. Increasing women in leadership in global health. Acad Med 2014; 89: 1103–07.
3. HRH Global Resource Center. Resource spotlight: gender and health workforce statistics. https://www.hrhresourcecenter.org/gender_stats (accessed Dec 25, 2020).
4. Kwedi Nolna SK, Essama Mekongo PE, Leke RGF. Mentoring for early-career women in health research: the HIGHER Women Consortium approach. Glob Health Epidemiol Genom 2017; 2: e3.
5. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/health-workforce/en-exec-summ-delivered-by-women-led-by-men.pdf 
6. Linka

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Episodes 1 - 49 'Impressive Deals' - Nicolai Heidlas

Listen to Dr Rohan Mehra, RCP clinical education fellow, (Infectious diseases/microbiology SPR) and Professor Habib Naqvi as they highlight health inequalities that exist due to race and what you can do to improve this situation. Sadly, racism is still pervasive in society and healthcare is not immune from this and needs urgently addressed. They explore some of the inequalities that exist due to race, how they need to be tackled and what you can do in your daily practice to try and address these ongoing  challenges.

Professor Habib Naqviis Chief Executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory in the UK, which works to identify and tackle ethnic inequalities in healthcare by facilitating evidence, making health policy recommendations, and enabling long-term transformational change. Habib has worked in healthcare for 25 years, he’s spoken and written widely on health equity and was awarded an MBE in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to equality and diversity in the NHS. Habib is listed in the Health Service Journal’s ‘100 most influential people in health’.

Further information on the NHS Race and Health Observatory can be found here: https://www.nhsrho.org/ 

Funding
This podcast has been made with an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited (“BMS”). BMS has had no input or involvement in the design, development or content of the podcast whatsoever. 

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Episodes 1 - 49 'Impressive Deals' - Nicolai Heidlas

Listen to Dr Charly Annesley (Consultant Learning Disability physician) and Dr Rebecca Kuruvilla (RCP clinical education fellow and Clinical Pharmacology and GIM registrar) discuss health inequalities in the population of patients living with a learning disability and why we need more physicians who are trained in this area of medicine. They also talk to Dr Alex Tyler who is an ST6 registrar in Geriatrics and GIM who is completing a PG certificate in Medical Practice in Adult Learning Disability.

Dr Charly Annesley is a consultant learning disability physician. She works at North Middlesex University hospital in London, having set up the first and only post of its kind in the country. She is also an honorary clinical lecturer and course lead for a postgraduate certificate in Learning Disability Medicine that is run with the RCP and Edge hill university.

Links:
Training Programme to meet the Medical Needs of Adults with a Learning Disability | RCP London

Learning from Lives and Deaths - people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) - King's College London (kcl.ac.uk)

BTS clinical statement on aspiration pneumonia | Thorax (bmj.com)

BTS Clinical Statement on the prevention and management of community-acquired pneumonia in people with learning disability | Thorax (bmj.com)

Master LeDeR 2023 (2022 report) (kcl.ac.uk)

RCP Toolkit:  Acute medical care for people with a learning disability

Funding
This podcast has been made with an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited (“BMS”). BMS has had no input or involvement in the design, development or content of the podcast whatsoever. 

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Episodes 1 - 49 'Impressive Deals' - Nicolai Heidlas

Listen to Dr Rohan Mehra, RCP clinical education fellow, (Infectious diseases/microbiology SPR) and Dr Mumtaz Patel, as they shine a spotlight on differential attainment in healthcare. This is a pervasive issue within UK healthcare which requires work from everyone. Here Rohan and Mumtaz illustrate the issue, how it impacts people and what you can do to try and make a difference.  

