Professor Amudha Poobalan

Biography

I am a Medical doctor by background, trained in academic Public Health, and have over 20 years of experience as a Public Health educator and researcher. I graduated from Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore in India and worked as an infectious disease clinician before pursuing academia. I am a Professor of  Public Health Education and hold a Principal Fellow status of Advance HE https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/fellowship/principal-fellowship  I am the academic lead for Masters programmes in the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition at the University of Aberdeen (UK).  

My pedagogical research focuses on equal opportunities and inclusive education. My research interests include student support to enhance engagement and learning, especially among ethnically and culturally diverse student communities; mentoring trainee doctors for improving career planning and addressing differential attainment; social accountability of education; predictive validity of medical selection; and sustainable education in resource-limited settings.

My work combines my discipline-specific research on Diabetes and Cancer with my pedagogical underpinning, working towards making an impact on task shifting and educational empowerment in Resource-limited settings. I am interested in lifestyle patterns and socio-cultural influences in the management of NCDs during ‘TRANSITIONS’. These include transitions from adolescence to young adults and rural to urban; economic, demographic, and cultural shifts in transitioning countries.

I have expertise in Systematic Reviewing and Qualitative research methodologies. I have research and education collaborations nationally and internationally with India, Kuwait, and Nepal working with academic institutions, NGOs, and Research Foundations with over 100 publications in high-impact scientific journals. I have undertaken consultancy work for WHO and peer-reviewed grant applications for Governments and other esteemed organisations such as NIHR. 

Prizes and Awards

• 2023 - Best Research paper award at Association of Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) conference
• 2022 - Nominated for Excellence in Contribution to a Team or Role Award
• 2019 - Winner of UoA Principal’s Teaching Excellence Award - Runner-up prize

Research Overview

My main strands of work, combine my discipline-specific research on Diabetes and Cancer with my pedagogical underpinning, working towards making an impact of task shifting and educational empowerment in Resource-limited settings. I am specifically interested in lifestyle behavioural patterns; socio-cultural influences in prevention and management of NCDs during ‘TRANSITIONS’. These include transitions from adolescence to young adults; economic, demographic and cultural shifts in transitioning countries; and rural to urban transitions. 

My pedagogical research focuses on equal opportunities and inclusive education. My research interests are student support to enhance engagement and learning especially among ethnically and culturally diverse student communities; mentoring and support for trainee doctors for improving career planning and addressing differential attainment; social accountability of education; predictive validity of medical selection; and sustainable education in resource-limited settings.

Current Research

My main pedagogical interest can be broadly defined into three areas and I am involved in the following research projects reflecting my interests:

• Mentoring and support for trainee doctors for improving career planning and addressing differential attainment (2021- ) Learning environment and experiences of trainees from certain backgrounds (e.g. minority ethnic groups) are more likely significant influencers of trainee attainment. Relationships with peers and mentors as well as psychosocial factors such as sense of belonging have been reported as key themes influencing differential attainment. Similarly, within medicine, there is evidence to suggest that mentoring improves career satisfaction, career planning and personal growth. However, the potential influence of mentoring on foundation doctors is yet to be explored to see if mentoring can lead to an improvement in retention and recruitment of junior doctors to speciality programmes. Funded by SMERC, I am collaborating with NHS Education Scotland (NES) Deanery colleagues to explore minority ethnic trainee doctors’ lived experiences of undertaking postgraduate specialty training; and explore the experiences and perceptions of mentoring amongst foundation trainees and its potential influences on career planning, progression, and satisfaction in Scotland

• Impact of education models on social accountability (2019- ) Medical education and practice are not isolated from the cultural and social structural context in which they take place. Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, South India is one of the largest medical schools and was established in 1900 with the principles of preparing graduates to meet health care needs of society at its core. CMC selection and curricular processes have been developed, coordinated and aligned to, with local healthcare needs and context, and to instil and nurture the values of service in their graduates. I am leading two projects to assess the:

• • Predictive validity medical selection process in a resource constrained setting, retrospective cohort study (2021 -)
  • Education for the local context: exploring the impact of a unique medical training model on healthcare delivery in India; Qualitative study (2019 -)

• Student support to enhance diversity, careers and employability (2017 - ) Traditionally, student support focuses on enhanced engagement and learning.  However, with increasingly diverse student communities, support must be considered more holistically, to support diverse student success.  Reflecting this, my interest is with student support at all stages of the student journey; from considering an application to study, applying for a place, integrating into, getting on and staying in a course, maximising the gains from educational opportunities, and outcomes thereafter. Diversity needs to be celebrated and many students face additional challenges because of the complexity of their background and/or personal circumstances. These challenges are often viewed under the umbrella term of ‘intersectionality

Past Research

Previous research

ICANTREAT - Cancer care pathway research (2018 - ) I am a core member of the research group working in collaboration with Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), India and BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital (BPKMCH), Nepal to improve cancer care pathways. Obtained Global Challenge Research Funds (GCRF) grants to run workshops in India and Nepal. This project focusses on developing community of expertise and key stakeholders to understand the care pathway, identify barriers to improve care. It also looks at the Hospital based Cancer Registries to understand the health data and how to strengthen this to improve health systems.

