Professor Peter Leadbetter Inaugural Lecture - ONLINE booking

Who gets the opportunity to become a doctor, and what barriers continue to prevent talented individuals from entering the profession?

This inaugural lecture explores one of the most important questions facing medical education today: who has the opportunity to enter the medical profession, and how can medical schools ensure that future doctors better reflect the diverse communities they serve? Widening Participation (WP) in Medicine seeks to address longstanding inequalities in access to medical education by removing barriers faced by applicants and students from underrepresented backgrounds. This includes those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, first generation university students, care-experienced learners, and applicants from areas with historically low progression to medicine.

The discussion moves simply beyond increasing access to medical schools to consider how institutions can create environments where students not only gain entry but also belong, success, flourish, and progress in their medical careers. Highlighting the importance of outreach, contextual admissions, gateway and foundation programmes, student support, inclusive curricula the lecture will include student narratives, research evidence, and Peter’s personal experience in this area.