Dr Mumtaz Patel is a consultant in nephrology in Manchester as well as Senior censor and Vice President for education for the RCP. Mumtaz led nationally on the research around Differential Attainment for over 5 years and has led cross-collaborative research across organisations such as GMC, NHSE, royal colleges and within different specialties with a focus on earlier interventions and support to improve educational outcomes and trainee experience. Mumtaz has helped produce national guidance around supporting trainers and trainees in addressing and narrowing the Differential attainment gap. This work has had national and international recognition with presentations at multiple conferences.

Funding
This episode was funded by Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited. Vertex had no involvement in the creation and elaboration of this episode and all views and opinions expressed by the presenter and guests are solely their own.

Resources:

GMC: tackling differential attainment.

Academic papers highlighting differential attainment and steps that need taken:

Woolf K, Potts HW. Ethnicity and academic performance in UK-trained doctors and medical students: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2011;342:d901.

Regan de Bere S, Nunn S, Nasser M. Understanding differential attainment across medical training pathways: a rapid review of the literature Final report prepared for The General Medical Council. 2015. 

Woolfe K, Rich A, Viney R, Needleman S, Griffin A. Perceived causes of differential attainment in UK postgraduate medical training: a national qualitative study. BMJ Open 2016;6:e013429

https://www.gmc-uk.org/education/14105.asp

Hawkridge A, Molyneux D. (2019) A description and evaluation of an educational programme for North West England GP trainees who have multiple fails in the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA). Education for Primary Care. 30(3):167-172.

 https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/gmc-da-final-report-success-factors-in-training-211119_pdf-80914221.pdf

Jeremy Brown, Liam Jenkins, John Sandars, Julie Bridson, Mumtaz Patel (2023) Evaluation of the I

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Episodes 1 - 49 'Impressive Deals' - Nicolai Heidlas

Ever been unsure of how to deal with the patient that turns up in A&E having travelled to some far flung places sweating profusely? Then this one is for you! 

Listen along as Dr Alex Kew delivers a masterclass on how to treat a patient with an acute undifferentiated fever, at times, ably assisted by Dr Rohan Mehra (Infectious diseases/Microbiology SPR). They provide you with a framework to help with even the trickiest cases that will allow you to get to the bottom of what is going on. 

Dr Alex Kew, Alex is an Infectious diseases and microbiology consultant at the hospital for tropical diseases and royal free NHS trust his Specialist interests include bites, stings and parasitology having  studied zoology and further animal related injury research at the natural history museum and imperial college London. 

Resources

Please always contact your local infection team in the first instance, however here are some useful resources if you require further help or the infection team advise you to call them. 

HOSPITAL FOR TROPICAL DISEASES LONDON

https://www.uclh.nhs.uk/our-services/find-service/tropical-and-infectious-diseases/how-refer-infectious-and-tropical-diseases Please note the contact number for inpatient advice 020 3456 7890- ask to speak to the on call tropical medicine registrar. 

LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE 

https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/clinical-services

0151 705 3100 

0151 705 3223

IMPORTED FEVER SERVICE

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/imported-fever-service-ifs

0844 778 8990

 

Where to look for outbreak information/local disease prevalence: 

National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC)

Programme for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED)

World Health Organisation (WHO)- disease outbreak news

Centres for Disease control and Prevention

Viral haemorrhagic fever risk assessment 

Funding
This podcast has been made with an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited (“BMS”). BMS has had no input or involvement in the design, development or content of the podcast whatsoever. 

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Episodes 1 - 49 'Impressive Deals' - Nicolai Heidlas

Listen to Dr Rohan Mehra (Infectious diseases/microbiology SPR), Dr Pippa Medcalf and Peter Bull as they discuss health inequalities for people experiencing homelessness. Pete shares some powerful accounts of times he has interacted with healthcare when he was without a permanent residence. He highlights the negatives, but also important steps healthcare professionals can take to make the situation better. Pippa describes how her hospital have introduced systems to best help those experiencing homelessness and what healthcare professionals can do to try and make a difference. 

Dr Pippa Medcalf is a consultant in acute medicine in Gloucester Hospital where she established the hospital homeless healthcare team. She now advises the RCP and other organisations on the care of the homeless in hospital.