Patient Navigation System – Diabetes care management (2016 - ) Working with Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, India to train community health workers (CHWs) in delivering education, screening for diabetes complications using a protocol-based referral for physician consultation for management, assisted by an android application (App) for patient tracking.  This project continues to build capacity with task shifting to improve frontline Community Health Care Workers’ intervention for diabetes management in resource limited settings.

Developing WHO Guidelines for Leprosy management (2018) I was invited by WHO to conduct a systematic review on various aspects of Leprosy management. I worked with Dr Laura Gillini, Prof Cairns Smith and Prof Roger Chow from WHO to develop the guidelines and was published by WHO. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/274127/9789290226383-eng.pdf

Young adults in transition and obesity (2017) I delivered an Invited symposium at the 24th European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2017) in Porto, Portugal. I drew together a group of international collaborators from four countries to develop and deliver this symposium attended by over 200 delegates. I collaborated with six researchers from various countries (Prof Kate Steinbeck, University of Sydney, Australia; Dr Laura Lissner, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Dr Charoula Nikolaou, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belguim; Prof Andrew Hill, University of Leeds, UK; Prof Louise Baur, University of Sydney, Australia; Prof Tim Gill, University of Sydney, Australia) to develop and deliver the symposium on “The transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood”.

Knowledge Exchange

Cancer awareness in the community - Public Engagement activity

Collaborations

I collaborate with researchers nationally and globally to take my research interests forward; I work with 

• T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, USA (Dr Shilpa Bhupathiraju)
• University of Toronto, Canada (Dr Vasanthi Malik)
• Bournemouth University (Prof Edwin van Teijlingen) 
• Hongkong Baptist University (Prof Julien Baker)
• Christian Medical College in Vellore, South India (Prof Vinay Oommen, Prof Anu Alexander)
• Manipal University, Karnataka, South India (Prof Arathi Rao and Prof Ranjitha Shetty)
• Sydney School of Public Health (Prof Kate Steinbeck)
• Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (Prof Jennifer Cleland) 

Funding and Grants

Sep 2023 to Aug 2024. The Carnegie Trust - Research Incentive Grant.  £14,986. Staying in and getting on in medicine: Career decision-making in widening access students. Gibson Smith K, Poobalan A, Lumsden C, Walker K, Laidlaw A, Cecil J, Alexander K, Cleland J.

Oct 2022- May 2023. LTEP, University of Aberdeen. £732. . Staying in and getting on: Developing strategies to support widening access students in their medical studies. Gibson Smith K, Lumsden C, Walker K, Poobalan A, Laidla, A

Feb -Sep 2022. LTEP, University of Aberdeen. £1000. Standardised assessment rubrics - Help or Hindrance to feedforward? Poobalan A (PI), Craig L, Campbell F, Lopez R, Welch A, Tucker S, Maccallum D.

Feb -Sep 2022. LTEP, University of Aberdeen. £1000. Embedding Intersectionality: The pathway to an inclusive education. * Poobalan A (PI), Dowie C, Ross J, Brown A.

Nov 2021 to Aug 2022. SMERC. £3000. The lived experiences of racial discrimination in specialty trainees in Scotland Deanery: A qualitative study. Poobalan A (PI), Chopra C (Co-PI), Gibson Smith K, Youd E, Johnston P.

Feb 2021- Dec 2021. GCRF – SFC. £12,125. Selection into medicine in resource constrained settings: the predictive validity of a social-responsibility focused selection approach. Poobalan A (PI), Kynn M, Jack A, Oommen V, Zachariah A, Pulimood A, Cleland J.

Feb 2021- Dec 2021. GCRF – SFC. £18,105. Increasing participation in cancer screening and treatment in Nepal. Tripathee S (PI), Sara MacLennan S, Poobalan A, Guntupalli A.

Nov 2020- Feb 2021. UK India Eduation and Research Initiative (UKIERI) (£2,508) Virtual Student mobility award. Poobalan A (PI), De Roos Baukje, Radhakrishnan R, Satyamoorthy K.

May 2020 – Oct 2020. Chief Scientist Office (CSO) (£48,541). Looking after the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic: a focus on addressing physical activity, loneliness, and help-seeking behaviour. Martin K (PI), Khor W, Murchie P, Poobalan A, Powell D, Vieira R, K Stelfox K.

Feb 2020 – Jan 2021.  British Council (33,680).  UK India Eduation and Research Initiative (UKIERI) Student mobility award:  Study in India. Poobalan A (PI), De Roos Baukje, Radhakrishnan R, Satyamoorthy K.

