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Professor Sonia Kumar

Professor Sonia Kumar

  • Position: Professor of Medical Education
  • Areas of expertise: Community-engagement; inter-professional learning; inter-disciplinary learning; social accountability; diversity and inclusion; Health inequalities.
  • Email: S.Kumar5@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: Worsley Building
  • Website: Twitter | Researchgate | ORCID

Profile

I am a Professor of Medical Education and Associate Dean of Community-Engagement at the University of Leeds. Having worked as a GP and educationalist for over two decades, I have extensive experience of community based health and education. My role at the University of Leeds draws on this keen interest and expertise in connecting curricula and research with local community priorities, and I have a lead role in driving forward the university’s social purpose and responsbility in the city and local region. I have established and lead CENTRE (community engagement network in research education and civic engagament) working with colleagues across the university and stakeholders such as Leeds City Council, NHSE, PHE, WY Police, third sector and international collaborators (University of Pretoria) to maximise the university’s social value and impact whilst enabling students to gain key graduate attributes and citizenship skills needed for our future workforce and broader global change. 

I studied Medicine at King’s College London (1997), and gained a Bachelor of Science (1994) and Masters degree (2003) with disctinction from King’s, and also hold a Fellowship with the Royal College of General Practitioners. I worked in postgraduate education at the London Deanery for nearly 10 years and for next 10 years worked as the Director of Undergraduate Primary Care Education at Imperial College London, founding the MEdIC (Medical Education Innovation and Research Centre) at Imperial, which focussed on societal impact and led the strategic direction of MEdIC’s five themes of work: Coaching in Education, Professional Identity, Prepration for practice, Digital health and Educatiion and Diversity and Inclusion. I was instrumental to the exponential growth in my team at Imperial, attracting funding, significantly increasing our educational innovation and research outputs and winning 19 internal and external awards during my tenure. 

Over last 20 years I have worked with numerous national and international collaborators, NHSE, DHSC, HEE, been an external examiner for UCL and provided external consultancy including the FCDO in Mexico and Pharma. I have published extensively and have been invited to present across the UK and globally. I am also a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London.

I live in London with my husband and my two lively teenagers.

Responsibilities

  • Associate Dean of Community Engagement

Research interests

I have an interest, passion and expertise in community-engagement, addressing local and global health inequalities, driving positive and sustainable societal change.

Qualifications

  • HEA Fellowship
  • FRCGP
  • MSc (Dist)
  • DRCOG
  • MBBS, BSc

Professional memberships

  • RCGP
  • GMC
  • AdvanceHE

Student education

As Assoc Dean my role spans both the FMH and the University of Leeds, connecting curricula and research with the community.