Professor Sonia Kumar

Profile

I am a Professor of Medical Education and Associate Dean for Community-Engaged Learning at the University of Leeds. I have a keen interest and passion in community-engaged learning, and my role aims to support those across the Faculty of Medicine and Health and the wider University in connecting curricula with local community. I am also interested in inter-discplinary and inter-professional approaches in education, aligning education to future societal and workforce needs, with students gaining the critical skills needed for future employment during their degree programmes.

I studied Medicine at King’s College London, and have worked as a GP and educationalist for over 20 years. I gained a Masters degree from King’s (distinction) in 2004 and a Fellowship with the Royal College of General Practitioners in 2015. I worked in postgraduate medical education at the London Deanery for nearly 10 years and for the last 10 years worked as the Director of Undergraduate Primary Care Education in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London.

I am the founding Director of 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.

At Imperial College my team led a number of community facing projects, including the Community action project, Longitudunal integrated apprenticeships, Students in schools, Students as health coaches, the Global Creative Competition, WATCCH: widening access to community careers programme, the MEdIC summer Masterclasses series and the COVID-19 community volunteering scheme.

I have set up and led four national think tanks in education, attracted additional educational funding and won 19 internal and external awards for the team, including AdvanceHE’s CATE collaborative team award.

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

I live in London with my husband who is also a GP and my two lively teenage girls.

Responsibilities

• Associate Dean Community-Engaged Learning

Research interests

I have an interest, passion and expertise in community-engaged education, using the potential of education to address 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 Associate Dean my role spans both the FMH and the University of Leeds, connecting student learning and teaching with the community.