Feb – July 2020. Friends of Vellore (£2000).  Improving research skills of community health aides in remote and rural tribal area in South India. Poobalan A (PI), Rose A

March 2020 – March 2021. British Council (£33,680). UKIERI student mobility programme: Study in India. Poobalan A (PI), Satyamoorthy K

Jan 2020 – Dec 2020. Scottish Funding Council (£9,800). Sustainable intensification: Integrating Aquaculture into food systems.De Roos B (PI), Poobalan A, Potts T,Van West P

Oct 2019 -Sep 2021. AMEE Grant for Medical Educators working in Resource Constrained Settings (MERCS grant) (£2500). Education for the local context: exploring the impact of a unique medical training model on healthcare delivery in India. A Zachariah (PI), Poobalan A, Pulimood A, Cleland J

Feb -Sep 2019. Learning and Teaching Enhancement Programme (£1958). Enhancing postgraduate learning and experience: Evaluation of the SUCCESS PLUS programme (Socio-cUltural Coaching for Careers and Employability to Support Success: Pathways for Life Underpinning Success). Poobalan A (PI), Christie L, Morgan H, Craig L, Kyle J, Bhattacharya S, Okpo E.

Aug 2019 - May 2020. MRC. (£49,973). Mycotoxin exposure, intestinal inflammation and childhood stunting in India. Gratz S (PI), Poobalan A, Kyle J, de Roos B. 

May – Dec 2019. GCRF ISSF award. (£10,041) Increasing participation in breast cancer screening and treatment within Manipal, India: Developing a Community of Expertise (ICANTREAT). Maclennan S (PI) and Poobalan A.

Jan - Sept 2019. Wellcome Trust ISSF- International Partnership Award. (£9,900) Dietary mycotoxin exposure in India and possible link to chronic diseases- An exploratory study in four selected regions of southern India. Gratz S (PI), Poobalan A, Siruguri V, Madhuri R, Kyle J.

Sept –Nov 2018. GCRF-IPPF award.  (£14, 963) Increasing participation in breast cancer screening and treatment within Manipal, India (CANTREAT). Maclennan S (PI) and Poobalan A.

Oct 2018 – April 2019. MBChB Innovation Fund. (£2000) Development and pilot of an ‘Island Health Care Adventure’ for Year 1 MBChB students. Patey R (PI), O’Brien G, Kay C, Poobalan A, Jack A.

Feb –March 2018. WHO consultancy (£4296). Systematic review contributing to developing guidelines on Diagnosis, Treatment and prevention of Leprosy. Poobalan A (PI).  

Jan – June 2018. Scottish Funding Council. (£9,990). Nourishing the future: improving adolescent nutrition for reproductive health in Bangladesh. Haggarty P (PI), Bhattacharya S, Kyle J, Poobalan A, McNeill G.

June –Sept 2017. Summer studentship (£1500). Lecture recording and its impact on lecture attendance and academic performance: A systematic review. Poobalan A (PI), Comber D, Nordman E

April 2017- July 2018. Learning and Teaching Enhancement Programme award. (£940) Student transitions: the role of student support structures. Cleland J (PI), Poobalan A, Barrow J, Foster K

June-July 2017. GCRF-IPPF award. (£15,534) Transferring capability and knowledge to measure second-hand smoke concentrations in homes as a first step to developing smoke-free homes intervention programmes in India and Malaysia. Semple S (PI), Poobalan A, Pattanshetty S, Abidin E. 

May 2017 Santander Mobility award (£1000). For travelling to Porto, Portugal to deliver a invited symposium on Young adult obesity at ECO 2017 and develop collaborations with Porto University. Poobalan A (PI)

April –May 2017. WHO consultancy (£13,000). Systematic review contributing to developing guidelines on Diagnosis, Treatment and prevention of Leprosy. Poobalan A (PI)  

Jan-March 2017. BBSRC GCRF- Impact Acceleration award (IAA). (£ 14,309) Introduction of health technologies to monitor dietary intake in relation to metabolic health in India. De Roos B (PI), Poobalan A, Kyle J, Pattanshetty S, Isaac R.

Teaching Responsibilities

• I am the Academic Lead for the Masters programme for the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition.
• After developing, implementing and leading the MPH programme in Aberdeen for 7 years, I now lead the Master of Public Health (MPH) Programme in Qatar. I liaise with the strategic partners for successful delivery of the programme.
• I lead the doctoral programme, from interviewing students at intake, assessing them at progress points and provide pastoral care.
• I contribute to teaching on systematic reviewing, mixed methods study designs, double burden of malnutrition for MBChB and Masters level students on MPH, Global Health, MSc in special dentistry and MSc in Clinical Education 

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

I have taught on the Research in Medical Education (RESME) online course (April 2019- 2020) run by Association of Medical Education in Europe (AMEE).  

Workshops on Research methods: I have conducted workshops on Evidence Based Medicine - a four-day workshop in Nepal funded by Department for International Development (DFID) in 2007. I also conducted a workshop on Qualitative Research Methods - a two-day workshop in India funded by UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) in 2015; Workshop in Kuwait for Medical Registrars in 2022.