Funding

This resource has been funded by Novartis by the provision of a grant, Novartis has had no editorial input or control over the content of these materials. 

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Episodes 1 - 49 'Impressive Deals' - Nicolai Heidlas

Listen to Dr Rohan Mehra (RCP education fellow/Infectious diseases and microbiology SPR), Dr Merle Henderson and Dr Josh Elliott as they discuss research as a trainee. They discuss what a day as a trainee involved in research looks like and how varied that can be, whilst providing helpful tips to anyone thinking of getting involved in research, and what the RCP is doing to promote research in healthcare.

Dr Merle Henderson is undertaking a PhD exploring biomarkers of neuronal inflammation, immune activation, and injury in people with HIV.

Dr Josh Elliott is a National institute for Health and Care research and British Research Council Clinical Research Fellow in Multi-omics, School of Public Health.

Links:
RCP research and innovation hub
https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/rcp-research-and-innovation-hub

NIHR-AoMRC Clinician Researcher Credentials Framework
https://sites.google.com/nihr.ac.uk/crcredentials/home

Research in practice programme, RCP and NIHR
https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/education-practice/courses/new-research-practice-programme-coordinated-royal-college-physicians-nihr 

Funding
This podcast has been made with an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited (“BMS”). BMS has had no input or involvement in the design, development or content of the podcast whatsoever. 

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Music:

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Episodes 1 - 49 'Impressive Deals' - Nicolai Heidlas

Listen to Dr Mark Harber (RCP special adviser on healthcare sustainability and Consultant Nephrologist at the Royal Free Hospital) and Dr Rebecca Kuruvilla (RCP clinical education fellow and Clinical pharmacology/GIM registrar) discuss why sustainability is an issue that all clinicians working in the NHS need to be concerned about. They also discuss simple ways healthcare workers can have an impact on climate change in their day-to-day practice. Below are links to some of the documents discussed during the podcast: 

Links 

• Greener NHS plan website - https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/
• Greener NHS – case studies https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/whats-already-happening/
• 12 things we can do as individuals to become greener
• RCP view on healthcare sustainability and climate change

Funding
This podcast has been made with an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited (“BMS”). BMS has had no input or involvement in the design, development or content of the podcast whatsoever. 

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Music:

Episode 50 onward - Bensound.com

Episodes 1 - 49 'Impressive Deals' - Nicolai Heidlas

Listen to Dr Rohan Mehra (RCP education fellow/Infectious diseases and microbiology SPR) and Professor Catherine Meads as they discuss the vast Health inequalities facing LGBTQIA+ communities. They outline practical steps that you as a clinician can take to ensure you do not contribute to or worsen health inequalities in your local environment as well as suggestions at national level to help tackle this issue. 

Professor Catherine Meads is a senior systematic reviewer at Anglia Ruskin university and has published numerous systematic reviews and has been conducting research into lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) health since 1992 and has published several ground-breaking papers in this area.

Resources
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b39e91ee5274a0bbef01fd5/GEO-LGBT-Action-Plan.pdf

https://ec.europa.eu/assets/sante/health/videos/2018_lgbti_trainingvideo_en.mp4

https://health.ec.europa.eu/social-determinants/projects/european-parliament-projects_en#health4lgbti-reducing-health-inequalities-experienced-by-lgbti-people

https://www.aru.ac.uk/research/safe-and-inclusive-communities/improving-healthcare-service-provision-for-lgbtq-plus-patients

https://www.stonewall.org.uk/system/files/lgbt_in_britain_health.pdf

https://www.stonewall.org.uk/resources-creating-lgbtq-inclusive-workplace

Funding
This resource has been funded by Novartis by the provision of a grant, Novartis has had no editorial input or control over the content of these materials. 

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Music:

Episode 50 onward - Bensound.com

Episodes 1 - 49 'Impressive Deals' - Nicolai Heidlas